During the 1915-16 Volta-Bani anti-colonial war, the population in the north and east of district Bobo-Dioulasso took up arms against the French colonial government.

[4][pages needed] A colonial military base was established in the southern sector of the city, adding to its growing importance.

It was dramatically modified in 1932 when a large road artery was built through it and by the widening of streets in successive urban renewal projects.

Between 1926 and 1929, the French colonial government constructed a typical European grid pattern of new avenues and streets in the city, intersected by diagonals radiating from a center, with square urban lots between them.

An early industrial center, Bobo-Dioulasso is also the hub of a rich agricultural zone, which produces food grains, fruits and seedlings (mangos, citrus), and export crops (cotton, cashews, and the gathered oil seed karite/shea).

Bobo-Dioulasso's economic advantage vis-à-vis the capital has declined following decades of government policy favoring Ouagadougou.

[citation needed] Since 2000 the city of Bobo-Dioulasso has engaged in a new growth spurt, gaining in population and economic vitality.

Residents have returned home following the internal crisis in neighboring Ivory Coast, and the economy has been stimulated by new demands for its goods.

The École française André Malraux, a French international school, has maternelle (preschool) through collège served.

The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso, possibly the largest example of Sudano-Sahelian architecture in the country, built in 1880 according to some, 1893 according to others as a part of political agreement between the king of Sya and Islamic religious leader Almamy Sidiki Sanou.

Associated with them were groups specializing in trade and warfare; they also speak Bobo, but identify as of distinct historical origin and ethnicity.

[12] Today Bobo-Dioulasso is ethnically and linguistically very diverse, due both to its position as an old trade town, and especially to its growth during the twentieth century as a colonial administrative and military center.

The common (and now dominant) Jula spoken in the streets of Bobo-Dioulasso is a close variation of Bamana, the majority language of neighboring Mali.