Mali MapMALI

Mali consists of 8 regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara, while the country’s southern region, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Sénégal rivers.

The Niger is generally described as Mali’s lifeblood, a source of food, drinking water, irrigation, and transportation. Mali is one of the continent’s biggest cotton producers.


For several decades after independence from France in 1960, Mali suffered droughts, rebellions, a coup and 23 years of military dictatorship. But since its first democratically-elected president took power in 1992, it has had a civilian government and enjoyed relative political stability.