Mali
Name
| Official name | Republic of Mali — République du Mali · Mali ka Fasojamana |
|---|---|
| Former names | French Sudan — Soudan français (1880–1959, as the Upper Senegal–Niger of 1904–20); the Sudanese Republic (1958–59); the Mali Federation with Senegal (1959–60); the empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai before |
| Demonym | Malian |
| Meaning of the name | From the Mali Empire of the 1200s — Mandinka for "the place where the king lives," or the hippopotamus, mali, of the Niger in the legend of Sundiata; the name chosen by Modibo Keita in 1959 for the federation |
| Motto | "Un peuple, un but, une foi" — one people, one goal, one faith |
Quick facts
| Capital | Bamako — the "crocodile river," on the Niger; the French post of 1883, the capital of French Sudan from 1908; about 3 million in the district of six communes |
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| Largest cities | Bamako; Sikasso, about 250,000, the city of the south; Ségou, the old Bambara capital on the Niger; Mopti, the "Venice of Mali" at the Bani's mouth; Koutiala of the cotton; Kayes on the Senegal; Kati, the garrison town of the junta; Gao and Timbuktu of the north; Kidal in rebel hands since April 2026 |
| Official languages | Thirteen national languages made official by the Constitution of 2023 — Bambara above all, spoken by four in five, Fulfulde, Songhay, Tamasheq of the Tuareg, Soninke, Dogon, Senufo, Bobo, Minianka, Bozo, Hassaniya Arabic, Khassonke and Malinke; French, the sole official language of 1960–2023, now the "working language" of the state, the courts and the schools |
| Currency | West African CFA franc — XOF, CFA; since 1984, replacing the Malian franc of 1962; pegged at 655.957 to the euro |
| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0; no summer time |
| Calling code | +223 |
| Internet domain | .ml |
| ISO 3166 codes | ML · MLI · 466 |
| Vehicle registration code | RMM |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and E |
| Independence | 22 September 1960, from France, as the Republic of Mali — Modibo Keita the first president; the Mali Federation with Senegal independent 20 June 1960 and dissolved 20 August |
| National days | 22 September, Independence Day; 20 January, Armed Forces Day; 26 March, Martyrs' Day, for the dead of the revolt of 1991; 25 May, Africa Day; 1 May; the Muslim feasts of Korité, Tabaski, the Prophet's birthday and his baptism; Easter Monday and Christmas |
| Constitution | 22 July 2023 — the Constitution of the Fourth Republic, approved by referendum on 18 June 2023 with 97% on a turnout of 39%, giving the president the power to name and dismiss the government and the national languages their standing; the Transition Charter of 1 October 2020 above it in practice, revised by the law of 8 July 2025 that gave General Goïta a renewable five-year mandate without election; the 1992 Constitution of the Third Republic before |
| Population | About 22.4 million at the census of 2022; about 25 million (UN, 2026 est.) — from 4.6 million in 1960; 55% under 18 |
| Area | 1,240,192 km² (478,841 sq mi) — land 1,220,190 km², water 20,002 km²; landlocked; the eighth-largest in Africa |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three vertical bands of green, yellow and red — the pan-African colors of Ghana's flag, the green for the land and hope, the yellow for the gold and purity, the red for the blood of independence — the flag of the Mali Federation of 1959 with its black kanaga figure of the Dogon removed on 1 March 1961 at the urging of the Muslim leaders, who held the figure an image forbidden by the faith.Flag of Mali |
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| Coat of arms | A blue disc bearing the Great Mosque of Djenné in gold under a vulture in flight, over a rising sun and two bows with arrows, ringed by the country's name and the motto "Un peuple, un but, une foi"; adopted 20 October 1973 |
| National anthem | "Le Mali" ("Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali") — words by Seydou Badian Kouyaté, the doctor and novelist, music by Banzumana Sissoko, the blind griot of the Segou court; adopted 9 August 1962 |
