Mali Gpu Download

[Allen Yerke]

Mali,[c] officially the Republic of Mali,[d] is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over 1,241,238 square kilometres (479,245 sq mi).[9] 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 21.9 million,[15][16] 67% of which was estimated to be under the age of 25 in 2017.[17] Its capital and largest city is Bamako. The country has 13 official languages, of which Bambara is the most commonly spoken.

The sovereign state of Mali consists of 19 regions; its borders on the north 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 both the Niger and Senegal rivers pass through. The country's economy centres on agriculture and mining. Its most prominent natural resources include gold, of which it is the third largest producer in Africa,[18] as well as salt.[19]

Mali was once part of three extremely 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[20] and one of the wealthiest on earth, with its 14th-century emperor Mansa Musa believed to be one of the wealthiest individuals in history.[21][22][23] Besides being an economic powerhouse, medieval Mali was a centre of Islam, culture and knowledge, with Timbuktu becoming a renowned place of learning with its university, one of the oldest in the world still active. The expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the empire in 1468,[not verified in body] 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.[24] The conflict was complicated by a military coup in March 2012[25] and later fighting between Tuareg and other rebel factions. In response to territorial gains, the French military launched Operation Serval in January 2013.[26] 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 Gota.

Fourteenth-century Maghrebi traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the empire was called Mali.[29][30] One Mandinka tradition tells that the legendary first emperor Sundiata Keita changed himself into a hippopotamus upon his death in the Sankarani River and that it was possible to find villages in the area of this river called "old Mali". A study of Malian proverbs noted that in old Mali, there is a village called Malikoma, which means "New Mali", and that Mali could have formerly been the name of a city.[31]

Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples.[32][33] It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/ and the terminal vowel denasalizes and raises, leading "Manden" to shift to /mali/.[31]

The rock art in the Sahara suggests that northern Mali has been inhabited since 10,000 BC, when the Sahara was fertile and rich in wildlife. Early ceramics have been discovered at the central Malian site of Ounjougou dating to about 9,400 BC, and are believed to represent an instance of the independent invention of pottery in the region.[34] Farming took place by 5000 BC and iron was used around by 500 BC.In the first millennium BC, early cities and towns were created by Mande peoples related to the Soninke people, along the middle Niger River in central Mali, including Dia which began from around 900 BC, and reached its peak around 600 BC,[35] and Djenne-Djenno, which lasted from around 300 BC to 900 AD. By the sixth century AD, the lucrative trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt and slaves had begun, facilitating the rise of West Africa's great empires.

There are a few references to Mali in early Islamic literature. Among these are references to "Pene" and "Malal" in the work of al-Bakri in 1068,[36] the story of the conversion of an early ruler, known to Ibn Khaldun (by 1397) as Barmandana,[37] and a few geographical details in the work of al-Idrisi.[38]

The Mali Empire later formed on the upper Niger River, and reached the height of power in the 14th century.[40] Under the Mali Empire, the ancient cities of Djenn and Timbuktu were centers of both trade and Islamic learning.[40] The empire later declined as a result of internal intrigue, ultimately being supplanted by the Songhai Empire.[40] The Songhai had long been a major power in West Africa subject to the Mali Empire's rule.[40]

In the late 14th century, the Songhai gradually gained independence from the Mali Empire and expanded, ultimately subsuming the entire eastern portion of the Mali Empire.[40] The Songhai Empire's eventual collapse was largely the result of the Moroccan invasion of 1591 under the command of Judar Pasha.[40] The fall of the Songhai Empire marked the end of the region's role as a trading crossroads.[40] Following the establishment of sea routes by the European powers, the trans-Saharan trade routes lost significance.[40] At that time, the Mali Empire's abundance in wealth expanded its commercial assets of salt and gold.

In November 1915, a large anti-French uprising broke out among the tribes in the regions of present-day Mali and Burkina Faso.[42] The last resistance was suppressed only in September 1916. During the suppression of the uprising, over 100 villages were destroyed by French colonial troops.[43]

On 24 November 1958, French Sudan (which changed its name to the Sudanese Republic) became an autonomous republic within the French Community.[44] In January 1959, Mali and Senegal united to become the Mali Federation.[44] The Mali Federation gained independence from France on 20 June 1960.[40]

Senegal withdrew from the federation in August 1960, which allowed the Sudanese Republic to become the independent Republic of Mali on 22 September 1960, and that date is now the country's Independence Day.[45] Modibo Keta was elected the first president.[40] Keta quickly established a one-party state, adopted an independent African and socialist orientation with close ties to the East, and implemented extensive nationalization of economic resources.[40] In 1960, the population of Mali was reported to be about 4.1 million.[46]

On 19 November 1968, following progressive economic decline, the Keta regime was overthrown in a bloodless military coup led by Moussa Traor,[47] a day which is now commemorated as Liberation Day.[48] The subsequent military-led regime, with Traor as president, attempted to reform the economy. His efforts were frustrated by political turmoil and a devastating drought between 1968 and 1974,[47] in which famine killed thousands of people.[49] The Traor regime faced student unrest beginning in the late 1970s and three coup attempts. The Traor regime repressed all dissenters until the late 1980s.[47]

The government continued to attempt economic reforms, and the populace became increasingly dissatisfied.[47] In response to growing demands for multi-party democracy, the Traor regime allowed some limited political liberalization. They refused to usher in a full-fledged democratic system.[47] In 1990, cohesive opposition movements began to emerge, and was complicated by the turbulent rise of ethnic violence in the north following the return of many Tuaregs to Mali.[47]

Anti-government protests in 1991 led to a coup, a transitional government, and a new constitution.[47] Opposition to the corrupt and dictatorial regime of General Moussa Traor grew during the 1980s. During this time strict programs, imposed to satisfy demands of the International Monetary Fund, brought increased hardship upon the country's population, while elites close to the government supposedly lived in growing wealth. Peaceful student protests in January 1991 were brutally suppressed, with mass arrests and torture of leaders and participants.[50] Scattered acts of rioting and vandalism of public buildings followed, but most actions by the dissidents remained nonviolent.[50]

From 22 March through 26 March 1991, mass pro-democracy rallies and a nationwide strike was held in both urban and rural communities, which became known as les venements ("the events") or the March Revolution. In Bamako, in response to mass demonstrations organized by university students and later joined by trade unionists and others, soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on the nonviolent demonstrators. Riots broke out briefly following the shootings. Barricades as well as roadblocks were erected and Traor declared a state of emergency and imposed a nightly curfew. Despite an estimated loss of 300 lives over the course of four days, nonviolent protesters continued to return to Bamako each day demanding the resignation of the dictatorial president and the implementation of democratic policies.[51]

26 March 1991 is the day that marks the clash between military soldiers and peaceful demonstrating students which climaxed in the massacre of dozens under the orders of then President Moussa Traor. He and three associates were later tried and convicted and received the death sentence for their part in the decision-making of that day. Nowadays, the day is a national holiday in order to remember the tragic events and the people who were killed.[52][53] The coup is remembered as Mali's March Revolution of 1991.[54]

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