Mali is formally the Republic of Mali, a landlocked nation in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with a location of over 1,240,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi). The population of Mali is 19.1 million. 67% of its population was estimated to be under the age of 25 in 2017. Its resources and largest city is Bamako.

The sovereign state of Mali consists of 8 regions and its approach the north get to deep right into the middle of the Sahara Desert. The country’s southerly component remains in the Sudanian savanna, where the majority of citizens live, and both the Niger and Senegal rivers travel through. The country’s economic climate centres on agriculture as well as mining. One of Mali’s most prominent natural resources is gold, as well as the country is the third largest producer of gold on the African continent. It also exports salt.

Present-day Mali was when part of 3 incredibly effective as well as wealthy West African realms that controlled trans-Saharan profession: the Ghana Empire (for which Ghana is named), the Mali Realm (for which Mali is called), as well as the Songhai Empire. At its top in 1300, the Mali Realm was the richest country in Africa, covering a location regarding twice the size of contemporary France and stretched to the west coast of the continent.

Mali was likewise one of the richest countries in the world, and its emperor at its zenith, Mansa Musa, is thought to be potentially the wealthiest individual in history. Besides being a financial giant, medieval Mali was a centre of Islam, culture and also expertise, with Timbuktu becoming a prominent location of discovering with its university, among the oldest on the planet still energetic. The expanding Songhai Realm soaked up the realm in 1468, followed by a Moroccan army which beat the Songhai in 1591.

The Moroccan colonists developed a new gentility, the Arma, who after 1612 became essentially independent of Morocco. In the late 19th century, throughout the Scramble for Africa, France took control of Mali, making it a part of French Sudan. French Sudan (after that called the Sudanese Republic) accompanied Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation.

Quickly thereafter, adhering to Senegal’s withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After an extended period of one-party policy, a successful stroke in 1991 brought about the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as an autonomous, multi-party state.

In January 2012, an armed problem burst out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of a region in the north, and in April stated the secession of a new state, Azawad. The problem was made complex by an army successful stroke that occurred in March as well as later combating in between Tuareg as well as various other rebel factions. In action to territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013. A month later, Malian and also French pressures regained the majority of the north. Governmental elections were hung on 28 July 2013, with a second-round run-off held on 11 August, as well as legal political elections were hung on 24 November and also 15 December 2013.

In the early 2020s Mali experienced two army takeovers by Assimi Goïta.