Mali

Republic of Mali
*République du Mali*
Republic of Mali République du Mali
	Flag Coat of arms
	Motto: "Un peuple, un but, une foi"; "One people, one goal, one faith"
	Anthem: Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali; "For Africa and for you, Mali"
Capital and largest city	Bamako
Official languages	French
Demonym(s)	Malian
Government	semi-presidential republic
• President	Amadou Toumani Touré
• Prime Minister	Modibo Sidibé
Independence from France
• Declared	September 22 1960
Area
• Total	1,240,192 km2 (478,841 sq mi) (24th)
• Water (%)	1.6
Population
• July 2005 estimate	13,518,000 (65th)
• Density	11/km2 (28.5/sq mi) (207th)
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$14.400 billion (125th)
• Per capita	$1,154 (166th)
HDI (2004)	0.338; Error: Invalid HDI value (175th)
Currency	CFA franc (XOF)
Calling code	223
ISO 3166 code	ML
Internet TLD	.ml

Mali, officially the Republic of Mali (French: République du Mali), is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. It is the seventh largest country in Africa. It borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its straight borders on the north stretch into the centre of the Sahara, while the country's south, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Senegal rivers. Formerly French Sudan, the country is named after the Mali Empire. The name of the country comes from the Bambara word for hippopotamus (with the animal appearing on the 5 franc coin), the name of its capital city, Bamako comes from the Bambara word meaning "crocodile swamp".

History

The Mandé peoples settled the Sahel (including present-day Mali), and formed a succession of Sahelian kingdoms, including the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. Timbuktu was a key city in these empires as an outpost for trans-Saharan trade and a center for scholarship. The Songhai Empire declined under a Moroccan invasion in 1591.

Mali was invaded by France starting in 1880, which organized it as an overseas territory. The colony, which at times also included neighbouring countries, was known as French Sudan or the Sudanese Republic. In early 1959, the union of Mali and Senegal became the Mali Federation, which gained independence from France on June 20, 1960. Senegal withdrew from the Mali Federation after a few months. The Republic of Mali, under Modibo Keïta, withdrew from the French Community on September 22, 1960.

Modibo Keita was deposed and imprisoned in a coup in 1968. Mali was then ruled by Moussa Traoré until 1991. Anti-government protests in 1991 led to a coup, a transitional government, and a new constitution. In 1992, Alpha Oumar Konaré won Mali's first democratic, multi-party presidential election. Upon his reelection in 1997, President Konaré pushed through political and economic reforms and fought corruption. In 2002 he was succeeded in democratic elections by Amadou Toumani Touré, a retired General, who had been the leader of the military aspect of 1991 democratic uprising. Today, Mali is one of the most politically and socially stable countries in Africa.

Regions and cercles

Mali is divided into 8 regions (régions) and 1 district, and subdivided into 49 cercles, totalling 288 arrondissements.

The regions and district are:

Geography

At 478,734 mi² (1,240,000 km²), Mali is the world's 24th-largest country. It is comparable in size to South Africa, and is nearly twice the size of the US state of Texas.

Mali is landlocked and has a subtropical to arid climate. It is mostly flat, rising to rolling northern plains covered by sand, with savanna around the Niger River in the south. The Adrar des Ifoghas lies in the northeast. Most of the country lies in the Sahara, which produces a hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons and leads to recurring droughts. The nation has considerable natural resources, with gold, uranium, phosphates, kaolinite, salt and limestone being most widely exploited.

See List of cities in Mali

Economy

Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world, with 65% of its land area desert or semidesert, and several prolonged periods of drought occurring there over the last century. Economic activity is largely confined to the riverine area irrigated by the Niger River. About 10% of the population is nomadic and some 80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Pottery is also practiced by women whose wares are bought by dealers and are transported to markets where they are sold by traders. The traditional methods used by the potters are an attraction to foreign tourists. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export. In 1997, the government continued its implementation of an IMF-recommended structural adjustment program. Several multinational corporations increased gold mining operations in 1996-1998, and the government anticipates that Mali will become a major Sub-Saharan gold exporter in the next few years.

Demographics

Ethnic groups Mande 50% (Bambara, Malinke, Soninke), Peul (Fula/Fulani) 17%, Voltaic 12%, Songhai 6%, Tuareg and Moor 10%, other 5%

Religions Muslim 90%, indigenous beliefs 9%, Christian 1%

Culture

Approximately 90% of Malians follow Sunni Islam, but not always to the exclusion of traditional religious beliefs and practices. Muslims have their own educational systems, leading in some cases to the equivalent of baccalaureate and doctoral studies. An increasingly large number of Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca and study in Arab countries. Christians comprise about 1% of the population, although under French colonial rule the introduction of missionaries into predominantly Islamic areas was encouraged.

Literacy in French, the colonial language, is low and is concentrated in the urban areas. However, about 60% of the population is literate, although not necessarily in French: many are literate in Bamanakan (the largest spoken language), which has its own alphabet known as N'Ko. Others are also literate in Arabic, having attended Koranic school. One of the oldest universities in the world--Sankore, in Timbuktu--dates to the 1400's.