MALI

officially Republic of Mali, French Rpublique du Mali landlocked country in western Africa. Mali is bordered to the west by Senegal, to the northwest by Mauritania, to the northeast by Algeria, to the southeast by Niger and Burkina Faso, to the south by Cte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and to the southwest by Guinea. The capital is Bamako. Area 482,077 square miles (1,248,574 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 8,646,000. trading empire that flourished in West Africa from the 13th to the 16th century. The Mali empire developed from the state of Kangaba, on the Upper Niger River east of the Fouta Djallon, and is said to have been founded before AD 1000. The Malinke inhabitants of Kangaba acted as middlemen in the gold trade during the later period of ancient Ghana. Their dislike of the Susu chief Sumanguru's harsh but ineffective rule provoked the Malinke to revolt, and in 1230 Sundiata, the brother of Kangaba's fugitive ruler, won a decisive victory against the Susu chief. (The name Mali absorbed the name Kangaba at about this time.) In extending Mali's rule beyond Kangaba's narrow confines, Sundiata set a precedent for successive emperors. Imperial armies secured the gold-bearing lands of Bondu and Bambuk to the south, subdued the Diara in the northwest, and pushed along the Niger as far north as Lac Dbo. Under Mansa Musa (130732?) Mali rose to the apogee of its power. He controlled the lands of the Middle Niger, absorbed into his empire the trading cities of Timbuktu and Gao, and imposed his rule on such south Saharan cities as Walata and on the Taghaza region of salt deposits to the north. He extended the eastern boundaries of his empire as far as the Hausa people, and to the west he invaded Takrur and the lands of the Fulani and Tukulor peoples. In Morocco, Egypt, and elsewhere he sent ambassadors and imperial agents and on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca (1324) established Egyptian scholars in both Timbuktu and Gao. By the 14th century the Dyula, or Wangara, as the Muslim traders of Mali came to be called, were active throughout West Africa. The tide that had carried Mali to success, however, impelled it ineluctably to decline. The empire outgrew its political and military strength: Gao rebelled (c. 1400); the Tuareg seized Walata and Timbuktu (1431); the peoples of Takrur and their neighbours (notably the Wolof) threw off their subjection; and the Mossi (in what is now Burkina Faso) began to harass their Mali overlord. By about 1550 Mali had ceased to be important as a political entity. town, northern Guinea. Located on the Fouta Djallon plateau at an elevation of about 4,600 feet (1,400 m), it is the chief trading centre for the cattle, rice, millet, oranges, and peanuts (groundnuts) produced in the surrounding area. A hydroelectric plant (18 miles south-southwest) on the Tantou River, a tributary of the Koumba, serves both the town and a cement factory at nearby Lbkr. The surrounding region is mountainous and is mainly inhabited by the Muslim Fulani and Dialonke peoples. Pop. (1983 prelim.) 33,078. officially Republic of Mali, French Rpublique du Mali, landlocked state in central western Africa. Bounded on the north by Algeria, on the east by Niger and Burkina Faso, on the south by Cte d'Ivoire and Guinea, and on the west by Senegal and Mauritania, it covers an area of 478,841 square miles (1,240,192 square kilometres). Bamako is the national capital. As a part of French West Africa from 1898 to its independence in 1960, it was known as the French Sudan. Its current name, taken at the time of independence, is derived from the Mali empire of the upper and middle Niger, which was ruled by the Malinke (Mandingo) from the 13th to the 16th century. Additional reading Philippe Decraene, Le Mali (1980); and Mamadou Traor and Yves Monnier (eds.), Atlas du Mali (1980), provide overviews. Ethnographic studies include Jean Gallais, Hommes du Sahel: espaces-temps et pouvoirs: le delta intrieur du Niger, 19601980 (1984); Danielle Jonckers, La Socit minyanka du Mali (1987); and Bokar N'Diay, Groupes ethniques au Mali (1970). Moussa Cola Ciss et al., Le Mali, le paysan et l'tat (1981); and Emil Schreyger, L'Office du Niger au Mali, 1932 1982 (1984), focus on agriculture. Gudel Ndiaye, L'chec de la Fdration du Mali (1980), is a political study. Kathleen M. Baker Administration and social conditions Government Upon independence in 1960, a national constitution guaranteed parliamentary democracy; the provisions of the constitution were not fully implemented, however. A military government took power in 1968 and suspended the constitution. A new constitution was approved in a national referendum on June 2, 1974. Under this constitution and its subsequent amendments, the Mali People's Democratic Union (UDPM) was the country's sole legal party from 1979 