| National motto | "Un peuple, un but, une foi" |
| National colors | Green, yellow and red |
| National animal | The hippopotamus of the name and the Niger; the elephants of the Gourma, the northernmost herd of Africa on their 600 km round; the vulture of the arms; widely cited |
| National tree | The baobab and the shea — the karité of the women's butter; the balanzan of Ségou, the tree that greens in the dry season; widely cited |
| National dish | Tô — the stiff millet or sorghum paste eaten with the okra and baobab-leaf sauce; maafe, the peanut stew; riz au gras, the rice of the feasts; the tiguadégué; the dégué of millet and curd; the capitaine fish of the river; the three glasses of tea — bitter as death, sweet as life, gentle as love; widely cited |
| National sport | Football, the Eagles of the 1972 Cup of Nations final, the under-17 world champions of 2015 and the under-20 bronze of 2015; basketball, the women's champions of Africa of 2007 and the girls of the world silver of 2021; the wrestling of the villages; widely cited |
| National music | The griots of the Manden and their kora and ngoni — Toumani Diabaté, Ali Farka Touré of Niafunké, Salif Keita of the Keita line, Oumou Sangaré of the Wassoulou, Amadou and Mariam, Tinariwen of the Tuareg; the Festival in the Desert of Essakane silenced by the war since 2012; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag is fixed by the law of 1 March 1961, the arms by the decree of 1973, the anthem by the law of 1962; the animals, trees, dishes, sports and music widely cited |
Geography
| Location | West Africa, landlocked in the Sahara and the Sahel — Algeria to the north, Niger to the east, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast to the south, Guinea to the southwest, Senegal and Mauritania to the west; the Niger and the Senegal the two rivers |
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| Land borders | 7,908 km (4,914 mi) with seven neighbors — Mauritania 2,236, Algeria 1,359, Burkina Faso 1,325, Guinea 1,062, Niger 838, Ivory Coast 599, Senegal 489; the Tin Zaouatine crossing to Algeria the rebels' rear; the Algerian shooting-down of a Malian drone on 31 March 2025 and the airspaces closed |
| Coastline | None — landlocked; the ports of Dakar, Abidjan, Conakry, Nouakchott and Tema the outlets, the roads to them the jihadists' targets |
| Highest point | Hombori Tondo, 1,155 m (3,789 ft), the mesa of the Hombori mountains south of the Niger bend |
| Lowest point | The Senegal River at the Mauritanian border, 23 m (75 ft) |
| Mean elevation | 343 m (1,125 ft) |
| Rivers | The Niger — the Joliba — about 1,700 km of its 4,180 through the country from Guinea past Bamako, Koulikoro, Ségou, Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao, the arc of the empires; the Inner Niger Delta of Macina, 30,000 km² in flood, the largest wetland of West Africa, the Lake Débo of its heart; the Bani, the Niger's tributary at Mopti; the Senegal, born at Bafoulabé of the Bafing and the Bakoye, past Kayes to the Atlantic; the Baoulé |
| Lakes | Débo and the lakes of the Delta; Faguibine near Timbuktu, dry since the 1970s; the Manantali reservoir of the Senegal, 477 km², and the Sélingué of the Sankarani; the Taoudenni salt pans of the far north, the caravans' quarry |
| Terrain | The Sahara of the north, three-fifths of the land, the Tanezrouft and the Taoudenni basin, the Adrar des Ifoghas of Kidal at 700–900 m; the Sahel of the middle, the Niger bend, the Hombori mesas and the Hand of Fatima; the Bandiagara escarpment of the Dogon, 150 km of cliff; the savanna and the Manding hills of the south and the Bambara plateau; the Inner Delta and the Office du Niger of the rice |
| Climate | Hot and dry — the Saharan north with under 100 mm of rain and the Timbuktu summers past 45°C, the Sahel of 200–600 mm, the Sudanian south of up to 1,200 mm at Sikasso; the rains of June to September, the harmattan of the dry season; the hottest region of the world by the highs |
