Bamako

Bamako, Mali
View of Bamako
Bamako, Mali Bamako within Mali
Coordinates: 12°39′N 8°0′W
Country	Mali
District	Bamako
Population (2006)
- Total	1,690,471

Bamako, population 1,690,471 (2006), is the capital and largest city of Mali, and currently estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa (and sixth fastest in the world). Bamako is the nation's administrative center, with a river port located in nearby Koulikoro, and a major regional trade and conference center. Bamako is the seventh largest West African urban center after Lagos, Abidjan, Kano, Ibadan, Dakar and Accra.

Geography

Looking north from Pont Des Martyrs

The name Bamako comes from the Bambara word meaning "crocodile's back".

Bamako is a hot, dusty city that spans both sides of the wide and murky Niger River, near rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys, in the southwestern part of Mali. Bamako, which feels like an overgrown village, with a handful of high-rises, is relatively flat, except to the north where there is an escarpment, being remains of an extinct volcano. Goats graze along roadsides.

Niger River tributaries defined the development of the city which is on a flood plain, so much of the land bordering the river can not be used for construction. The Presidential Palace and main hospital are located there.

Bamako is hot and dry from February to June, reaching 101°F in April; rainy, humid, and mild from June to November (between 71°F to 88°F); and cool and dry from November to February (between 63°F to 90°F). Precipitation reaches 14 inches (350mm) in August.

The Niger River is navigable 225 miles (360km) south, to Kouroussa, Guinea, during the wet season, while a canal around the Sotuba Rapids has enabled shipping to Gao 869 miles (1398km) to the north.

Originally, the city developed on the northern side of the river, but as it grew, bridges were developed to connect the north with the south. The first of these was the Pont des Martyrs (2-lane with 2 pedestrian sections) and the King Fahd Bridge (4-lane with 2 motorcycle and 2 pedestrian sections). Additionally, there is an older submersible bridge between the eastern neighborhoods of Sotuba and Misabugu inherited from colonial times (alternated traffic on 1-lane with 5 crossing sections). It is typically under water from July to January. A third bridge (1.4 km long, 24 m large, 4-lane with 2 motorcycle and 2 pedestrian sections) is being built by at the same location to reduce downtown congestion, notably by trucks.

The traditional commercial centre of Bamako is to the north of the river, and contained within a triangle bounded by Avenue du Fleuve, Rue Baba Diarra and Boulevard du Peuple. This area contains the Marché Rose and Street Market. The downtown area is highly congested, polluted, and expensive, and urbanization is sprawling at a rapid pace within a radius of 30 km. The largest urbanized area now lies on the southern bank of the Niger River. A modern Central Business District is rapidly developing immediately west of the downtown area in the ACI-2000 district, taking advantage of a well-designed geometric layout, legacy of the old airport runways and taxiways. A large Administrative City is being developed at the junction between ACI-2000 and the King Fadh Bridge, purportedly to host most state departments (ministries) and administrative services in a central location.

History

Pont des Martyrs

File:Mosque Bamako.jpg

Bamako Grand Mosque

A Bozo girl in Bamako

File:Sotrumas in Bamako - 12th February 2005.jpg

Sotramas in Bamako

File:Bamako Avenue Avenue Al Qoods.jpg

Avenue Al Qoods in central Bamako

The fertile lands of the Bamako region have been inhabited for more than 150,000 years. Early kingdoms grew rich trading gold, ivory, kola nuts and salt using trade routes crossing the Sahara into northern Africa and eventually Europe.

By the 11th century the Empire of Ghana (750-1076) became the first dominant kingdom in the area, and the city of Timbuktu became a major commercial centre with over 100,000 inhabitants, and a centre for Islamic learning. Two universities were built as well as several mosques. The Mali Empire (1235-1600) , which included modern day Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Mauritania, became rich trading cotton and salt.

The Songhai Empire]] (1464- 1591) had a professional army, a civil service and even subsidized doctors and religious leaders. In the 16th century Berber invaders from Morocco destroyed what remained of the kingdoms in Mali and trader-sailors began to undermine trans-Saharan trade.

Bamako was founded in the 17th century by Seribadian Niaré and Soumba Coulibaly, or Bamba Sanogo, before its chiefdom passed to Diaoussadian Niaré. The city was an important market town.

In 1883 the region was occupied by French troops, at which time it was a settlement of a few hundred inhabitants, grouped in villages. The cultivation of cotton and rice was encouraged through large irrigation projects.

In 1908, Bamako became the capital of the French Sudan, four years after the Kayes–Bamako segment of the Dakar–Niger Railway, which connected the Niger River with the port of Dakar, was opened. Its population grew rapidly to approximately 160,000 in 1960.

