MALI IS A LARGE COUNTRY IN WESTERN AFRICA. It is completely landlocked, with no access to the sea.
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CLIMATE |
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The rainy season lasts from June until September or October, although in many years almost no rain falls in the north. The harmattan wind blows southward from the Sahara between December and February, covering the country in haze and dust.
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Ancient Empires
Around six thousand years ago, two separate groups of people lived in the land that is today known as Mali (MAH-lee). In the south, around present-day Bamako (BAH-mah-koe) and Ségou (sae-GOO), were farmers who spoke Mande (MAN-dee) languages. In the north the ancestors of today’s Berber peoples, the Bafour (BAH-foor), lived as hunters and cattle herders. At that time the Sahara was not a desert but grassland with trees and streams. By around 3000 B.C.E., large parts of the Sahara had dried up, forming a sea of sand that acted as a partial barrier between western Africa and lands farther north.
Little is known about other early inhabitants of Mali, but archaeologists have found traces of a large town where iron tools were made, close to present-day Djenné (jeh-NAE). These remains date from about 300 B.C.E. At around the same time, the Tolloy (toe-LOY) people were living in caves in the Bandiagara (bahn-dyah-GAH-rah) cliffs in central Mali.
Around 300 C.E. camels were introduced to northern Africa. They made long-distance trade across the desert easier and also allowed nomadic Berber people from north Africa, the Tuareg (TWAHR-ehg), to move southward. Around 600 C.E. the Songhai (SAWNG-hai) people arrived from the southeast to settle around the Niger River, close to present-day Gao (GOW). Then, around 1000, the Tellem (TLEHM) people arrived in the Bandiagara region. They were followed around 1300 by the Dogon (DOE-gawn) people, who were living on the nearby plains, though legends say that the Dogon originally came from the Nile region many hundreds of years before.
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FACTS AND FIGURES |
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Official name: République du Mali Status: Independent state Capital: Bamako Major towns: Ségou, Mopti, Gao Area: 478,652 square miles (1,239,709 square kilometers) Population: 11,700,000 Population density: 24 per square mile (9 per square kilometer) Peoples: 50 percent Mande-speakers, including Bambara, Soninke, Malinke, Bozo, and Dyula; 17 percent Fulani; 12 percent Senufo and Dogon; 10 percent Berber, including Tuareg and Moors; 6 percent Songhai; 5 percent others Official language: French Currency: CFA franc National days: Army Day (January 20); Independence from France (September 22); Liberation Day (November 19) Country’s name: The country is named after the ancient kingdom of Mali. In Mande languages, Mali means "hippopotamus."
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From around 700 the Ghana Empire of the Soninke people, based in southeast Mauritania and covering western Mali, began to grow rich and strong. Its wealth came from trading in gold, ivory, and slaves from Mauritania and farther south; in exchange Ghana traders received salt, cloth, and copper produced in northern Africa. Important new towns in southern Mali, like Djenné—founded by the Bozo (BOE-zoe) people around 800—developed at key points on long-distance trade routes. The rulers of Ghana also introduced a new faith to Mali—Islam.