| Natural hazards | Drought and famine — the Sahel droughts of 1968–74 and 1984–85 that killed the herds and the herders; the floods of the Niger — the rains of August–September 2024 with more than 300 dead and the state of disaster; the locusts; the desert's advance; the war's displacement of about 380,000 and the 7 million in humanitarian need; the ferry sinking at Diré of 8 January 2026 with 38 dead |
| Natural resources | Gold — the third or fourth producer in Africa, Loulo-Gounkoto of Barrick, Fekola of B2Gold, Sadiola, Morila, the artisanal diggings; the lithium of Goulamina of Ganfeng, in production since December 2024, and Bougouni; phosphate; salt of Taoudenni; uranium at Falea; kaolin, limestone, iron, bauxite; the hydropower of Manantali and Sélingué; the pasture and the river |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 34%, most of it pasture; forest about 10%; the arable 6% of the south and the rivers |
| National parks | The Boucle du Baoulé of 1954, the largest, of the fading wildlife; Bafing; the Gourma elephant reserve; the Ansongo-Ménaka giraffe reserve of the past; the Inner Niger Delta, a Ramsar site of 4 million hectares of birds; the Bandiagara cliff and the Dogon villages |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 4 — Timbuktu (1988), the mosques of Djingareyber, Sankoré and Sidi Yahia and the mausoleums destroyed by the jihadists in 2012 and rebuilt, on the danger list since 2012; the Old Towns of Djenné (1988), the Great Mosque of mud rebuilt in 1907 and replastered each year, and Djenné-Djenno, the oldest known city south of the Sahara, in danger since 2016; the Cliff of Bandiagara, the Land of the Dogons (1989); the Tomb of Askia at Gao (2004), the pyramid of mud of the Songhai emperor, in danger since 2012; the Manden Charter of Kurukan Fuga (2009), the yaaral and degal cattle crossings and the Sanké mon fishing rite on the intangible list; the Timbuktu manuscripts on the Memory of the World register |
| Administrative divisions | 19 regions and the District of Bamako by the reorganization of 2023 — Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Ségou, Mopti, Tombouctou, Gao, Kidal, Taoudénit and Ménaka, and the nine carved from them, Nioro, Kita, Dioïla, Nara, Bougouni, Koutiala, San, Douentza and Bandiagara; the cercles and the communes beneath; the governors appointed |
People
| Population | About 22.4 million (census of 2022); about 25 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 20 per km² (52 per sq mi) — the north nearly empty, the south and the rivers holding nine in ten |
| Population growth | About 3% a year — the population doubling every 24 years |
| Median age | About 16 years — among the youngest in the world |
| Life expectancy | About 60 years |
| Fertility rate | About 5.6 births per woman — the third-highest in the world after Niger and Chad |
| Urban population | About 46% |
| Adult literacy | About 31% — among the lowest in the world; the girls' schooling the lowest |
| Ethnic groups | Bambara about 33%, the people of the center and the language of the country; Fulani about 13%, the herders of the Delta and the Sahel; Soninke about 10%, the Ghana Empire's heirs of the west; Senufo about 9%, of Sikasso; Malinke about 9%, of the Manden; Dogon about 9%, of the cliff; Songhai about 6%, of the river north; Bobo about 2%; Tuareg about 2% and Arabs and Moors about 1%, the nomads of the north whose grievance is the war's (survey of 2018) |
| Languages | Bambara by about 80% as a first or second language, the lingua franca; the thirteen national languages of 2023; French by about a quarter, the language of the administration; Arabic of the north and the Quranic schools |
| Religion | Muslim about 95% — Sunni of the Maliki school and the Sufi orders of the Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya, the imams of the High Islamic Council in the politics, the Salafi preaching of the 2000s; Christian about 2%, the Catholics of the Dogon and the south; the traditional faith of the ancestors about 2%, the Dogon and the Bambara masks beneath the surface of the rest |
| Human Development Index | About 0.42 (2023 data, 2025 report) — low; among the ten lowest of 193 |