until 1991. In 1992, a new constitution was approved, providing for the separation of powers into three government branches, including a unicameral National Assembly as the legislative body. The right to multi-party politics also was established. The country is divided into the seven rgions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, Sgou, Mopti, Gao, and Timbuktu and the district of Bamako. Each of the rgions is further divided into administrative units called cercles (circles), which are in turn subdivided into smaller units called arrondissements. Each rgion is administered by a governor, who coordinates the activities of the cercles and implements economic policy. The cercles provide nuclei for the major government services; their various headquarters provide focal points for the health service, the army, the police, local courts, and other government agencies. The arrondissement is the basic administrative unit, and its centre usually houses a school and a dispensary. It is composed of several villages, which are headed by chiefs and elected village councils. Justice At the head of the judicial system, the Supreme Court exercises both judicial and administrative powers; it is the court of first and last resort in matters concerning the government. The Court of Appeal, located in Bamako, tries all cases on appeal from ordinary tribunals. The Special Court of State Security holds trials for crimes against state property, especially concerning itself with charges of embezzlement. There are more than 50 tribunals and more than 70 magistrates. Justices of the peace have full powers to judge ordinary civil, commercial, and financial cases; they sit in the headquarters of the cercles and also travel to the major towns of the arrondissements. Since 1960 new law codes have liberated women from traditional restraints, defined the rights and duties of citizens, and modified the penal procedure. Cultural life In spite of being one of the poorest nations in the world, Mali has long functioned as a crossroads between northern and western Africa and has developed a rich cultural tradition. Situated between the Arab world to the north and the black African nations to the south, it has for centuries been a cultural meeting place. Music and dancing are the most common cultural activities; they form an especially rich heritage among the Malinke and Songhai peoples. The Bambara and the Voltaic groups excel in the creation of wood carvings of masks, statues, stools, and objects used in animist worship. The tiewara, or gazelle mask, of the Bambara is remarkable for its fineness of line. Architecture is well developed in the Niger valley. The Sudanic style finds typical expression in the storied houses and mosques of Djenn and Timbuktu. Localized handicrafts include jewelry making by the Mandingo people, leatherworking around the Niger Bend, the weaving of geometric designs into cotton cloth, and the carving of statues for the tourist trade. The Museum of the Institute of Research and Documentation at Bamako contains collections of art from most of the country's regions. The National Archives of Mali, the National Library, and the Institute of Human Sciences are also located in Bamako, as is the Municipal Library. The Centre of Arab Documentation is located in Timbuktu, and there is a French Centre of Documentation in Bamako. The Library of the Office of Niger in Sgou covers agriculture, irrigation, and general science. The government promotes popular culture principally through the Committee of Youth and Sports. Youth associations organize sports, theatrical, musical, and dancing activities. Competitions are presented in Bamako during the biennial Youth Week. The Malian Ballet Troupe performs throughout the world. Artists are trained both at the National Institute of Arts and at the Artisan Centre of Bamako. Mali's one newspaper, L'Essor, is published by the UDPM and is far less effective in disseminating information than is the radio, not least because its circulation is limited to the literate and effectively to Bamako. There are two cultural journals of notethe first, Sunjata (Lord Lion, leader in the ancient empire of Mali), is produced by the government, while the second, Jamana (The Nation), is independent. The national radio station, Radiodiffusion Tlvision Malienne, is run by the government and broadcasts for more than 5,000 hours per year. News bulletins, general information, and educational programs take up two-thirds of broadcast hours; the remainder are devoted to entertainment, cultural, and religious programs and to advertisements. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of radios in Mali, and it is these that permit communication with the more remote regions. Television was introduced in 1983 and is limited to Bamako. Kathleen M. Baker The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica