Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 井仆不丐仆不五 丐中五, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, 堿堭堜 塈, Jumh贖riyyt Ml蘋 is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
is a landlocked nation in
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
, located southwest of
Algeria
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, extending south-west from the southern
Sahara Desert
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through the
Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, 堻塈堶 ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
to the
Sudanian savanna zone. Mali's size is 1,240,192 square kilometers.
Desert or semi-desert covers about 65 percent of Mali's total area (1,240,192 square kilometers). The Niger River creates a large and fertile
inland delta
A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rare ...
as it arcs northeast through Mali from Guinea before turning south and eventually emptying into the Gulf of Guinea.
The territory encompasses three natural zones: the southern cultivated Sudanese zone, central semi-desert Sahelian zone, and northern desert Saharan zone. The terrain is primarily savanna in the south and flat to rolling plains or high plateau (200500 meters in elevation) in the north. There are rugged hills in the northeast, with elevations of up to 1,000 meters.
The Niger (with 1,693 kilometers in Mali) and Senegal are Mali's two largest rivers. The Niger is generally described as Mali's lifeblood, a source of food, drinking water, irrigation, and transportation.
[
The country's lowest point is on the ]Senegal River
,french: Fleuve S矇n矇gal)
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(23 m) and its highest point is Hombori Tondo
Mount Hombori (Hombori Tondo) is a mountain in Mali's Mopti Region, near the town of Hombori. At 1,155 meters, it is the highest point in Mali.
Biodiversity
Mount Hombori is an important location for biodiversity in the Sahel, with 150 diff ...
(1155 m).
Climate
Mali is one of the hottest countries in the world. The thermal equator
The thermal equator (also known as "the heat equator") is a belt encircling Earth, defined by the set of locations having the highest mean annual temperature at each longitude around the globe. Because local temperatures are sensitive to the geogr ...
, which matches the hottest spots year-round on the planet based on the mean daily annual temperature, crosses the country Most of Mali receives negligible rainfall and drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
s are very frequent Late April to early October is the rainy season in the southernmost area. During this time, flooding of the Niger River is common, creating the Inner Niger Delta
The Inner Niger Delta, also known as the Macina or Masina, is the inland delta of the Niger River. It is an area of fluvial wetlands, lakes and floodplains in the semi-arid Sahel area of central Mali, just south of the Sahara desert.
Location ...
. The vast northern desert part of Mali has a hot desert climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the K繹ppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...
(K繹ppen climate classification
The K繹ppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir K繹ppen (18461940) in 1884, with several later modifications by K繹ppen, notabl ...
''BWh'') with long, extremely hot summers and scarce rainfall which decreases northwards. The central area has a hot semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
(K繹ppen climate classification ''BSh'') with very high temperatures year-round, a long, intense dry season and a brief, irregular rainy season. The southern areas have a tropical wet and dry climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the K繹ppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
(K繹ppen climate classification ''Aw'') very high temperatures year-round with a dry season and a rainy season.[ During the hottest season of the year, temperatures are high throughout the country. ]Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, 漟漟漺晦晷漟, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
, Taghaza
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, Taoudenni ar, 堛堹
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, Araouane
Araouane or Arawan is a small village in the Malian part of the Sahara Desert, lying north of Timbuktu on the caravan route to the salt-mining centre of Taoudenni. The village once served as an entrep繫t in the trans-Saharan trade.
History
Betw ...
, Gao
Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley.
For much of its history Gao was an impor ...
, Kidal
Kidal ( Tuareg Berber: 漺撾晴漟, KDL, Kidal) is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and includes ...
and Tessalit
Tessalit is a rural commune and village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village is the administrative centre of Tessalit Cercle (district). The village lies north of Adjelhoc and about from the Algerian border. The ''commune'' extends over ...
are some of the hottest spots on Earth during their warmest months. Kayes, with an average high temperature of about 44簞 (111.2簞) in April is nicknamed "the pressure cooker of Africa" due to his extreme heat year-round. The heat is more extreme to the north in the Sahara Desert
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
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; the maximum average high temperature of the year reaches 46 簞C (114.8 簞F) in Araouane in June and comes close to 48簞 (118.4簞) in the Taoudenni region during July sunshine duration
Sunshine duration or sunshine hours is a climatological indicator, measuring duration of sunshine in given period (usually, a day or a year) for a given location on Earth, typically expressed as an averaged value over several years. It is a gene ...
is high in Mali, reaching the highest levels in the northern arid zone with about 3,600 - 3,700 h a year. Mali has overall a hot, sunny and dry climate dominated by the subtropical ridge
The horse latitudes are the latitudes about 30 degrees north and south of the Equator. They are characterized by sunny skies, calm winds, and very little precipitation. They are also known as Subtropics, subtropical ridges, or highs. It is a h ...
