Zébala

Zébala is a small town and rural commune in the Cercle of Koutiala in the Sikasso Region of southern Mali. The commune covers an area of 312 square kilometers and includes 8 settlements. In the 2009 census it had a population of 17,278. The town of Zébala, the administrative centre (chef-lieu) of the commune, is 35 km east-southeast of Koutiala.

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Zăbala

Zăbala (Hungarian: Zabola, pronounced [ˈzɒbolɒ]) is a commune in Covasna County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania.

Component villages

The commune comprises 4 villages:

Demographics

The commune has a Székely Hungarian majority. According to the 2002 Census it has a population of 4,814 of which 76.55% or 3,685 are Hungarian. There is also an important Romanian community.

Name

The name of "Zabola" means "bridle", i.e. the straps of leather that are put around the head of a horse to allow the rider to control it.

In the course of various battles with the Tatars, the villages north and south of Zabola were destroyed by the Tatars. However, the inhabitants of Zabola were capable of holding the Tatars in check and survived, as if they had put bridles around the Tatars horses in order to control them and their riders. Outside the village lies the "Tatárhalom" (Tatar Hill); some historians think the Tatars that were killed in action were buried there.