Discover MALI : 10 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THIS WEST AFRICAN COUNTRY

Mali is a West African landlocked country subdivided into 10 regions. Officially, it is referred to as the Republic of Mali. Bamako is its capital city. According to the World Bank in 2020, the population of Mali stood at 20.25 million people. Its currency is the West African CFA franc and the country's official languages are Bambara and French. It is the 8th largest country in Africa with an area of over 1,240,000 square kilometers. In this video, you will discover 10 facts about Mali. Before then, please subscribe if you haven't and turn on the notification bell to be notified of any new uploads. Let's get right into it. 10. The Grand Mosque of Jena Located on the floodplains of the River Bani in the city of Jena, the previous structure built on the site was constructed in the 13th century. The current building dates back to 1907. It is one of the most popular landmarks in Africa and is part of the ancient city of Jena. The Great Mosque of Jena is a large Banco or Adobe building in the Sudano-Sahelian architecture style. It is said that the original Great Mosque was erected when King Khoi Konbaro, who was Jena's 26th ruler and its first sultan, decided to use traditional design techniques and local materials to build a place of Muslim worship in town. He had his palace destroyed and the mosque built in its place as an expression of his newfound faith. Constructed using clay mortar and sun-baked bricks, it is the world's largest man-made clay mud structure. Every April, residents of Jena maintain the walls of the mosque during a one-day festival called Krepisaj. They reconstruct the walls with mud. The original mosque presided over one of the most important Islamic learning centres in Africa during the Middle Ages. Thousands of students would come to study the Quran in Jena's madrasas. 9. Languages of Mali Mali has 12 national languages. They include A. Bommu B. Mamara Senufo C. Masina Fulfulda D. Suninka E. Tieyaksobozo F. Hassania Arabic G. Dogon H. Maninkakan I. Songhai J. Sienara K. Tamasheq L. Saasongaksango These languages are spoken as the first language of their associated ethnic groups. Its lingua francas include A. Bambara B. Fula C. French Other important languages are Arabic and English. 8. The Elephant Fish and Elephants in Mali Momiropso doti is a freshwater fish only found in Mali. It is referred to as the elephant fish because of its elongated tubular snout. The fish is considered a great delicacy in Bamako. The Bozo people, living on the shores of River Niger, are known for fishing the elephant fish. They are considered masters of the river because of their skills in the water and their gentle character. Mali's desert elephants are one of the only two elephant populations adapted for deserts. These are the Gourma elephants, desert adapted African elephants. They undergo the longest elephant migration in the world and are the northernmost population of elephants. They frequently endure sandstorms, water shortages and temperatures of over 50 degrees Celsius. The Gourma elephants mostly peacefully coexist with the local Dogan, Tuareg and Fulani peoples. They mainly practiced pastoralism in the past but are now turning to agriculture. In 2009, there was a severe drought that dried out Lake Banzina completely, depriving the elephants of one of their water points. Poaching and climate change has unfortunately been reducing their numbers considerably. 9. National Park of Mali This is a space of 103 hectares within a large protected forest reserve of 2100 hectares found in Bamako, Mali. It forms a significant green belt in the arid country. It is a large, semi-circular canyon of protected forest area that lies beneath the terraced outcrops of the Kuluba Plateau, between the Presidential Palace Complex and the National Museum. The park was designed to offer large open spaces for leisure and educational activities for the public, tourists and school groups. The park features a comprehensive pedestrian circulation network. It contains fitness, jogging, mountaineering and cycling tracks of varying difficulty and awareness, trails for nature, birds and botany. The network provides easy access to the park and its facilities like the amphitheatre and the National Museum. The amphitheatre is dedicated to education and performing arts. Phase 1 of the park included the redevelopment and integration of eight existing facilities. There are garden spaces with flower gardens, a medicinal garden and wooded areas, educational signs, displays and trained guides. For the 50th anniversary of Mali, the National Park in Bamako reopened with new buildings like entrance buildings, a sports centre and an exclusive restaurant. All buildings are covered on the outside with local natural stone, thus saving building costs and reinforcing local identity. It is a beautiful place to relax and learn. 6. Magnificent Bandiagara Escarpment This is an escarpment in the Dogon area of Mali. It has a length of about 150 kilometres. The sandstone cliff rises about 1600 feet above the lower sandy flats to the south. Today, it is inhabited by the Dogon people. In the past, it was inhabited by the Toloi and Telum peoples. The Bandiagara site is a beautiful landscape of cliffs and sandy plateaus with magnificent architecture like granaries, altars, houses, sanctuaries and communal meeting places. Traditions are still practised by the people of this land, such as wearing of masks, rituals, ceremonies involving ancestral worship and feasts. This escarpment is a vast cultural landscape covering about 40,000 hectares including 289 villages. They are scattered in the plains, escarpment and sandstone plateau. The region has impressive geological and environmental features. You should see the Toguna, a long and large construction providing shelter under a roof of branches supported by wooden poles. This is where there are benches for the men. There are also totemic sanctuaries and other privileged places. Some in houses, others in caves. The heritage today suffers from the negative effects of globalisation linked to increased development of cultural tourism and drought. It is all in all a great tourism site. 5. Mali's Salt and Gold Mali has numerous salt mines. The oldest one is Taudeni. The mine is located in northern Mali in the desert area about 413 miles from Timbuktu. Salt