47 Facts About Mali

Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over 1, 240, 000 square kilometres.

At its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire was the wealthiest country in Africa, covering an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of the continent.

Mali was one of the wealthiest countries on earth, and its emperor at its zenith, Mansa Musa, is believed to be possibly the wealthiest individual in history.

Besides being an economic powerhouse, medieval Mali was a centre of Islam, culture and knowledge, with Timbuktu becoming a renowned place of learning with its university, one of the oldest in the world still active.

Rock paintings and carvings indicate that northern Mali has been inhabited since prehistoric times when the Sahara was fertile grassland.

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Rock art in the Sahara suggests that northern Mali has been inhabited since 10, 000 BC, when the Sahara was fertile and rich in wildlife.

Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, other precious commodities, and slaves majorly during the reign of Mansa Musa from c 1312 – c 1337.

Mali fell under the control of France during the late 19th century.

The Mali Federation gained independence from France on 20 June 1960.

In January 2012 a Tuareg rebellion began in Northern Mali, led by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad.

The government of Mali is suspected of supporting some of these groups under the guise of they being proxies in the war against Islamists in the Northern Mali conflict.

President Keita declared that "no military coup will prevail in Mali", continuing by saying that he doesn't think it "is on the agenda at all and cannot worry us".

Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa, located southwest of Algeria.

At 1, 242, 248 square kilometres, Mali is the world's 24th-largest country and is comparable in size to South Africa or Angola.

Mali is mostly flat, rising to rolling northern plains covered by sand.

The vast northern desert part of Mali has a hot desert climate with long, extremely hot summers and scarce rainfall which decreases northwards.

Mali has considerable natural resources, with gold, uranium, phosphates, kaolinite, salt and limestone being most widely exploited.

Mali is estimated to have in excess of 17, 400 tonnes of uranium.

Since 2016, Mali has been divided into ten regions and the District of Bamako.

Until the military coup of 22 March 2012 and a second military coup in December 2012, Mali was a constitutional democracy governed by the Constitution of 12 January 1992, which was amended in 1999.

Mali's constitution provides for an independent judiciary, but the executive continues to exercise influence over the judiciary by virtue of power to appoint judges and oversee both judicial functions and law enforcement.

Mali has a longstanding yet ambivalent relationship with France, a former colonial ruler.

Mali feels threatened by the potential for the spillover of conflicts in neighboring states, and relations with those neighbors are often uneasy.

Mali is considered one of the poorest countries in the world.

Mali underwent economic reform, beginning in 1988 by signing agreements with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

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Between 1992 and 1995, Mali implemented an economic adjustment programme that resulted in economic growth and a reduction in financial imbalances.

The programme increased social and economic conditions, and led to Mali joining the World Trade Organization on 31 May 1995.

Mali is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa.

Mali is a part of the "Franc Zone", which means that it uses the CFA franc.

Mali is connected with the French government by agreement since 1962.

In 1991, with the assistance of the International Development Association, Mali relaxed the enforcement of mining codes which led to renewed foreign interest and investment in the mining industry.

Emergence of gold as Mali's leading export product since 1999 has helped mitigate some of the negative impact of the cotton and Ivory Coast crises.

Mali has made efficient use of hydroelectricity, consisting of over half of Mali's electrical power.

Energie du Mali is an electric company that provides electricity to Mali citizens.

In Mali, there is a railway that connects to bordering countries.

Mali has one of the world's highest rates of infant mortality, with 106 deaths per 1, 000 live births in 2007.

Islam as historically practiced in Mali has been malleable and adapted to local conditions; relations between Muslims and practitioners of minority religious faiths have generally been amicable.

Public education in Mali is in principle provided free of charge and is compulsory for nine years between the ages of seven and sixteen.

Medical facilities in Mali are very limited, and medicines are in short supply.

Malaria and other arthropod-borne diseases are prevalent in Mali, as are a number of infectious diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis.

Mali's population suffers from a high rate of child malnutrition and a low rate of immunization.

In 2017, Mali ranked 157th out of 160 countries in the gender inequality index as reported by the United Nations Development Programme.

The unstable government of Mali has led to organizations like USAID attempting to improve the lives of the people, mainly women and girls' rights in order to re-engage the development of the country.

Recent decades show that women are slowly joining important decision-making positions which is changing the attitude and status of women in Mali, which has led to the promotion of women's right in the political sphere.

At the international, Mali signed the Beijing Platform for Action which suggest that women should participate in decision-making and the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which is the foundation to women's rights promotion.

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In Mali, there are several newspapers such as Les Echos, L'Essor, Info Matin, Nouvel Horizon, and Le Republicain.

Telecommunications in Mali include 869, 600 mobile phones, 45, 000 televisions and 414, 985 Internet users.