| The displaced | About 380,000 internally displaced by the war and about 7 million in need of aid by the UN's count; the schools closed by the fighting, about 1,500; the villages of the Delta emptied — Kouakourou in July 2026; the Fulani massacred at Ogossagou on 23 March 2019, about 160; the Malians of the Ivory Coast, the largest emigration |
| Sport | Football — the Eagles, second in the Cup of Nations of 1972, the quarterfinals of 2024, the under-17 champions of the world in 2015, Salif Keita of Saint-Étienne, the first African Ballon d'Or of 1970, Seydou Keita of Barcelona; basketball, the women's Africa title of 2007 and the girls' world silver of 2021; the Bamako stadium of 2002; the league postponed by the attacks of April 2026 |
| Diaspora | About 4 million Malians abroad — the Ivory Coast first, Senegal, Guinea, Niger and Nigeria; France about 120,000, the Soninke of the Paris hostels since the 1960s; the remittances about 7% of GDP |
Government
| Form of government | Military rule — a transitional government under the Transition Charter of 2020 and the Constitution of 2023, the president of the transition head of state and, since the law of 2025, President of the Republic with a five-year mandate renewable without election; the National Transitional Council of 147 appointed members the legislature; the political parties dissolved; in law a presidential republic |
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| President | General Assimi Goïta, since 24 May 2021 as head of state, sworn 7 June 2021 — the fifth president in the count of the coups; born 9 November 1983 at Bamako, the son of an officer, the commander of the special forces of the Kati camp, the leader of the coup of 18 August 2020 against Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, the interim vice president who deposed President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane in the second coup of 24 May 2021; promoted five-star general in October 2024; the president of the Sahel confederation of 2024–25; the target of the car bomb at Kati of 25 April 2026, unseen for three days and "the situation of extreme gravity but under control" on 28 April; the defense minister too since 4 May 2026 |
| The mandate law | The law signed 8 July 2025 and passed by the Transitional Council on 3 July by 131 votes of 131 present — "a term of five years, renewable as many times as necessary, until the country is pacified," counted from 2025, without election, and the transition's officers eligible for the elections to come — after the national dialogue of April 2025, boycotted by the parties, recommended it; "a major step forward in the rebuilding of Mali," the council's president Malick Diaw said; "a step too far," the protesters of 3 May 2025 said before the parties were dissolved on 13 May by decree "for public order"; the elections promised for February 2024 postponed indefinitely on 25 September 2023 |
| Prime Minister | General Abdoulaye Maïga, since 21 November 2024 — the government's spokesman and territorial administration minister since 2021, born 1981; named the day after the civilian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga was dismissed for saying in public that the elections had been postponed without a date; "cowardly and barbaric" and "intended to overthrow the government," his words for the attacks of April 2026 |
| The offensives of 2026 | The coordinated attacks of 25 April 2026 by JNIM, the al-Qaeda alliance of Iyad Ag Ghali and Amadou Koufa, and the Azawad Liberation Front of the Tuareg, the largest since 2012 — the car bomb at Kati that killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara with his wife and two grandchildren, the fighting at the Bamako airport, Gao, Sévaré and Mopti, the intelligence chief Modibo Koné shot; KIDAL taken by the front on 25–26 April, the Malian army and Russia's Africa Corps evacuated under the rebels' escort by Algeria's mediation, the camp burned, the flag down; Aguelhok, Tessalit, Tessit, Ber and Labbezanga given up, the Islamic State at the Niger border; the army's "over 200 neutralized," the Africa Corps' "10,000 to 12,000 attackers" and "a coup attempt" of a "Syrian scenario" with "Ukrainian mercenaries," the Russians' claim; "the regime will fall, sooner or later," the front's spokesman said in Paris, Gao and Timbuktu the next aims; the purge of officers accused of complicity, the opposition figure Mountaga Tall abducted 2 May; the renewed attacks of 4 July, Anéfis lost on 5 July and retaken on 9 July with 30 soldiers dead by the army's count, the convoy of 17 July with 50 soldiers killed and 20 taken, the sabotage of Bamako's water and power, Kouakourou emptied on 18 July, the San barracks stormed 9 August |
