Figure 1.--Here is a Dogon image from Mali taken about 2000. The Dogon are an ethnic group, which lives in central Mali, about 300 km southern from Timbuktu. They have a peculiar culture and a great astronomic knowledge. |
|
Mali is a land-locked West African republic. It is set on a mostly arid plateau becoming desert in the north. Two major African rivers flow through Mali. The Senegal River flows northwest to Senegal and Mauritania. THe Niger flows northeast and than southeast to Niger. Most of the population is Moslem. The official language is French with many different African dialects spoken. Mali was emcompased by several African kingdoms (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai). France colonized Mali and adjacent areas of West Africa in the late 19th century. Mali was called French Sudan, although the French made many boundary alterations. The French did not exert effective control of Mali until World War I. Mali became an autonomous republic within the French Community as the Sudanese Republic (1958). A brief confederation with Senegal know as the Mali Federation followed (1959-60). The Sudanese Rpublic after the collapse of the federation changed its name to Mali and withdrew from the French Community (1960).
Mali is a land-locked West African republic. It is set on a mostly arid plateau becoming desert in the north. Two major African rivers flow through Mali. The Senegal River flows northwest to Senegal and Mauritania. Less than 5 percent of the land area is arable. THe Niger flows northeast and than southeast to Niger. The country faces a serious problem of desertification and other environmental problems.
There are about 15 important tribal groups in Mali. The principal ethnic group is the Mande (Bambara, Dogon, Malinke, and Soninke) which comprise about half the population. Other etnic groups include the Peul (17 percent), Voltaic (12 percent), Songhai (6 percent), Tuareg and Moor (10 percent), as well as various other smaller groups like the Bozo, Somono, and the Khassonke. There are both ethnic and lingustic differences separating the different trives.
The official language is French with many different African dialects spoken.
Most of the population is Moslem.
Mali was emcompased by several African kingdoms (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai). France colonized Mali and adjacent areas of West Africa in the late 19th century. Mali was called French Sudan, although the French made many boundary alterations. The French did not exert effective control of Mali until World War I. Mali became an autonomous republic within the French Community as the Sudanese Republic (1958). A brief confederation with Senegal know as the Mali Federation followed but lasted only a few months (1959-60). The Sudanese Republic after the collapse of the federation changed its name to Mali and withdrew from the French Community (1960). The country quickly lapsed into dictatorial rule. A coup ended years of dictatorship and ushered in democratic government (1991). President Alpha Konare won the country's first truly democratic presidential election (1992). He was reelected (1997). Respecting a two-term constitutional limit, President Konare stepped down and was succeeded by Amadou Toure (2002).
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing national pages:
[Return to the Main African page]
[Algeria]
[Australia]
[Belgium]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Ireland]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[Korea]
[Madagascar]
[]
[Mexico]
[New Zealand]
[Scotland]
[Uganda]
[United States]