Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger River ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesBani Rivers and is linked by an elevated causeway to the town of Sévaré. The urban commune, which includes both Mopti and Sévaré, had a population of 114,296 in the 2009 census.

Geography

Mopti lies on the right bank of the Bani River, a few hundred meters upstream of the confluence of the Bani with the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali ...

. Between August and December when the rivers flood the Inner Niger Delta, the town becomes a series of islands connected by raised causeways. During this period the only road access to the town is along a 12 km causeway that links Mopti to Sévaré. Mopti lies to the west of the Dogon Plateau and is 66 km northwest of Bandiagara and 76 km north-northeast of

Djenné Djenné (Bambara language, Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrativ ...

. The town is the capital of the Mopti Region and the administrative center of the Mopti Cercle. The urban commune of Mopti includes the towns of both Mopti and Sévaré. The commune is completely surrounded by the rural commune of Socoura. At the time of the 2009 census the population of the Mopti commune was 114,296. For administrative purposes the commune is subdivided into 11 ''quartiers'': Komoguel I, Komoguel II, Gangal, Toguel, Bougoufié, Mossinkoré, Taïkiri, Médina Coura, Sévaré I, Sévaré II, and Sévaré III. The seat of the commune, the Hôtel de Ville de Mopti, is in Komoguel I.

History

The town of Mopti derives its name from the

Fulfulde Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that st ...

word for gathering. The name replaced the earlier

Bozo Bozo or bozo may refer to: People *Bozo people, a fishing people of the central Niger delta in Mali **Bozo language, languages of the Bozo people * Frédéric Bozo, history Professor at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle *Bozo Miller ...

name of ''Sagan''.. Unlike towns such as

Djenné Djenné (Bambara language, Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrativ ...

,

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label= Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrat ...

and Gao, Mopti was a village until the French conquest at the end of the 19th century and did not play an important role in the history of the region. In April 1828 the French explorer, René Caillié, stopped at Mopti on his journey by boat from

Djenné Djenné (Bambara language, Bambara: ߘߖߋߣߣߋ tr. Djenne; also known as Djénné, Jenné and Jenne) is a Songhai people town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in the Inland Niger Delta region of central Mali. The town is the administrativ ...

to

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label= Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrat ...

... In his account he described the village, which he called Isaca, as having 700-800 inhabitants with the houses constructed of sun-dried mud bricks. The inhabitants grew rice on the floodplains, herded livestock and fished with cotton nets. Large quantities of the dried fish were traded in Djenné and other markets. The women made a "beautiful kind of pottery" which they sold in Djenné and to boats heading for Timbuktu. Two centuries later, the cultivation of rice is still very important to the local economy, dried fish are exported over a large part of West Africa and pottery is still shipped from the port. At the time of Caillié's visit the village was part of the Massina Empire, controlled by Seku Amadu from his base at Hamdullahi, 21 km to the southeast. In 1862 Umar Tall captured Hamdullahi and for a short period the village became part of the Toucouleur Empire. In 1893 French forces under Louis Archinard occupied the region which then became part of the French Sudan. At the time of the French conquest, Mopti consisted of several separate settlements on small areas of higher ground that remained above the water during the annual flood. French soldiers exploring the Niger on gunboats described Mopti as consisting of a pair villages on the bank of the river 2 km apart with a third village slightly inland. According to the French colonial army officer, Capitaine Lucien Marc, in 1902 Mopti was a "miserable village" with a few huts.. Between 1905 and 1912 the French colonial forces constructed a 12 km dyke connecting Mopti with Sévaré to allow access to the town by road when the Niger was in flood. The village expanded rapidly in the first decade of the 20th century, and by the 1930s the commercial area on the river and the Komoguel district had been developed. The French colonial administration initiated the rebuilding of the great mosque in 1933, basing the design on that of the

Great Mosque of Djenné The Great Mosque of Djenné ( ar, الجامع الكبير في جينيه) is a large brick or adobe building in the Sudano-Sahelian architecture, Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali, on the ...

. Due to the limited land available, Mopti became more densely built than most Malian cities with many multi-story buildings and narrow streets. Originally, the islands were much smaller than they are today; first linked by dykes in the early twentieth century, the areas around and between natural islands have been gradually filled and raised—often by deposition of household trash, a process that still continues today in areas such as the western edge of the Old Town.. In 2002, Mopti was one of several Malian cities to host the Cup of African Nations tournament. A large, modern stadium was constructed for this event. During the

2012 Northern Mali Conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

, when Islamists took over most of Northern Mali, Mopti was one of the most northerly towns that remained under government control.. Amadou Toumani Touré, a former president of Mali, is a native of Mopti.