| The blockade | JNIM's embargo on fuel declared 3 September 2025 in answer to the army's ban on fuel sales in the villages — the tankers from Senegal, Ivory Coast and Guinea burned on the roads to Kayes and Nioro, the queues of Bamako, fuel at five times its price, the schools closed from 27 October to 9 November 2025, the Americans and the British told to leave, the escorted convoys and the "fuel war" general, the rationing of 22 January 2026, the convoy attack of 29 January with 15 dead; the truce of March 2026 that Africanews reported bought with 100 freed prisoners, "completely unfounded," the army said; the total blockade of the capital declared 28 April 2026 in retaliation for the lynching of suspected fighters, the checkpoints on the roads, the fruit trucks burned, the mine on the Kayes road of 1 June with eight dead on a bus; the motorcycles above 125 cc banned outside the towns on 3 June |
| Parliament | The National Transitional Council — 147 members appointed by the junta, Colonel Malick Diaw its president since December 2020; the National Assembly of 147 elected in 2020 dissolved by the coup |
| The next election | None scheduled — the presidential election of 4 February 2024 postponed indefinitely on 25 September 2023; the mandate law of 2025 to at least 2030 |
| The war since 2012 | The Tuareg rebellion of 17 January 2012 and the coup of 22 March, the north lost and Azawad declared 6 April 2012, the jihadists' rule of Timbuktu and Gao; France's Operation Serval of 11 January 2013 and Barkhane to the last soldier out on 15 August 2022; MINUSMA, the UN's deadliest mission, 2013–31 December 2023, 300 peacekeepers dead; the Algiers accord of 20 June 2015 with the Tuareg, ended by the junta 25 January 2024; Kidal retaken with Wagner on 14 November 2023 and lost on 26 April 2026; the defeat of Tinzaouaten of 25–27 July 2024, the Wagner column destroyed; the Bamako attack of 17 September 2024 on the gendarmerie school and the airport, more than 70 dead; the Fulani of Koufa's Macina katiba, the Dogon militias, the massacres of Ogossagou and Moura; the Islamic State's Sahel province of Ménaka; the FLA of Bilal Ag Acherif, the MNLA's heir, allied with JNIM in 2024 under a "softer" sharia |
| Russia and the West | The Wagner Group from December 2021 and the Africa Corps of the Russian state since 2024, about 1,500 to 2,000 men, the airstrikes and the mines, the Moura killings of March 2022 reported by the UN; the French out in 2022, the ambassador expelled, the U.N. out in 2023; Goïta at the Kremlin on 23 June 2025 for the nuclear and the gold-refinery pacts; the U.S. sanctions on Camara and two officers lifted 27 February 2026; the Turkish drones; the recognition of the Sahrawi republic withdrawn on 10 April 2026 for Morocco's plan; the row with Algeria over the drone of March 2025 and the case at the International Court of Justice; the French national Yann Vezilier sentenced to 20 years on 5 June 2026 for the "destabilization plot" of 2025 |
| The Sahel alliance | The Alliance of Sahel States with Burkina Faso and Niger — the Liptako-Gourma charter of 16 September 2023, the confederation of 6 July 2024 with Goïta its first president to 24 December 2025 and Traoré after, the unified force of 5,000, the passport and the bank; the withdrawal from ECOWAS announced 28 January 2024 and final 29 January 2025; the Francophonie left 17 March 2025; the ECOWAS sanctions of January–July 2022 the origin |