In early 1959, the union of Mali and Senegal became the Mali Federation, which gained independence from France on June 20, 1960. Senegal withdrew from the Mali Federation after a few months. The Republic of Mali, under Modibo Keïta, withdrew from the French Community on September 22, 1960.

Keïta was the victim of a coup in 1968, bringing to power young officers belonging to the Military Committee for National Liberation. When the committee broke up, a single party emerged and ruled until 1991. Public opposition to the single-party regime led to a coup in 1991, a transitional government, and a new constitution. In 1992, Alpha Oumar Konaré won Mali's first democratic, multiparty presidential election. Upon his reelection in 1997, Konaré pushed through political and economic reforms and fought corruption. In 2002, he was succeeded in democratic elections by Amadou Toumani Touré, a retired general who had been a leader of the 1991 democratic uprising.

Government

Mali is a republic in which a president, who is elected for a five-year term, appoints the prime minister and chairs the Council of Ministers, which adopts proposals for laws submitted to the National Assembly for approval. The National Assembly is the sole legislative arm and consists of 147 members. Mali is divided into eight administrative regions, which are made up of districts. These districts are composed of communes, which contain villages. Since decentralization plans began, a total of 702 local municipal councils have been formed. These are headed by elected mayors.

Economy

Mali is among the poorest countries in the world, with 65 percent of its land area desert or semidesert and with a highly unequal distribution of income. About 10 percent of the population is nomadic and some 80 percent of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing. Industrial activity is concentrated on processing farm commodities. Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export, along with gold.

Per capita GDP was $US1000 in 2007, with a rank of 163 on the international Monetary Fund list of 179 nations.

Manufactures include textiles, processed meat and metal goods. There is commercial fishing on the Niger River.

River transport is used extensively. Cement and petroleum products are shipped down the river from the city. Rice and peanuts are moved upstream to be freighted on the railway. Bamako Senou International Airport, Mali's main airport, is located some 15km south of downtown Bamako. Passenger traffic reached the 516,000 mark in 2005.

Demographics

The population was 1,690,471 in 2006. Rural migration from drought-stricken tripled the size of the city from 1960 to 1970. Bamako was listed, in 2006, as the sixth fastest growing urban area on a list of 100 cities, growing at a rate of 4.45 percent each year.

The ethic groups of Mali comprise Mande 50 percent, (Bambara, Malinke, Soninke), Peul 17 percent, Voltaic 12 percent, Songhai six percent, Tuareg and Moor 10 percent, and others five percent

While French is the official language, 80 percent speak Bambara, which belongs to a group of closely-related languages called Manding, while numerous other African languages are spoken.

Ninety percent of the population are Muslim, Christians make up one percent, while the remaining nine percent follow indigenous beliefs.

Bamako is the location of several research institutes and four colleges

Of interest

Bamako is the center of West African music. The soulful singer Salif Keita and the late singer-guitarist Ali Farka Touré sparked a boom in Malian music in the 1990s. Mali's griot music, with haunting melodies based on the pentatonic scale, and its themes of shattered romance, has similarities with American blues music. Western artists including Robert Plant, Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, and the late John Lee Hooker have visited Bamako to jam and record with the local musicians.

Notable landmarks in Bamako include the National Library of Mali, Tour BCEAO, Bamako Grand Mosque, Cathedral of Bamako and the King Fahd Bridge. It is home to Mali's largest international airport, Senou International Airport, as well as the Dakar-Niger Railway, to Koulikoro in eastern Mali and Dakar in Senegal. Attractions include the Mali National Museum, the Muso Kunda Museum, the Bamako Regional Museum, Bamako Zoo, the Bamako Botanical Gardens and the Point G hill, containing caves with rock paintings. Bamako has hosted the biannual photography festival African Photography Encounters since 1994.

In 1988, Bamako was the location of a WHO conference known as the Bamako Initiative that helped reshape health policy of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The yearly held Budapest-Bamako rally has the endpoint in Bamako, with the Dakar Rally often passing through Bamako.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Dulucq, Sophie. 2005. Bamako. Encyclopedia of African History. 122-123. OCLC 61749600
• Perinbam, B. Marie. 1994. Identity ritual and the state in the Bamako Kafu and Mande-hinterland. [S.l.]: African Studies Association. OCLC 122267480
• World's fastest growing cities and urban areas from 2006 to 2020 City Mayors Statistics, retrieved July 23, 2008.

External links

• Siren song of Mali The New York Times, retrieved July 23, 2008.
• Sampling the sounds of Mali without leaving home The New York Times, retrieved July 23, 2008.
• Drumming Videos Shot in Bamako Retrieved July 23, 2008.
• Budapest-Bamako rally Retrieved July 23, 2008.
• Pictures of Bamako Retrieved July 23, 2008.

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