is mined by hand from the bed of an ancient salt lake, split into slabs then transported by either camel or truck to Timbuktu. Located 93 miles northwest of Taudeni is Taghaza. This is also another notable salt mining site in Mali. Salt from northern parts of the country is brought to the southern parts and traded for gold. In the last decade, Mali has experienced a gold bloom. At the moment, it is Africa's third largest producer of gold and has one of the world's most gold-dependent economies. Gold is mined mostly in the southwestern areas of the country on the Mandenga Plateau. There are both artisanal and industrial mining operations at the Morila, Yatela and Sadiola mines. Since the 1990s, gold has been obtained from alluvial deposits of the Syama, Tabakoto, Keniba and Kalana underground gold mines. Mali's gold reserves are estimated to be at 703 tonnes. You most definitely have heard or used this phrase before. Did you know that Timbuktu is a real place? No, neither did I. In the 1800s, Timbuktu was considered a place of mythical riches. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it as the most distant place imaginable. Timbuktu is not the treasure house it once was, but is now a beautiful ancient desert town. Timbuktu is a city in northern Mali. It was founded by Tuareg nomads in the 12th century and within 200 years, it became an immensely wealthy city and a centre of important trading routes for salt and gold. It was inaccessible and many European expeditions perished, leaving it out of reach for centuries. To date, it remains relatively remote. One writer says that it was a mythological place of trade and Islamic scholars. Timbuktu became part of the Mali Empire in the 14th century until it was taken over by the Songhai Empire in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai Empire and made Timbuktu its capital. It fell into decline in the 17th and 18th century. In 1960, Timbuktu became part of the newly independent Republic of Mali. It is now an administrative centre of Mali. 3. Education Education in Mali is free and compulsory between ages 7 and 16 or until the end of grade 9. In Mali, the first six years of learning are primary education. The last six years are separated into two three-year cycles of secondary education. At the end of grade 9, students sit for an exam called Diplôme d'Études Fondamentales in order to join the second level of secondary education. Secondary schools are mostly found in urban areas and are mainly privately owned. According to UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 69% of school-going children in Mali are enrolled in primary school while 36% are enrolled in secondary school. This data is in relation to economy and accessibility barriers faced by the society. At the end of grade 12, students sit for an exam called the Baccalaureat in order to graduate. Students thereafter may proceed to tertiary institutions like the University of Bamako. Vocational training and apprenticeships are also encouraged by the government. One writer, Casey Wilson, writes, In a study of the scientific, technical and vocational education of African girls, UNESCO found that on average women made up 23% of college graduates in the medical field, 3% of engineering graduates and 10% of graduates in agricultural sciences. Education in Mali has seen great improvement in recent years. However, there is still a need for reassessment of the barriers that impede students from accessing good education. 2. The Mali Empire The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita, 1214-1255. It was a monarchy. Its rulers, especially Mansa Musa, were renowned for their wealth. At its peak, 1200-1300, the Mali Empire was the largest in West Africa. Following the death of Sundiata Keita, the kings of Mali were referred to by the title Mansa. It is said that Mansa Musa inherited a kingdom that was already wealthy, but his work in expanding trade made it the wealthiest in Africa. His riches came from mining salt and gold deposits. After his return from Mecca, where he had been between 1324-1326, he worked on revitalising cities in his kingdom. The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. They include Malinka, Fulani and Mandinka. The empire began in and was centred around the Manding region, which is in southern Mali and north-eastern Guinea now. Islam was the official religion of the land, although in the rural areas there were traditional African religions. Niani is believed to have been the capital city of the Mali Empire. Its population in the mid-15th century stood at 40-50 million. The currency of the Mali Empire was mostly gold dust, but copper, salt, silver and cowries were also commonly used. Mali Empire was preceded by Gao Empire and Ghana Empire, and succeeded by several other empires, Songhai Empire, Ka'abu Empire, Jollof Empire and Empire of Great Fulo. The Mali Empire spanned the modern-day countries of Senegal, southern Mauritania, Mali, northern Burkina Faso, western Niger, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia, Guinea, the Ivory Coast and northern Ghana. The empire collapsed in the 1460s following civil wars, opening up of trading routes elsewhere and the rise of the Songhai Empire. It, however, continued to control a small part of the Western Empire into the 17th century. 1. Pressure cooker of Africa One of the world's hottest deserts, the Sahara Desert, covers an area of 3.6 million square miles. The desert covers a large area of North Africa, accounting for approximately 31% of the total area of the continent. For many years, this arid area has received annual rainfall of below 200 Malwi. Some of the countries within the desert include Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Mali, Morocco, Niger Republic, Chad, Algeria and small portions of Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Sudan. Mali is one of the hottest countries in Africa. 65% of the total area of the country is covered by the Sahara. It is referred to as the pressure cooker of Africa because it is generally hot, especially during hot seasons like April, where temperatures can rise to 46 degrees Celsius or even higher. You will see in the north the formation of the ever-shifting parallel dunes in the sand and the valley of the Niger River in the southernmost point of the Sahara. We have come to the end of our video. Do leave us a thumbs up if you liked it.