| Legal system | Civil law of the French code with Islamic and customary law; the Constitutional Court that declared Goïta head of state on 28 May 2021; the military tribunal of Bamako; the former prime minister Moussa Mara jailed in 2025 for a post in support of the political prisoners; the journalist Youssouf Sissoko arrested 5 February 2026 for "insulting" Niger's leader; the death penalty on the books and no execution since 1980 |
| Local government | The regions under appointed governors, the cercles, the 700-odd communes with the councils of 2016 whose mandates the junta extended; the elected mayors of Bamako's six communes; the traditional chiefs and the imams |
| United Nations | Member since 28 September 1960; the MINUSMA mission of 2013–23 ordered out by the junta in June 2023; the humanitarian plan of the UN for 7 million; the Security Council seat of 2000–01 |
| Other memberships | The African Union, its membership suspended since the coup of 2021; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; the West African monetary union and the CFA franc; the Non-Aligned Movement; the WTO (1995); the Senegal River basin authority with Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$30 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$1,200 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$3,500 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 5% a year in 2023–24 on the gold and the harvests, cut by the blockade of 2025–26 and the war; inflation about 2% before the fuel; the CFA franc at 655.957 to the euro |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture about 36%, industry about 22%, services about 42% — four in five workers on the land and the herds |
| Currency | West African CFA franc (XOF) |
| Gold | About 65 metric tons a year from the industrial mines and as much again from the artisanal pits — Loulo-Gounkoto of Barrick, the country's largest, placed under provisional state administration in June 2025 in the fight over the mining code of 2023 and settled in November; Fekola of B2Gold; Sadiola, Syama and Morila; the Russian refinery of 2025; gold about three-quarters of exports, mostly to the Emirates and Switzerland; the mining post above the ministry created 19 January 2026 |
| Lithium and the rest | Goulamina of China's Ganfeng, the first African lithium mine of scale, in production since December 2024; the Bougouni project; the phosphate; the salt caravans of Taoudenni to Timbuktu, the last of the azalai |
| Cotton | The "white gold" of the CMDT — about 600,000 metric tons of seed cotton in the good years, the first or second producer of Africa, the livelihoods of 4 million; the fields of Koutiala and Sikasso; the subsidies' fight |
| Livestock and the land | The second-largest herd of West Africa — about 12 million cattle and 40 million sheep and goats, the Fulani's wealth and the war's prize; the rice of the Office du Niger of 1932 on the Delta, the millet and sorghum of the tô, the mangoes of Sikasso, the shea of the women; the Niger fish of the Bozo |
| Energy | Electricity for about half the people and for fewer in the villages — EDM-SA, the state utility of the blackouts of 12 hours in 2023–24, the diesel plants starved by the blockade, the Manantali and Sélingué hydro, the Russian solar of Sanankoroba of 2025; the fuel at five times its price; the sabotage of Bamako's water and power of July 2026 |
| Public finances | Public debt about 55% of GDP; the budget cut by the sanctions of 2022 and the aid frozen by the coups, the gold taxes and the Russians' mine the junta's means; the CFA franc's peg the anchor the alliance debates leaving |
| Income classification | Low income (World Bank); a least developed country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Modibo Keïta International Airport at Bamako-Sénou, the field of the attacks of September 2024 and April 2026, about a million passengers before the crisis; Gao; Timbuktu; Mopti; Kayes; Sikasso |
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| Airline | Sky Mali of 2020, the domestic carrier; Air Mali defunct; Air France, Turkish, Ethiopian and Royal Air Maroc the links, the flights cut in the crises; no Western embassies' flights advised since October 2025 |