.
Examples
Geology
Geologically, Mali consists mostly of vast flatlands of granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
and shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
covered by sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
and alluvial quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
. Mali extends over two main geological structures, the West African craton
The West African Craton (WAC) is one of the five cratons of the Precambrian basement rock of Africa that make up the African Plate, the others being the Kalahari craton, Congo craton, Saharan Metacraton and Tanzania Craton.Jessell M.W., Li矇geois ...
in the west and the Tuareg shield in the southeast, which came together at the end of the Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated p, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
era between 600 and 550 million years ago. The suture zone is to the west of the Adrar des Ifoghas
The Adrar des Ifoghas (also Adrar des Iforas; Tamasheq: 漺售晰漟漺售 漟 漟漺潑漟漺售 in Tifinagh; Adrar n Ifoghas; ar, 堧堹堭塈堭 堨媞塈堻 Ifoghas' Mountains) is a massif located in the Kidal Region of Mali, reaching into Algeri ...
mountains.
The underlying rocks of the West African craton are covered in the northwest by sediments of the Taoudeni basin
The Taoudeni Basin is a major Sedimentary basin in West Africa, named after the Taoudenni village in northern Mali. It covers large parts of the West African craton in Mauritania and Mali. It is of considerable interest due to its possible reserve ...
, with two main outcrops of crystalline rocks in the northern Reguibat shield in Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, 堭堛塈塈, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gnnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, 塈堿堭堜 塈堨堻塈堜 ...
and the southern Leo shield which includes the Bougouni
Bougouni is a commune and city in Mali, the administrative center of Bougouni Cercle, which is in turn found in the administrative region of Sikasso. Bougouni is located 170 km south of Bamako and 210 km west of the city of Sikasso. ...
and Kenieba outcrops, both of which contain valuable minerals. There may also be petroleum reserves in the Taoudeni basin.
Borders
Mali shares a total of 7,243 kilometers (4,500 miles) of land boundaries with seven bordering states:
North and northeast: Algeria
)
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- 1,376 km/855 mi
East: Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 今云仇五仆丐 丐之亢, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...](_blank)
- 1,000 km/621 mi
South: Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as C繫te d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of C繫te d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
- 532 km/330 mi
Southwest: Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 五仆井, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, 葶舝葖, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: R矇publique de Guin矇e), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
- 858 km/533 mi
West: Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 井仆井內丐中五 (Senegaali); Arabic: 塈堻媞塈 ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R矇ewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 井仆不丐仆不五 ...
and Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, 堭堛塈塈, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gnnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, 塈堿堭堜 塈堨堻塈堜 ...
- 419 km/260 mi and 2,237 km/1,390 mi (respectively)
Natural resources
Mali is endowed with bauxite, copper, diamonds, gold, Granite, gypsum, iron ore, kaolin, limestone, lithium
Lithium (from el, 弇巹庛怷, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid el ...
, manganese, phosphates, salt, silver, uranium, and zinc. Not all deposits are being exploited, and some may not be commercially viable. Mali also has ample hydropower.
Land use
Sixty-five percent of Mali's land area is desert or semi-desert. According to estimates in 2011, only 5.63 percent of Mali's area can be classified as arable land, and 0.1 percent was planted to permanent crops. Mali was estimated to have 2,358 square kilometers of irrigated land in 2003. Mali has 100 cubic kilometers of total renewable water resources as off 2011 estimates.[
]
Environmental issues
Mali faces numerous environmental challenges, including desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
, deforestation, soil erosion, drought, and inadequate supplies of potable water. Deforestation is an especially serious and growing problem. According to the Ministry of the
Environment, Mali's population consumes 6 million tons of wood per year for timber and fuel. To meet this demand, 400,000 hectares of tree cover are lost annually, virtually ensuring destruction of the country's savanna woodlands.[
Mali is a party to international treaties on ]Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
, Climate Change
In common usage, climate change describes global warmingthe ongoing increase in global average temperatureand its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
, Endangered Species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...
