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Now, if there was one country that holds all the deepest secrets and treasures of historical Africa,
You might say "Egypt? Ethiopia?", which, okay, yeah.
Those are viable candidates.
But try a country with the richest guy that ever existed, with cities flourishing in science, astronomy, and literature and GOLD!
It looks like good old joll- Mali just stepped in the ring!
[Geography Now! Intro]
Hey everybody, I'm your host, Barbs. Today Mali looks pretty different from what it used to look, thousands of years ago.
But there's still a fascinating people that have made this fast growing nation their home -- Let's jump back into the sands of Africa, shall we?
The name 'Mali' originally was derived from the Mandinka word for Hippopotamus...
But later it came to mean "The place where the king lives". Either way there's like a connotation of strength behind it.
First of all,
Mali is landlocked located in western Africa bordered by 7 other countries straddling the prime meridian near the city of *Gao*
Which means if you visit you can stand in two different hemispheres at once. They also have no specific singular northernmost or easternmost points
as the borders are straight lines. The country is made up of ten regions and the capital Bamako
Which administers itself as its own district entity. Mali is kind of split into two separate parts:
The Fertile Sub-saharan southwest were about 90% of the population lives
and the arid Saharan northeast which makes up about sixty five percent of the country's landmass.
The north is where the tension started between the communities mostly ethnic Tuareg
against the central Malian government vying for secession into a whole new self-proclaimed independent area
they call Azawad led by the
MNLA or National Movement for the liberation of Azawad.
In 2012, fights broke out and shortly the Malian government came in and regained control. The Prime minister visited the headquarters in Kidal to seek talks.
However today the push for autonomy and nationalism still kind of lives on -- It's a tricky situation.
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Most travel agencies give at least some advisories against visiting these regions for now,
you know due to this somewhat unstable political atmosphere.
But I wanted to see Timbuktu!!
You can, just use your best discretion and be smart. That's all.
After the capital Bamako
The largest cities are Sikasso and Mopti and the country only has one main International Airport: Bamako Senou International
Technically Gao also has an International Airport
but only services the Dutch air force and UN peacekeeping mission flights. Other regional airports like Timbuktu and Mopti
are around but with either suspended or limited service, which is sad because Timbuktu is like such a historic place of significance.
We'll get into that later. Now the country has a vast domain that extends all the way to the middle of the Sahara.
However, there is only one trans-saharan roadway that crosses into Algeria at the border of Elkhalil
which Algeria put a double wall barricade around on their side.
Otherwise the Timbuktu region has no highway that extends to the north and virtually no people live there.
However some intrepid nomads and even tourists either take a car ride or camel caravan to what might be considered
the most remote isolated outpost in the world, Taoudenni the famous historic salt mine
that people have been excavating from for centuries.
Now we'll explain a little more later in the video on how Mali is very historically significant. Not just in Africa
but in the entire world, and today you can see former remnants of its glory in certain areas.
Some places of interest might include places like:
The National Museum in Bamako
The Bamako city centre market
The Artisan market
Independence Monument
Rose Dune
The Gouina and Dandan waterfalls
Fort du Médine
Bamako Grand Mosque
The National Zoo
Pretty much anything in the fabled city of Timbuktu
Pottery venues of Segou
Cliff villages of Bandigara
The Emperor Askia tomb
and the entire country is famous for having multiple traditional style mud-brick mosques and buildings.
However, the one that most people know about would probably the most iconic landmark of the country:
The great mosque of Djenné. It is the largest mud-brick building in the world made in its complete form in 1907
Refurbished every year after weather damage. And it's featured on the coat of arms
which we will discuss on Flag Friday, stay tuned!
Otherwise the real powerhouse of Mali though would have to be the one amazing life source
Almost the entire population depends on: The Niger River, which brings us to...
Every so often we get those countries that has like a lot of land but almost the entire population is crammed into
one small comfortable urban area that few venture outside of.
Qatar: Ahahaha! Way to get to my country's episode.
Oh woah you again? Uh, hi. Yeah, what's up? What was your name again? Jon?
How'd you get on the show? I've been on the past few episodes. Oh, yeah. Welcome to the team!
First of all, Mali lies on what is known as the West African craton
which is like some kind of geological plate zone that people who study rocks are probably interested in.
The country is divided into three main physical regions: The hot dry Saharan desert in the north,
The semi-arid Sahel Savannah Zone in the middle,
and the tropical savanna and light forest zone in the far south. The tallest peak Hombori Tondo
can be found in the east central Mopti region and just a skip away, you find this interestingly spear head shaped crevice looking thing.