| Main port | None — landlocked; Dakar the port of seven-tenths of the trade by the road and the railway, Abidjan and Conakry the rest, Nouakchott through Nioro; the river port of Koulikoro; Mopti's harbor of the pinasses |
| Railways | About 590 km (370 mi) of meter gauge — the Dakar–Niger line of 1904–24 from Kayes to Bamako and Koulikoro, the passenger train of Bamako–Kayes revived in 2024 after six years; the Bamako–Conakry and Bamako–Dakar rebuilds of the plans |
| Roads | About 140,000 km (87,000 mi), about 20,000 paved — the RN1 to Kayes and Senegal, the RN7 to Sikasso and the Ivory Coast, the RN6 to Ségou, Mopti and Gao, the RN5 to Guinea; the routes of the fuel convoys under escort and the mines; the 4x4s of the Sahara; the motorcycles of the villages banned above 125 cc since June 2026 |
| The river | The Niger navigable from Koulikoro to Gao in the flood of August to December — the COMANAV boats of the pinasse and the barge, the ferry of Diré that sank in January 2026 with 38 dead; the Delta of the Bozo fishermen and the Fulani crossings of the cattle |
History in dates
| c. 250 BC | Djenné-Djenno — the oldest city south of the Sahara |
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| c. 700 | The Ghana Empire of the Soninke |
| 1235 | Sundiata Keita founds the Mali Empire — Kirina; the Manden Charter |
| 1324 | Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca — the gold of Cairo |
| 1468 | Sunni Ali takes Timbuktu — the Songhai Empire |
| 1493 | Askia Muhammad — the golden age of Timbuktu |
| 1591 | Tondibi — the Moroccan muskets end Songhai |
| 1818 | The Massina Empire of Seku Amadu |
| 1852 | El Hadj Umar Tall's jihad |
| 1883 | The French at Bamako |
| 1895 | French Sudan; Bamako the capital, 1908 |
| 1946 | The RDA — Modibo Keita |
| 1959 | The Mali Federation with Senegal |
| 1960 | Independence, 22 September |
| 1961 | The flag, 1 March; the socialist state |
| 1968 | The coup of 19 November — Moussa Traoré |
| 1984 | The CFA franc |
| 1991 | The revolt of 26 March — Traoré overthrown |
| 1992 | The Third Republic — Konaré elected |
| 2002 | Touré elected |
| 2012 | The rebellion, 17 January; the coup, 22 March; Azawad, 6 April |
| 2013 | Serval, 11 January; Keïta elected, 11 August |
| 2015 | The Algiers accord, 20 June; the Radisson, 20 November |
| 2019 | Ogossagou, 23 March |
| 2020 | The coup, 18 August |
| 2021 | The second coup, 24 May; Goïta sworn, 7 June; Wagner, December |
| 2022 | The ECOWAS sanctions, January; the French leave, 15 August |
| 2023 | The Constitution, 18 June; the Sahel alliance, 16 September; Kidal retaken, 14 November; MINUSMA leaves, 31 December |
| 2024 | The accord ended, 25 January; Tinzaouaten, 25–27 July; Bamako attacked, 17 September; Maïga, 21 November |
| 2025 | ECOWAS left, 29 January; the parties dissolved, 13 May; the mandate law, 8 July; the blockade, 3 September; the schools shut, 27 October |
| 2026 | Rationing, 22 January; the offensives, 25 April — Camara killed; Kidal lost, 26 April; Bamako besieged, 28 April; Goïta defense minister, 4 May; Anéfis, 5–9 July; the convoy of 17 July; San, 9 August |
Records & firsts
| The oldest city south of the Sahara | Djenné-Djenno, about 250 BC |
|---|---|
| The largest mud building in the world | The Great Mosque of Djenné |
| The richest man in history, by the claim | Mansa Musa, 1324 |
| The manuscripts of Timbuktu | Some 700,000 saved in 2012 |
| One of the oldest constitutions | The Manden Charter, 1235 |
| The largest wetland of West Africa | The Inner Niger Delta |
| The northernmost elephants of Africa | The Gourma herd |
| The first African Ballon d'Or | Salif Keita, 1970 |
| The first Francophone state to demote French | 2023 |
| The first capital under a jihadist blockade | Bamako, 2025 |
| The largest offensive since 2012 | 25 April 2026 |
| A defense minister killed in office | Camara, 25 April 2026 |
| The third-highest birth rate in the world | About 5.6 |
| A five-year mandate renewable without election | The law of 8 July 2025 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Mali?
