Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa. A landlocked country is completely enclosed by land with no access to the open sea. Although Mali is one of the largest countries in Africa, it has a relatively small population, which is largely centred along the Niger River. The Bambara (Bamana) ethnic group and language predominate, with several other groups—including the Fulani (Fulbe), Dogon, and Tuareg—also present in the population. The current population of Mali is over 24,000,000.
Agriculture is the dominant economic sector in the country, with cotton production, cattle and camel herding, and fishing among the major activities. With the northern half of the country occupied by the Sahara, most human activity is concentrated in the more southerly regions, in particular in the valleys of the Niger and Sénégal rivers and their tributaries. Subsistence agriculture and livestock raising characterize domestic activities, although many people supplement their income by growing cash crops such as cotton and by seasonal migration to Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal. Change in the rural sector has been limited by an unfavourable climate, periodic droughts since the late 1960s, and low levels of technology.
The rains in the central-southern part are due to the African monsoon, which brings humid currents from the south in the summer. In Mali, there are three types of climate: the desert climate of the Sahara in the north, the semi-desert climate of the Sahel in the center, with a rainy season from June to September, and rainfall ranging from 100 to 600 millimeters (4 to 23.5 inches) per year, and finally, the tropical climate of the savanna in the south, where the rainy season is a bit longer (May and October) and more intense, and rainfall exceeds 600 mm (23.5 in).
The area that is now Mali was once part of the three great precolonial Sudanic empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, according to historians. The fabled but now faded trading and learning centre of Timbuktu is situated in Mali on the upper Niger River. For centuries, caravans crossed the Sahara Desert from North Africa while others came from the forest regions to the south, meeting at the crossroads of Timbuktu. Other notable towns include Djenné, noted for its famous mosque and other examples of Sudanese architecture, and Mopti, a bustling market centre. The Dogon region, centred on the Bandiagara escarpment in the country’s central area, is an important tourist destination because of its unique cliffside villages and diverse artistic life. The national capital, Bamako, is located on the Niger River and is a rapidly growing city because of increased migration from the depressed rural areas.
The Mali Empire (1215-1450) rose out of the region’s feuding kingdoms. At its height, the empire of Mali composed most of modern Mali, Senegal, parts of Mauritania and Guinea. It was a multi-ethnic state with various religious and cultural groups. Muslims played a prominent role in the court as counselors and advisors. While the empire’s founder, Sunjiata Keita, was not himself a Muslim, by 1300 Mali kings became Muslim. The most famous of them was Mansa Musa (1307-32). He made Islam the state religion and in 1324 went on pilgrimage from Mali to Mecca. Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca showed up in European records because of his display of wealth and lavish spending. Apparently, his spending devalued the price of gold in Egypt for several years. The famed 14th century traveller Ibn Battuta visited Mali shortly after Mansa Musa’s death. By the fifteenth century, however, Mali dissolved largely due to internal dissent and conflicts with the Saharan Tuareg.
Mali’s Great Mosque of Djenné, constructed in 1907, is the world’s largest mud-brick building. Every April, residents of Djenné maintain the walls of the mosque during a one-day festival called Crépissage (Plastering) where they reconstruct the walls with mud. The Old Towns of Djenné are a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprised of nearly 2,000 traditional houses built on hillocks (toguere) as protection from seasonal floods. The town has been inhabited since 250 BC and was an essential link in the trans-Saharan gold trade.
In 1898, France colonised Mali and named it French Sudan. In 1959, Mali gained independence as the Sudanese Republic (previously French Sudan) – part of the Mali Federation, an alliance linking Senegal and the Sudanese Republic (Mali). French is the official language of Mali. After independence from France in 1960, Mali suffered droughts, rebellions, and 23 years of military dictatorship until democratic elections in 1992. Since 2012, insurgencies on both the north and central regions have gathered pace. Following two coups in 2020 and 2021, which overthrew the civilian government, the former colonial power France withdrew its troops. Mali has strengthened its links with Moscow, with mercenaries from the Wagner group deployed in the country.
There are three main religions. Sunni Islam is practiced by more than nine-tenths of the population, traditional religions by most of the rest, and Christianity (primarily Roman Catholicism and Protestantism) by a small number. Islam in Mali dates to the 11th century and has eclipsed traditional religions among the Soninke, Songhai, Moors, Tuareg, and most Fulani. Many of the Gur-speaking peoples, especially the Dogon, as well as some Malinke and Bambara, practice traditional African religions.
For centuries, its northern city of Timbuktu was a key regional trading post and centre of Islamic culture. Timbuktu was a center of Islamic scholarship under several African empires, home to a 25,000-student university and other madrasahs that served as wellsprings for the spread of Islam throughout Africa from the 13th to 16th centuries. Sacred Muslim texts, in bound editions, were carried great distances to Timbuktu for the use of eminent scholars from Cairo, Baghdad, Persia, and elsewhere who were in residence at the city. The great teachings of Islam, from astronomy and mathematics to medicine and law, were collected and produced here in several hundred thousand manuscripts. Many of them remain, though in precarious condition, to form a priceless written record of African history.
