Mali

Cities, towns, and villages

• Bamako — is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country.
  Bamako is the nation's administrative center. The city proper is a cercle in its own right. Bamako's river port is located in nearby Koulikoro, along with a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the seventh-largest West African urban center after Lagos, Abidjan, Kano, Ibadan, Dakar, and Accra. Locally manufactured goods include textiles, processed meat, and metal goods as well as mining. Commercial fishing occurs on the Niger River.
  In recent years, Bamako has seen significant urban development, with the construction of modern buildings, shopping malls, and infrastructure projects aimed at improving the quality of life for its residents. The city is home to many notable institutions such as the University of Bamako, the National Museum of Mali, the Mali National Zoo, and the Grand Mosque of Bamako. It is also home to the Modibo Keita International Airport. The buildings of Bamako have a unique architectural style.
• Gao /ɡaʊ/, or Gawgaw/Kawkaw — is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, 320 km (200 mi) east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley.
  For much of its history Gao was an important commercial centre involved in the trans-Saharan trade. In the 9th century external Arabic writers described Gao as an important regional power, and by the end of the 10th century, the local ruler was said to be a Muslim. Towards the end of the 13th century, Gao became part of the Mali Empire.
• Kayes (Bambara: ߞߊߦߌ tr. Kayi, Soninké: Xaayi) — is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The city is located 420 kilometres (260 mi) northwest of the capital Bamako.
• Kidal (Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) — is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies 285 km (177 mi) northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about 9,910 km2 (3,830 sq mi) and includes the town of Kidal and 31 other settlements.
• Mopti (Fulfulde: Mobti) — is a town and an urban commune in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. The town is the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the confluence of the Niger and the Bani Rivers and is linked by an elevated causeway to the town of Sévaré.
• Ségou — is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies 235 kilometres (146 mi) northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. Mali's third largest city and one-time capital of the Bamana Empire.
  In the middle of the 19th century there were four villages with the name of Ségou spread out over a distance of around 12 km (7.5 mi) along the right bank of the river. They were, starting from the most upstream, Ségou-Koro (Old Ségou), Ségou-Bougou, Ségou-Koura (New Ségou) and Ségou-Sikoro. The present town is on the site of Ségou-Sikoro.
• Sikasso — is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Cercle and the Sikasso Region. It is Mali's second largest city and one-time capital of the Kénédougou Empire.
• Timbuktu — is an ancient city in Mali, situated 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali.
  Archaeological evidence suggests prehistoric settlements in the region, predating the city's Islamic scholarly and trade prominence in the medieval period. Timbuktu began as a seasonal settlement and became permanent early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, particularly after the visit by Mansa Musa around 1325, Timbuktu flourished, due to its strategic location, from the trade in salt, gold, and ivory. It gradually expanded as an important Islamic city on the Saharan trade route and attracted many scholars and traders before it became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century, the Tuareg people took control for a short period, until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed it in 1468.
  Timbuktu, the legendary Saharan city of gold, trans-Saharan trade, and Islamic scholarship is nowadays a (fairly commercialized) centre of Tuareg culture.
• Djenné — once a religious and commercial centre to rival Timbuktu, this small town of multi-storey mud buildings is quite a sight. It has declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. Seeing Djenné from a rooftop offers an intriguing and unusual landscape, with its soft texture, rounded lines and melancholic colouring. It also features the largest mosque in the world made completely out of mud, which is restored every year by the community after the rainy season.