The Republic of Mali — République du Mali in French, Mali ka Fasojamana in Bambara — independent of France on 22 September 1960 after the two-month Mali Federation with Senegal broke up, the French Sudan of the colony renamed for the medieval empire of Sundiata and Mansa Musa; the First Republic of Modibo Keita, the military rule of Moussa Traoré from 1968, the Third Republic of 1992 and the Fourth of the Constitution of 2023, under the generals who took power in 2020 and 2021. The name is Mandinka: "where the king lives," or the hippopotamus of the Niger, the legend's.
What is the capital of Mali?
Bamako — on the Niger 200 km from the Guinean border in the southwest, the "crocodile river" of the Bambara, the French headquarters of 1883 and the capital of French Sudan from 1908 — about 3 million people in a district of six communes on both banks, the fastest-growing city of Africa in the 2000s, under the jihadists' blockade of its fuel and its roads since 2025 and the siege declared in April 2026. Sikasso of the south, Ségou on the Niger, Mopti at the river's meeting with the Bani, Koutiala of the cotton and Kayes on the Senegal follow; Timbuktu and Gao, the cities of the empires, hold their names in the north; Kidal, the Tuareg capital of the far northeast, fell to the rebels in April 2026.
How big is Mali, and how many people live there?
About 1,240,192 km² (478,841 sq mi) — the eighth-largest country of Africa, nearly twice the size of Texas, larger than South Africa — landlocked in the west of the continent, three-fifths of it the Sahara of the north and the rest the Sahel and the savanna along the Niger and the Senegal. The census of 2022 counted about 22.4 million people; the UN estimates about 25 million for 2026, growing 3 percent a year on one of the highest birth rates in the world, half of them under 18, nine in ten of them in the south and on the rivers, where the land can feed them.
What are the highest and lowest points of Mali?
Hombori Tondo, 1,155 m (3,789 ft), a flat-topped mesa of the Hombori mountains south of the Niger bend near Douentza, beside the Hand of Fatima's sandstone towers; and the Senegal River where it leaves for Mauritania at 23 m (75 ft). The Niger runs 1,700 km through the country in a great arc from Guinea past Bamako, Ségou and Mopti to Timbuktu and Gao and out to Niger, spreading in the rains into the Inner Delta of 30,000 km², the largest wetland of West Africa; the Adrar des Ifoghas of Kidal is the mountain of the Tuareg, the Bandiagara escarpment the cliff of the Dogon.
What currency does Mali use?
The West African CFA franc (ISO code XOF, CFA), the common money of the eight states of the West African monetary union issued at Dakar, pegged to the euro at 655.957 — Mali's since 1984, when it gave up the Malian franc of 1962; the junta and its allies of the Sahel alliance have talked of leaving it and have not. Clocks keep Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0, all year; Mali drives on the right.
Who governs Mali?
General Assimi Goïta, the special-forces colonel who led the coup of 18 August 2020 against President Keïta and the second of 24 May 2021 against the interim president he had installed — the head of state since, "President of the Transition" and, by the law he signed on 8 July 2025, president for five years renewable "as many times as necessary, until the country is pacified," with no election, the parties dissolved in May 2025; since the killing of his defense minister in the jihadist and rebel offensive of 25 April 2026 he holds the defense ministry too. General Abdoulaye Maïga has been prime minister since November 2024. The state holds Bamako, the south and the Niger towns with Russia's Africa Corps; the Tuareg front holds Kidal and the far north, the al-Qaeda alliance the countryside and the roads, and the capital lives under their blockade. No election is scheduled.
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