That is Lake (quote unquote "lake") Faguibine
Which is supposed to be the largest lake in the country acting as like a reservoir when the river is overflood
But today it's almost completely dried up and reduced to nothing more than a semi-arid lake bed.
Instead, most of the overflow is diverted to these little guys under it like: Tele, Oro and Fati. Nonetheless the largest permanent lake
would be lake Manantali in the south, an artificial lake created by the Manantali dam. Nonetheless with water,
There's only one guy that everybody is paying attention to: The Niger River. The entire Malian economy is almost confined to this riverine area
As it traverses five of the regions including Timbuktu and Gao in the North.
It passes through the capital Bamako as well as every major city of commercial significance.
Otherwise further to the west lie the branches of the Senegal River which completes the backbone of the country
And it's also here in this area you can probably find the national animal: The Leopard.
The rainy season in the South sometimes causes the Niger river to flood
creating the Niger River Delta, a vast network of seasonal wetlands
much like the Okavango Delta we studied in the Botswana episode.
Seasonal River Delta flooding. It's like Mother Nature moisturizing her skin after a rash.
Hoo! Alright, triple shot of espresso break. You know what time it is? Noah, you know the deal? Takeover!
You got it!
Despite the presence of water, only about 10% of the land is forested, only about 6% is arable.
Even though about 7% of the workforce is engaged in agriculture making about 42% of the GDP.
Nonetheless crops are not the country's largest product, but rather gold and cotton which make up about 80 percent of export earnings alone.
Mali is Africa's third largest gold producer and the most profitable mines are found in the southeast Bambouk mountains.
Speaking of resources, Food!
In Mali there are a lot of different regional cuisines that different people groups are known for but some nationwide known dishes might include things like:
Malian style Jollof rice
Diablani juice
Meat in peanut sauce
Tuareg style Alabadia
Fakoye
Saga Saga
Malian tea
and Poulet Yassa.
Yeah. Boulet as in the French word for chicken which tells you a little bit of the backstory for these people.
Let's discuss more in:
Once again, that was Noah. Thank you a lot man. Follow him on Instagram, send him fan mail.
Mali is interesting because it's a nation that struggles. Yes
But they do it in like the most colorful unique exuberant flashy way and every region has their own type of flashiness.
First of all, the country has about 18 million people and has the third highest birth rate in the world
expected to double in population by 2035.
The population is pretty diverse, made up of several ethnic groups.
About half the population falls under the broader Mande group,
about 16% fall under the various Fula or Fulani people, 13% under the voltaic groups,
and 10% mostly in the North are Tuareg and Moorish peoples
and the rest are made up of other people groups with a sizable Songhai minority.
They used the West African CFA franc as their currency
They used a type C and E plug outlets and they drive on the right side of the road.
Of course as a former French territory, French was taught and today is the official language. All people groups use it to inter communicate amongst themselves.
However, there are also 13 recognized national languages. Now back to the diversity thing. In previous episodes,
we did like Burkina Faso and Gambia, we mentioned the Mande peoples which make up the largest group in Mali.
They are descended from the peoples that would eventually create and maintain the three most famous empires of West Africa:
The Ghana, Mali and Songhai.
Ghana: WOOHOO!! YEAH GHAHA!!!!
Actually, the Ghana Empire was nowhere near modern-day Ghana and had nothing to do with them.
[Katy Perry Meme]
Historically Mali played a huge role in the trans-saharan trade routes between the Sahelian kingdoms of North Africa.
Timbuktu and Djenne were centers of learning science astronomy and literature in the 14th century.
Mansa Musa was dispute ibly one of if not the most rich man that ever possibly existed.
And it wasn't until Europeans sea trade and subsequent famines and invasions by the Moroccans that these empires started to decline.
Also we talked about the fula and Fulani peoples before.
They're spread throughout all of West Africa. About a third of the entire population are pastoralist
making them the world's largest nomadic peoples on the planet.
And about 2.5 million live in Mali which makes the country about 5 to 10% nomadic.
Aren't they like the people that play the Hoddu guitar thing?
Yep
That is like...... sooo doope!
They are known for their women's hairstyles woven hats and colourful loose accessories and clothing.
Then you have the southern groups like the Voltaic, Senufo and Bwa peoples.
Are those the people that play the Balafon, that thing looks like xylophone. You know what I'm talking about?
Yep
Soooo dooope!!
As well as the famous Dogon peoples that have the world's longest religious ceremony,
the Sigui festival that happens once every 60 years and the event in itself can last years.
