Mali is a landlocked country in western Africa that is primarily located in the Saharan and Sahelian areas with over 20.25 million persons. Mali is a mostly flat and arid country. The Niger River runs through the country’s heartland, serving as the country’s principal commercial and transportation route. Flooding of sections of the river occurs on a regular basis, providing much-needed fertile agricultural soil along the river’s banks as well as grazing for livestock.
Mali is one of Africa’s largest countries, yet its population is relatively modest, concentrated mostly along the Niger River. The ethnic group and language of the Bambara (Bamana) predominate, while other groups such as the Fulani (Fulbe), Dogon, and Tuareg are also prominent in the society. Agriculture is the country’s most important economic sector, with cotton cultivation, livestock and camel herding, and fisheries among the most important activities.
Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were the three great precolonial Sudanic dynasties that originally ruled the territory that is now Mali. Timbuktu, Mali’s renowned but now-forgotten trading and learning center, is located on the upper Niger River. For centuries, caravans from North Africa crossed the Sahara Desert, while others travelled from the woodland regions to the south, meeting at the Timbuktu crossroads. Djenné, with its famed mosque and outstanding specimens of Sudanese architecture, and Mopti, a bustling market center, are two more notable cities. Because of its unusual cliff-side settlements and diversified creative life, the Dogon region, which is centered on the Bandiagara escarpment in the country’s central portion, is a popular tourist destination. Bamako, the country’s capital, is situated on the Niger River due to rising migration from depressed rural areas, it is a rapidly growing metropolis.
TRENDING FASHION IN MALI
ACCESSORIES IN MALI
The jewelry gleams in Mali is as bright as an African crescent moon.
TRIBES IN MALI AND THEIR FASHION
The main ethnic groups of Mali are the Mande, including the Bambara, Malinke, and Sarakole, accounting for 50% of the total population. Other groups include the Peul (or Fulani), accounting for 17%; the Voltaic, making up 12%; the Songhai, constituting 6%; the Tuareg and Moor 10%; and other groups 5%.
The Mandé
Manding (or Mandé) peoples, notably the Bambara (Bamana) and the Malinké, account for over half of Mali’s population. The Bambara are the largest and most dominant ethnic group in Mali, living along the middle Niger Valley. Around 80% of Malians speak Bambara as a first language, primarily in the center, west, and south. The Malinké, who inhabit in the southwest and west, also speak a Mandé language because of their physical proximity to the seat of national government, Bamako, and their Western education during the colonial period, the Bambara and, to a lesser extent, the Malinké, have dominated Mali’s political life.
The Fulani
The Peuhl (Fula, Fulani) are a group of people who live in western Africa. They inhabit primarily in Mali’s east and in the huge interior delta of the Niger, where their Fulfulde language is the lingua franca. Others are sedentary farmers, while others are livestock herders.
The Songhai
The Songhai are mostly settled subsistence farmers in south-eastern Mali, in the Niger valley from Djenné to Ansongo, although some nomadic groups are dispersed across Mali, Niger, and into Algeria. They are descended from the Songhai empire of Gao, which was overthrown by Moroccans in 1591 in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 13th century, the Songhai were converted to Islam.
The Tuareg
Northern Mali is home to the Tuareg and Maure (Moors). The Maure are a nomadic Berber people who travel between Mali and Mauritania. They have traditionally been goat and sheep herders, as well as camel and donkey transporters. Maure society is separated into castes, with the Beydan (White Moors) ruling over the Haratins, who were once their slaves (Black Moors). Both have the same Arab-Berber culture, speak Arabic in Hassaniya dialects, and follow Islam. Members of the sub-groups may appear to be of mixed ethnicity.
TOURIST AND HISTORICAL PLACES IN MALI
Mali is a land of various cultures and creeds, a smattering of life and action, heritage and history, nestled between the rolling Sahel and the limitless sand dunes of the Sahara Desert.
Bandiagara – Bandiagara is the place to go if you want to meet Dogon people from the Malian plateaux.
Bamako – This vast metropolis of more than 1.5 million people is indisputably likable as the nation’s capital.
Ansongo – Ansongo is the newest of all the settlements on this list, occupying the western edge of the huge nature reserve that bears its name (as well as the name of the town of Menaka on the far eastern side of the park’s boundaries).
Timbuktu – Timbuktu marked the end of the grueling journey through the enormous Sahara’s changing sand dunes for many a Berber trader and Bedouin caravan eer.
Taoudenni – Workers arrive to chisel large slabs of salt from the soil, which are then put onto some of the world’s last camel caravans and transported south to Mopti and other trading centers.
Sikasso Market – Sikasso is and has always been primarily a commerce town. It benefits from a location that can connect Africa’s landlocked heart with the ports that pepper the Atlantic seaboard, as it is close to the multi-state joint of Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Guinea.
Segou – It was originally the pulsing heart of the Bambara Kingdom, which dominated over central Mali until around the turn of the nineteenth century.
Mount Hombori – a mountain in Mali’s Mopti Region, near the town of Hombori.
Mopti – a town and an urban commune in the inner Niger Delta region of Mali.
Kidal – Kidal, located deep in the Azawad region, is one of the primary flashpoints of Mali’s recent factional strife.
Kayes – Kayes, which is defined by the Senegal River’s meanders, continues to buzz and throb with the sounds of market traders and salesmen.
Djenne – It is recognized for its unusual mud-brick architecture and lengthy history as a stopover on the historic Sahel and Sahara caravan routes.
Douentza – The region of Douentza, surrounded by strange landscapes of carved rock cliffs and dust-devil-scarred plains, is an excellent site to get to know the Malian Sahel’s wildernesses.
Boucle du Baoule National Park – The Boucle du Baoulé National Park, which spans about one million hectares in the heart of West Africa’s wildlife-rich Sudano-Guinean zone, is certainly one of the Malian hinterland’s gems.
MUSIC IN MALI
Mali’s music, like that of most African countries, is ethnically diverse, yet one influence dominates: that of the old Mandinka Mali Empire. Central Mali’s Bamana style is more static, with predominantly five-note (pentatonic) melodies and a slow tempo. The huge ngoni is the favored instrument, and it is more closely related to the music of the northern desert regions, and so the blues. Bamana jeli music is regarded as dignified and classical.
Some musicians in Mali include:
Salif Keita
Oumou Sangare
Some art work in Mali
MEAL IN MALI
Malian cuisine includes rice and millet as staples of Mali, a food culture heavily based on cereal grains.
Bouille – a classic dessert of Malian cuisine, consisting of a thick sugar-cookie like crust in the centred with a silky-custard filling.
La Capitaine Sangha – a meal prepared with Nile perch fish and is served with whole fried bananas and hot chilli sauce.
Jollof rice – a famous rice dish that has various regional variations in its ingredients.
Djablani – a popular ginger refreshing juice commonly drunk in West Africa.
Couscous – a typical pasta made from tiny steamed semolina flour.
Poulet Yassa – mouth-watering dish made with chicken that is marinated in the mixture of onion-lemon-vinegar.
Bouille
La Capitaine Sangha
Jollof rice
Djablani
Couscous
Poulet Yassa
Tiguadege – a national dish in Mali that is prepared with lamb or chicken.
Maafe – a traditional peanut stew made with beef or chicken.
Tiguadege
Maafe
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION AND HABITAT PROTECTION IN MALI
Mali’s wildlife, which includes its flora and fauna, ranges from the Saharan desert zone (which covers about 33% of the country) to the Sahelian east–west zone. Mali is a landlocked francophone country in North Africa with large swaths of uninhabited land. It has three sub-equal vegetation zones: The Sahara Desert in the north, the Niger River Basin in the center, and the Senegal River in the south.
The Saharan, Sahel, and Sudan–Guinea Savanna are the three vegetation zones. Two national parks, one biosphere reserve, six faunal reserves, two partial faunal reserves, two sanctuaries (one of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site), one chimp sanctuary, six game reserves, and three Ramsar Sites are among Mali’s protected areas.
Mali’s protected areas cover roughly 5,760.035 square kilometers (2,223.962 square miles), or 4.7 percent of the country, according to legal acts and regulations (Law No. 86-43/AN-RM for trade and conservation of parks and reserves and Law No. 86-42/AN-RM for forest code). When the buffer zone and peripheral zone of the Biosphere of Baoul are added together, it accounts for 6.2 percent of the country’s total territory. More than 1,700 plant types and roughly 1,000 animal species represent the country’s great biodiversity.
EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN MALI
Mali’s landlocked location and climate-sensitive economy make it one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. The pastoralist and agrarian livelihoods that support the majority of the population are threatened by rising temperatures and changes in water supply. Economic and social insecurity are exacerbated by shocks such as political instability, flooding, and recurrent drought. Variable rainfall has an impact on the 4.2 million hectares of wetlands in Mali, with severe consequences for seasonal fish migrations and soil-stabilizing vegetation growth. The agriculture industry dominates Mali’s greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for more than 75% of total emissions.
GENDER EQUALITY IN MALI
Some progress has been made in the area of women’s rights on a global scale. Women held 27.3 percent of seats in Mali’s parliament as of February 2021. However, Mali still has a long way to go in terms of achieving gender equality. 53.7 percent of women aged 20–24 who were married or in a union before the age of 18 are still married or in a union.
Sidibe Aminata Diallo – Malian academic and politician. She was also the first female presidential candidate ever in Mali.
Diane Mariam Kone – Malian politician and former Minister of Livestock and Fisheries.
Mariam Suzanne Konate Maiga – Malian medical doctor and public health administrator who served as Mali’s secretary of state for social action and the promotion of women.
Aminata Dramane Traore – Malian author, politician, and political activist. She served as the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Mali.
Sidibe Aminata Diallo
Diane Mariam Kone
Mariam Suzanne Konate Maiga
Aminata Dramane Traore
Kamissa Camara – Malian political analyst and politician. She is the former chief of staff to the President of Malian Republic.
Dandara Touré – Malian politician who worked in education and women’s rights for many years.
Keïta Aminata Maiga – Malian healthcare, public health and children’s advocate, she served as the First Lady of Mali.
Sy Kadiatou Sow – Malian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Kamissa Camara
Dandara Touré
Keïta Aminata Maiga
Sy Kadiatou Sow
