Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over 1,240,192 square kilometres (478,841 sq mi). The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east by Niger, to the northwest by Mauritania, to the south by Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, and to the west by Guinea and Senegal. The population of Mali is about 23.29 million0 47.19% of which are estimated to be under the age of 15 in 2024. Its capital and largest city is Bamako. The country has 13 official languages, of which Bambara is the most commonly spoken.

The sovereign state's northern borders reach deep into the middle of the Sahara Desert. The country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, is in the Sudanian savanna and has the Niger and Senegal rivers running through it. The country's economy centres on agriculture and mining with its most prominent natural resources including gold (of which it is the third largest producer in Africa) and salt.

Mali was part of three successive powerful and wealthy West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire (for which Ghana is named), the Mali Empire (for which Mali is named), and the Songhai Empire. At its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire was the wealthiest country in Africa with its 14th-century emperor Mansa Musa believed to be one of the wealthiest individuals in history. Besides being a hub of trade and mining, medieval Mali was a centre of Islam, culture and knowledge, with Timbuktu becoming a renowned place of education with its university, one of the oldest in the world and still active. The expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the empire in 1468, followed by a Saadian army which defeated the Songhai in 1591. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, making it a part of French Sudan; as the Sudanese Republic, a brief federation with Senegal was formed, achieving independence in 1960. After Senegal's withdrawal, the Republic of Mali was established. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state.

In January 2012, an armed conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of a territory in the north, and in April declared the secession of a new state, Azawad. The conflict was complicated by a military coup in March 2012 and later fighting between Tuareg and other rebel factions. In response to territorial gains, the French military launched Operation Serval in January 2013. A month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north, although the conflict continued. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second-round run-off held on 11 August, and legislative elections were held on 24 November and 15 December 2013. In the early 2020s, Mali experienced two military takeovers by Assimi Goïta. (Full article...)

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Hamidou Maiga (born 1932) is a Malian studio photographer among the region's pioneers in the craft during the postcolonial period. His work was largely unknown in the West prior to his discovery and display in the early 2010s. Maiga's early outdoor portraits from the Niger River region in the late 1950s reflect Mali's period of societal transition from colony to sovereignty. He has exhibited in solo shows in London and Lima, Peru. (Full article...)

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Timbuktu Samori Ture Oumou Sangaré Aminata Traoré Bamako Soumaoro Kanté Berbers Battle of Kirina Mali Empire Musa I of Mali Mopti Northern Mali conflict Amadou Toumani Touré Kayes Ségou Region Lake Débo Malian Armed Forces Bozo people Dandara Touré Great Mosque of Djenné Northwest African cheetah Music of Mali Omar Ould Hamaha Djenné Boucle du Baoulé National Park Sélingué Dam Festival au Désert Amadou & Mariam Media of Mali Toumani Diabaté Slavery in Mali Djoliba AC Dambé: The Mali Project LGBT rights in Mali Gouina Hydroelectric Plant Second Battle of Timbuktu Mali Health Sikasso National Library of Mali Wildlife of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta Niger River Prostitution in Mali Adrar des Ifoghas Tuareg rebellion (2012) Women in Mali Manding Mountains Rally for Mali Law enforcement in Mali Ségou Djembe Mandinka people Battle of Gao Tuareg people Jews of Bilad el-Sudan Dogon people Military history of the Mali Empire Ebola virus disease in Mali Tuareg rebellion (2007–2009)

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The following are images from various Mali-related articles on Wikipedia.

Malian tea (from Malian cuisine)
The extent of the Mali Empire's peak (from Mali)
Former President of Mali Amadou Toumani Touré and Minister-president of the Netherlands Mark Rutte (from Mali)
Landscape in Hombori (from Mali)
A market scene in Djenné (from Mali)
Members of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, September 2020 (from Mali)
Cotton processing at CMDT (from Mali)
A Bambara wedding in Mali, observed by a tourist. (from Mali)
Coat of arms of Mali (from Malian cuisine)
Assimi Goita, interim president of Mali since 2021 Malian coup d'état (from Mali)
A crowd of women in Mali. (from Culture of Mali)
Jollof rice with vegetables and a boiled egg (from Malian cuisine)
Regions of Mali since 2023 (from Mali)
Cotton being processed in Niono into 180 kg (400 lb) bales for export to other parts of Africa and to France, c. 1950 (from Mali)
Mali map of Köppen climate classification (from Mali)
Location of Mali (from Malian cuisine)
Military situation in Mali. For a detailed map, see here. (from Mali)
A Bozo girl in Bamako (from Mali)
Bògòlanfini fabric. (from Culture of Mali)
Mali Dogon Dance (from Mali)
Kalabougou potters (from Mali)
Satellite image of Mali (from Mali)
High school students in Kati (from Mali)
Tuareg separatist rebels in Mali, January 2012 (from Mali)
Malian children playing football (from Culture of Mali)
Map showing the fullest extent of rebel-held territory in January 2013 (from Mali)
A proportional representation of Mali exports, 2019 (from Mali)
An entrance to the Djinguereber mosque (from Mali)
Fulani children in Mali. (from Mali)
The pages above are from Timbuktu Manuscripts written in Sudani script (a form of Arabic) from the Mali Empire showing established knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Today there are close to a million of these manuscripts found in Timbuktu alone. (from Mali)
Another image depicting Groundnut Stew (from Malian cuisine)
WWI Commemorative Monument to the "Armée Noire" (from Mali)
A farmer with potatoes (from Malian cuisine)
Representatives of Mali and Russia at the 2nd International Parliamentary Conference “Russia-Africa” in Moscow, 19 March 2023 (from Mali)
GDP per capita development of Mali (from Mali)
Pashalik of Timbuktu (yellow-striped) as part of the Saadi dynasty of Morocco, c. 1591 (from History of Mali)
Malian tea (from Mali)
Village in the Sahel region (from Mali)
Malian musical duo Amadou et Mariam are known internationally for their music, combining Malian and international influences. (from Culture of Mali)
Konoguel Mosque tower (from Mali)
Grondnut Stew (from Malian cuisine)
A Dogon hunter with an old flintlock rifle still in use. (from Culture of Mali)
Mango packaging (from Malian cuisine)
Griots of Sambala, king of Médina (Fula people, Mali), 1890. Photo by Joannès Barbier. (from Mali)
The Tuareg are nomadic inhabitants of northern Mali. (from Mali)
Flag of Mali (from Malian cuisine)
Malian children playing football in a Dogon village (from Mali)
Modibo Sidibe voting in Bamako, 2018 Malian presidential election (from Mali)
A textile artisan at work in Djenne, Mali. (from Culture of Mali)
Map of the Pashalik of Timbuktu (yellow-striped) as part of the Saadi dynasty of Morocco (outlined black) within the Songhai Empire (outlined red), c. 1591 (from Mali)

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Cities and towns

v t e Largest cities or towns in Mali According to the 2009 Census^[1]
	Rank	Name	Region	Pop.
Bamako Sikasso	1	Bamako	Bamako	1,810,366
2	Sikasso	Sikasso	226,618
3	Koutiala	Sikasso	141,444
4	Ségou	Ségou	133,501
5	Kayes	Kayes	126,319
6	Mopti	Mopti	120,786
7	Kalabancoro	Koulikoro	96,173
8	Gao	Gao	86,353
9	Kati	Koulikoro	84,500
10	San	Ségou	66,967