, Hazardous Wastes
Hazardous waste is waste that has substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. Hazardous waste is a type of dangerous goods. They usually have one or more of the following hazardous traits: ignitability, reactivity, cor ...
, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion. It was agreed on 16 September 1987, and entered into force o ...
, Wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
, and Whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
. It has signed, but not ratified the selected agreements.
Natural hazards
Natural hazards in Mali include:
* Desert sandstorm
A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...
s in the north
* Dust-laden harmattan
The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into the ...
wind is common during dry seasons, bringing a dust haze which may ground aircraft and damage computers and sensitive electronics and machines, as well as aggravating respiratory diseases.
* Recurring drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
s
*Wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
s in the south
* Occasional flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
s, for example in July 2007.[''International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)'':]
Mali: Floods DREF Bulletin No. MDRML004
. 13 July 2007. ReliefWeb site retrieved 13 August 2007.
* Tropical thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
s in the south, which may bring wind and lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
damage as well as flash floods.
* Occasional Niger River flooding
Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 井仆不丐仆不五 丐中五, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, 堿堭堜 塈, Jumh贖riyyt Ml蘋 is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
* Northernmost point the northern section of the border with Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, 堭堛塈塈, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gnnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, 塈堿堭堜 塈堨堻塈堜 ...
, Tombouctou Region
Tombouctou Region ( Bambara: 腄 舝 tr. Tumutu Dineja) is one of the administrative regions of Mali. For administrative purposes, the region is subdivided into five cercles.
The region is part of northern Mali that was sepa ...
*
* Easternmost point the eastern section of the border with Niger
)
, official_languages =
, languages_type = National languages[Cote d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as C繫te d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of C繫te d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...](_blank)
, Sikasso Region
Sikasso Region ( Bambara: 舝 tr. Sikaso Dineja) is the southernmost region of Mali. The region's capital city, Sikasso, is the country's second-largest city. Major ethnic groups include the Senoufo, known for masks and rever ...
* Westernmost point - the tripoint
A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...
with Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 井仆井內丐中五 (Senegaali); Arabic: 塈堻媞塈 ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R矇ewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 井仆不丐仆不五 ...
and Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, 堭堛塈塈, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gnnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, 塈堿堭堜 塈堨堻塈堜 ...
, Kayes Region
Kayes Region ( Bambara: 艀 舝 tr. Kayi Dineja) is one of eight first level national subdivisions in Mali called Regions. It is the first administrative area of Mali and covers an area of . Its capital is the town of Kayes. The p ...
* *''Note: Mali does not have a northernmost point, the border being formed by a straight eastwest line''
* **''Note: Mali does not have an easternmost point, the border being formed by a straight northsouth line''
See also
* Inner Niger Delta
The Inner Niger Delta, also known as the Macina or Masina, is the inland delta of the Niger River. It is an area of fluvial wetlands, lakes and floodplains in the semi-arid Sahel area of central Mali, just south of the Sahara desert.
Location ...
* Manding Mountains
The Manding Mountains are a highland area in Mali, stretching between its western border with Guinea to an area 50km west of Bamako, Mali's capital. They reach above sea level. Kangaba, the spiritual home of the Mandinka people, is located at t ...
* 2010 Sahel famine
A large-scale, drought-induced famine occurred in Africa's Sahel region and many parts of the neighbouring S矇n矇gal River Area from February to August 2010. It is one of many famines to have hit the region in recent times.
The Sahel is ...
* List of cities in Mali
This list of cities in Mali tabulates all the largest communes in the country of Mali (including those in the north-eastern portion where the Mali Government no longer exercises de facto control). Besides the largest cities and towns (all urb ...
* List of rivers of Mali
* Eburnean orogeny
The Eburnean orogeny, or Eburnean cycle, was a series of tectonic, metamorphic and plutonic events in what is now West Africa during the Paleoproterozoic era about 22002000 million years ago.
During this period the Birimian domain in West Afri ...
* Kenieba inlier
* Bambouk
Bambouk (sometimes Bambuk or Bambuhu) is a traditional name for the territory in eastern Senegal and western Mali, encompassing the Bambouk Mountains on its eastern edge, the valley of the Faleme River and the hilly country to the east of the riv ...
* Birimian
The Birimian rocks are major sources of gold and diamonds that extend through Ghana, C繫te d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. They are named after the Birim River, one of the main tributaries of the Pra River in Ghana and the country's most ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geography Of Mali