Last updated on April 18th, 2022
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It has a total area of 1,240,192 square km. Bamako is its capital and largest city. French is its official language. Its official currency is West African CFA franc (XOF). Mali is bordered by Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast (or Côte d’Ivoire), Guinea, Senegal and Mauritania. With these 74 facts about Mali, let’s learn more about its geographic features, ethnic groups and cultures, plus plant and animal life that combine to make it an interesting place to visit.
Geography and Climate
1. The landlocked country named the Republic of Mali is the world’s 24th-largest country.
2. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, comparable in size to the nation of South Africa and almost twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas.
3. Mali’s three natural land zones include the arid Saharan zone, the semiarid central Sahelian zone, and the southern cultivated Sudanese, where the majority of the country’s population lives.
4. The thermal equator crosses Mali, making it one of the hottest countries in the world. Rainfall is negligible and droughts are frequent.
5. Most of Mali’s land is flat, rising to rolling plains in the north that are covered with sand. The majority of the country is located in the southern part of the Sahara Desert.
6. Mali is divided into eight large regions and one district, the Bamako Capital District. These regions are Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Ségow, Gao, Mopti, Kindal and Tombouctou (also known as Timbuktu).
7. The lowest geographic point in Mali is the Senegal River. Its highest point is Mount Hombori Tondo.
8. The Senegal and Niger Rivers make the south of Mali the country’s most fertile region.
9. The prime meridian marker is located in Gao, Mali. Here you can literally stand on the edge of two different hemispheres at the same time.
10. Mali’s climate is subtropical to arid, with February to June being the hot, dry season. June to November is rainy, humid and mild. November to February is the cool, dry season.
Mali on the map
11. Historically Mali was part of three different West African empires that controlled all the trans-Saharan trade.
12. Settled as long ago as 50,000 B.C., its Ghana, Songhai and Mali empires saw mathematics, literature, art and astronomy flourish.
13. Mali’s Ghana Empire was West Africa’s first black empire. The empire’s wealth came mainly from the country’s position in the cross-Sahara trade routes.
14. Sundiata, Mali’s Lion King (or Lion Prince) was the founder and first ruler of the Mali Empire from which the country today takes its name. In his reign from 1235 to 1260 the empire stretched all the way to the western coast of Africa.
15. When the Malian Empire’s 14th century emperor, Mansa Musa, made his impressive pilgrimage to Mecca, he traveled with over 70,000 people and up to 50 pounds of gold. He built a mosque every Friday on his entire trip.
16. France seized control of Mali in the late 19th century colonial period in Africa, and it became part of the French Sudan. After almost a century of French rule, Mali joined with Senegal to achieve independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation.
17. Later Senegal withdrew from the Federation and the country became the Republic of Mali. In 1991 Mali changed from a socialist state to a democratic one and adopted a new constitution.
18. Since the dawn of the 21st century, the northern Mail Tuareg tribes have led multiple military and political rebellions against different incarnations of the Mali central government.
19. The Tuareg MNLA and the Islamic group Ansar Dine merged in the last few years and declared northern Mali to be the new Islamic state of Azawad. They even opened an embassy of their own in the Netherlands.
20. United Nation peacekeepers were deployed in 2013 and more than 100 have been killed in Mali since then. It is considered one of the deadliest U.N. assignments.
21. Mali’s president requested aid from France in 2013 as Islamist fighters captured many of the main northern cities, including the city of Timbuktu, and began destroying many ancient shrines.
22. The French troops stayed for several years and killed the leading al-Qaeda commanders with the rebels. A new peace accord was reached and signed in May of 2015.
23. Thirty nine people are killed in two separate hotel attacks in Mali in 2015. One was in August and one in November. Several hotels throughout the country close until the troubles cease.
24. A new Islamist group emerged in central and southern Mali in the last two years and recruits by protecting local villages from bandits and corruption in the government.
Economy and Environment
25. Mali’s most frequently exported natural resources include gold, phosphates, salt, limestone, kaolin, uranium, and granite. Mali depends on agricultural exports and gold mining for its main revenue.
26. Gold is mined in Mali’s southern region and generates the third highest total gold production in all of Africa, after South Africa and Ghana.
27. Mali’s economic stability fluctuates with agricultural commodity and gold prices. Cotton, the country’s annual harvest, and gold exports represent 80 percent of Mali’s earnings.
28. Thirty four percent of the land is used as agricultural land, with 5.6 percent in arable land and 28.4 percent in permanent pastureland. Forests occupy ten percent of Mali.
29. Most of Mali’s economic activity is conducted in the area of the country the Niger River irrigates. The other 65 percent of the country is desert or semi desert land.
30. Almost half of Mali’s population lives below the international poverty line. Mali is one of the 25 poorest countries in the world. The average annual salary of a Malian is $1,500 (U.S. dollars) annually.
31. Mali’s environment concerns include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification and an inadequate potable water supply.
32. Natural environmental hazards/challenges include recurring droughts, infrequent flooding of the Niger River, and dust-laden hot haze that is common during the dry seasons.
Flag of Mali
People and Culture
33. Mali’s total population is expected to double by 2035. The Malian capital of Bamako is one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa.
34. The average birthrate of six children per Mali woman is the third highest in the world. This insures continued rapid population growth for the foreseeable future.
35. Mali’s infant, child and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa due to a variety of factors, including poor health care and unattended births.
36. Many Malians from rural areas migrate for work purposed during the annual dry period. Ten percent of the population is naturally nomadic.
37. Mali’s long history of seasonal migration and emigration is driven by unemployment, internal conflicts, food insecurity, and droughts.
38. Since the early 1990s, Mali’s role as a transit country for regional migration flows has grown and now funnels illegal migration as far as Europe as well.
39. Human smugglers and traffickers use these same migration routes to move their own contraband. Human trafficking is on the rise in Mali.
40. The unemployment rate is thirty percent in Mali. Agriculture employs 80 percent of the people and 20 percent work in services and industries.
41. Mali has more than ten ethnic groups, including the Bambara (34%), Fulani (15%), Sarakole (11%) and Senufo (10%).
42. French is Mali’s official language but Bambara is the most frequently spoken language in Mali. There are a dozen other national languages.
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