They also have the lake Antogo fish frenzy at the sacred lake once a year. Men jump in and catch as many fish as they can.
Then we reach the northern peoples, mostly Tuareg, a people group related to the Berbers in northern Africa.
They inhabit the vast Saharan landscape.
These people have millennia of pre-islamic history and traditions
rooted in desert adapted tribes and customs found nowhere else on earth.
Dude, are they the people that play the Imzad instrument thing?
Wow, Keith? You're really on an instrument quest today. What can I say?
It's like so dope man, you know guitars,
Instruments.
There's a lot of other main people groups and tribes that we could have discussed
But these are the biggest most notable ones that probably hold the largest influence over the country.
Otherwise, faith wise, Mali is quite unique.
There's a saying: "Mali is 98% Muslim, 2% Christian, and 100% Animist".
Much like we've studied in the recent eSwatini episode, the majority of Mali's population in the south somewhat adheres to a form of religious pluralism
in this case with Islam. Many claim to be Muslim mostly in the Sufi order but synchronised traditional animus practices
as to retain connections to their pre-Islamic roots. This of course does not fly too well
with the Sunni Tuaregs and other people groups in the north, which has been one of the leading factors in domestic conflict.
I ask some of you guys the Muslim geograpeeps to explain the difference between Sunni and Sufi Islam,
and here are what I would say, maybe some of the most helpful responses I got for clarity.
Mainstream Sunnis are from a main branch that focuses more on doctrine and the world affairs happening right now
whereas Sufism is usually from the Malachite branch that teaches a more mystical branch of Islam that focuses on the world after.
It follows a direct approach to experience God through things like
meditation, prayer and sometimes even dance and music depending on the region. One Saudi geography told me that in the broadest stereotypical sense:
Sufism is sometimes in certain places kind of seen as like hippy Islam. I don't know. What do you guys think?
Would that be kind of like an accurate description? Anyway for what it's worth, most southern Mali Muslims follow Sufism
whereas northern Malians have a more strict rebel-controlled Sharia implemented society
that does not agree with the more moderate approach to their southern countrymen. And that in itself is a whole other story.
Which kind of means this is the time where we transition into the history montage section!
We don't have a lot of time to explain but in the quickest way I can put it:
Tribes and people groups inhabit the Upper Niger River Basin,
The Empire of Mali becomes a dominant force,
Mansa Musa makes his huge pilgrimage to Mecca,
The decline of the Malian Empire,
Moroccans defeat the Songhai, Timbuktu becomes the capital,
Huge famine in the 1800s,
French occupation, it becomes French Sudan,
Independence
This guy becomes president
March revolution, Political system changes,
Northern Mali conflict in 2012 things look good for a short while but then another attack happens three years later,
UN peacekeeping forces continue to send aid,
The country is slowly tries to accommodate the rapid population growth, and here we are today.
Some notable people of Malian descent or born in Mali might include people like:
Of course Mansa Musa, Ali Farka Toure, Oxmo Puccino,
Salif Keita, Vieux Farka Toure, Ngoni Ba, Amadou Hampâté Bâ,
Malick Sidibé, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Rokia Toure and Oumou Sangare.
All right, that being said. We have to move on.
Let's discuss Mali diplomacy now, shall we?
For Mali, friends are interesting because historically they've already been linked to so many people across Africa
but modern politics and mainstream culture has also played a strong role as well.
For one, outside of Africa,
France is probably the closest friend. As a former colony, France holds close ties.
French people make up the largest tourist group even after the northern conflict,which was also partially aided by their military.
During the Cold War, Mali some what kind of allied with Russia,
however, It wasn't really that strong. Nonetheless
Today Russia and their former Soviet Republic Armenia both have remnant ties, and there's even an embassy
for both Russia and Mali in each other's countries.
Inside of Africa, It's a little tricky because it depends on who you ask.
Culturally the people of the South identified closer with their neighbors and probably consider countries like Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, and Guinea as their best friends
whereas the northern people's identify closer with Mauritania, Algeria and Niger.
Each one also having high populations of the same ethnic groups like the Tuareg and Berber.
With that being said, with Algeria, it's a little tricky.
There was a hostage situation in the Algerian consulate in 2012
and since then, the Algerian Prime Minister has planned to work alongside the MNLA
which means South Mali has a little issue with them. In conclusion,
Mali is a nation with thousands of years,
telling a story built off of sand, mud, rivers and gold.
And today even amidst a conflict, they know where they've come from and they keep their story alive.
Stay tuned,
Malta is coming up next!