Mali is a country with a rich history, backed up for 5 millenniums. Five empires or important kingdoms succeeded one another there:

Origins of the Wagadou - Ghana Empire go back up to Dinga Khoré the Ancient, the Soninké conqueror and the descendant of the first black Pharaohs of Egypt. In its peak in the 10th century, the empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean to Nigeria and from the North of Ivory Coast to Sahara. Its economy was based on agriculture, breeding and transsaharien business with the peoples of North Africa interested in gold, salt and slaves.
The power will crumble off in the 11th century under the uprising of some provinces supported by Almoravides Moslem, and will be definitively conquered by Sosso Kingdom of Soumaoro Kanté, descendant of the family of the imperial smiths of Wagadou.

Mali is the name under which Peuls indicates Mandé (or Manden). With the extension of the slavery, Malinkés became hunting animals for Moslems, provocating so massive exodus of which was the first ancestors of the Dogons, “Doh emigrated”.
Ravaged 9 times by Soumaoro Kanté, Mandé got freed of king of Sosso in 1235 by the young Magan Soundjata Keïta. Raised to the rank of Manden Mansa, “king of the Mandé”, Soundjata created a big council grouping together thirty four basic clans of the country, organized anti-slavery brigades and widened his empire by conquest. The empire of Mali extended within ten years from the Lake Debo to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Guinean forest to Maurinania.
From the death of Soundjata in 1235 to 1400, 12 emperors succeeded one another among whom Abou Bakr II who began in 1312 the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. He would so discover America two centuries before Christopher Colombus!

The Songhaï Empire is originally a small kingdom which was born in the 7th century on the banks of theriver Niger, between Gao in Mali and Tillabery in Niger. Gao being the meeting place of caravans coming from the Maghreb, from Spain and from the Middle East became the capital city in 1009.
Conquered by the empire of Mali in 1300, the Songhaï Empire found its independence with Soni Ali Ber, who freed Timbuctu from Touaregs in 1464. The Songhaï Empire will then fall under the Moroccan invasion in 1591.

Bambaras, an important branch of the Malinké people, penetrated on the historical scene of Mali at the beginning of the 17th century. It was in 1712 when Sounou Mamary Coulibaly, alias Biton Coulibaly, had reduced to slaves his defeated opponents and used them to establish an army. It so thrown the bases of the Bambara Realm of Ségou whose capital city Sekoro (Ségoukoro) was 4 kilometers in the West of Ségou.

With the Peul Empire of Macina, Sékou Amadou created in the 19th century a religious kingdom called “Diina”, whose capital city was Hamdallaye.
A last empire was born with the Toucouleur emperor El Hadj Oumar Tall, who conquered from 1850 the territories of Mandingue and Bambouk, Massassi realm, Bambaras realms of Kaarta and Ségou and Peul Empire of Macina.

After the succession of empires, Mali will be subjected to the French colonization. The colony of French Sudan is created in 1891. The capital city, Kayes, got transferred to Bamako in 1899.

The colonization lasted from the end of the 19th century to 22th September 1960, date in which French Sudan proclaimed its independence. The country took then the name of Mali, led by Modibo Keïta.
In 1968, Modibo Keïta is knocked down by military coup d’état. Moussa Traoré took then the power and established a dictatorship system which will last until 1991, when he also got knocked down by coup d’état led by General Amadou Toumani Touré.
The Committee of Transition for the Safety of the People (C.T.S.P) is then set up. The democratic process led in 1992 to the first democratic elections which allowed Alpha Oumar Konaré to be elected for a first mandate of 5 years. He got reelected in 1997, before leaving power, in 2002, on the return of Amadou Toumani Touré, also reelected in 2007.

Mali is situated in the heart of western Africa. Seven countries share with it a common border: Maurinania and Algeria in the North, Niger in the East, the Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire in the South and Guinea Conakry and Senegal in the West.
The country covers a 1 240 238 km surface ², that is 2,5 times France. The highest summit is the Hombori Mountain (height: 1155m).

The capital city is Bamako (approximately 1 400 000 inhabitants in 2006). Other important cities are: Kayes, Koulikouro, Ségou, Sikasso, Mopti, Gao, Kidal and Tombouctou.
Mali has a tropical climate. Its three climatic zones are divided as follows: a desertic climate in the North, a Sahelian climate in the centre and a Sudanese climate in the South.

The year is generally composed of three seasons: the dry season, from March to June, can see the thermometer rising up to 45°C. The winteri generally lasts from July to September (wet weather, temperatures between 24 ° and 38°C). The best season to visit Mali is situated between October and February, when temperatures are the most clement.
Two big rivers spray Mali: the river Niger 4 200km among which 1 700km in Mali and river Senegal 1 700km among which 800km in Mali. These two rivers are sources of life for a large part of the population.