Mosque

The Great Mosque (also called the Komoguel Mosque) is an example of Sudano-Sahelian architecture. The present building was constructed on the site of an earlier mosque dating from 1908 but sources differ on the exact date. The web site of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention gives a period of between 1933 and 1935. while the Aga Khan Development Network gives the slightly later period of between 1936 and 1943.. The design was based on that of the

Great Mosque of Djenné The Great Mosque of Djenné ( ar, الجامع الكبير في جينيه) is a large brick or adobe building in the Sudano-Sahelian architecture, Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali, on the ...

and is constructed using sun-dried mud bricks which are covered with a layer of banco. In restoration work carried out in 1978, the upper parts of the building were covered with a layer of cement but this later proved to be problematic as rain water penetrated the cement layer and created large fissures in the underlying mud structure. In the restoration carried out between 2004 and 2006 funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the cement layer was removed and the building restored to its original form. The mosque was added to the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in March 2009.

Industry

Mopti is the region's commercial center and Mali's most important port; markets around its harbour sell rock salt from Taoudenni, among many other goods. Fishing, herding, and agriculture (particularly rice production) also continue to be important to the local economy.

Tourism

Mopti is popular with tourists, having an active

river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers pu ...

, a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...

, and across the Niger, small fishing villages. Attractions in Mopti include

Mopti Grand Mosque The Grand Mosque of Mopti (french: Grande Mosquée de Mopti), also known as Komoguel Mosque, is a mosque located in the city of Mopti, in the Mopti Region of Mali. Architecture The mosque itself consists of a covered building and a courtyard, ...

and the nearby Pays Dogon. There are several popular hotels, the Hotel Kanaga, Hotel Y a pas de Problème, and Hotel Ambedjele which is on the road to Sévaré. During the

2012 Northern Mali conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

, most Western tourists stayed away from the region, even though Mopti was not in rebel hands. However, the conflict had a mixed effect on the town as dispossessed people from the rebel-held area came to Mopti and boosted some parts of the economy.

Transport

The port of Mopti is served by ferries operated by the Compagnie Malienne de Navigation (COMANAV). The ferries run between August and December when the depth of water in the river is sufficient. They carry both freight and passengers between Koulikoro (59 km downstream from

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger River ...

) and Gao, a distance of 1308 km. Both passengers and freight are also transported by ''pinasses'', large wooden canoe shaped vessels, that are privately operated. Mopti is connected by a 12 km elevated causeway to Sévaré which lies on the Route Nationale 16 (RN16), the bitumen surfaced road that links Bamako in the west to Gao in the east. There is an airport at Sévaré.

Culture

The city is the subject of a 1999 documentary film, ''

L'Esprit de Mopti ''L'Esprit de Mopti'' ( en, spirit of Mopti) is a 1999 documentary film about the city of Mopti, Mali, directed by Moussa Ouane. Synopsis In central Mali, where desert and savannah meet, lies Mopti, a major Muslim city and commercial junction o ...

''. It is also the birthplace of Slovak celebrity

Ibrahim Maiga Ibrahim Maiga, also known as Ibi Maiga, (born in Mopti, 3 January 1963), is a Slovak singer, actor, comedian, and politician. The BBC describes him as a "celebrity in Slovakia". Biography Maiga moved to what was then Czechoslovakia in the late ...

.

Demographics

Many ethnic groups are present in the commune including Fula,

Bozo Bozo or bozo may refer to: People *Bozo people, a fishing people of the central Niger delta in Mali **Bozo language, languages of the Bozo people * Frédéric Bozo, history Professor at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle *Bozo Miller ...

, Bambara, Dogon, Songhai, Bobos and Mossis.. The most spoken language is Fula followed by

Bozo Bozo or bozo may refer to: People *Bozo people, a fishing people of the central Niger delta in Mali **Bozo language, languages of the Bozo people * Frédéric Bozo, history Professor at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle *Bozo Miller ...

.

Climate

Mopti has a hot semi-arid climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''BSh''). The town lies near the southern boundary of the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

region and the weather is hot to sweltering and arid throughout much of the year. Nearly all the rainfall occurs between June and September. Average daily maximum temperatures in the hottest months of the year – April and May – exceed . Temperatures are slightly cooler, though still very hot, from June through September, when practically all of the annual rainfall occurs. Only the winter months of December and January have average daily maximum temperatures below . File:Mosque Mopti.jpg, Mopti Grand Mosque file:Mopti7.jpg, Market scene File:Sévaré3.jpg, Countryside near Sévaré in the commune of Mopti File:Mopti2.jpg, Boats in the harbour File:Mopti sel.jpg, Unloading rock salt from Taoudenni File:ASC Leiden - W.E.A. van Beek Collection - Dogon markets 20 - Women with onions and cabbages at the Mopti market, Mali 1992.jpg, Women selling onions and cabbages at the Mopti market, 1992

References

External links

* Pictures o

{{Authority control Regional capitals in Mali Communes of Mopti Region Inner Niger Delta Massina Empire Communities on the Niger River Bani River French West Africa

Geography

History

Mosque

Industry

Tourism

Transport

Culture

Demographics

Climate

See also

References

Further reading

External links