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, and the city is surrounded on all sides by the Koulikoro Region.
Bamako is the nation's administrative centre. The city is administered as separate capital district (distinct from any region of Mali) equivalent to a cercle, and is divided into seven communes. Bamako's river port is located in nearby Koulikoro, along with a major regional trade and conference centre. It is the seventh-largest West African urban centre 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 the location for the Modibbo Keita International Airport. The buildings of Bamako have a unique architectural style.
History
The area of the city has evidence of settlements since the Palaeolithic era. The fertile lands of the Niger River Valley provided the people with an abundant food supply and early chiefdoms in the area grew wealthy as they established trade routes linking across west Africa, the Sahara, and leading to northern Africa and Europe as early as 600s BCE. The early inhabitants traded gold, ivory, kola nuts, and salt. By the 11th century, the Empire of Ghana became the first kingdom to dominate the area, later succeeded by the Mali Empire.
The kafu of Bamako was founded around 1650 by the Niare family, perhaps associated with a Soninke man named Bamba Sanogo. The Toure and Drave families, mostly clerics and merchants, were also prominent in early Bamako. It was a client state of the Segou Empire. The Scottish explorer Mungo Park visited Bamako in 1806 during his exploration of the Niger River. He estimated that the city at the time held 6000 inhabitants, similar to many other commercial settlements across West Africa at the time.
In February 1882, Samory Toure defeated the French at the Battle of Samaya outside Kinieran. Faced with Toure's expanding Wassoulou Empire, some of the leaders of the Dyula community in Bamako began making overtures to join the anti-French alliance. The French commander Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes, eager to possess this key strategic location on the Niger, rushed a force to establish a fort there on 1 February 1883. Kebe Brema, Samory's brother, led a force to Bamako to lure the French out of their defenses. They fought two battles at Woyo Wayanko creek in early April, with Kebe Brema winning the first but eventually being forced to retreat.
In 1904 a railroad was built connecting Bamako to Kayes, and the city began growing quickly upon being named the capital of French Sudan in 1908. The cercle of Mali at this time had around 160 000 inhabitants living in 4-500 villages. A railroad connecting Bamako to Dakar was completed in 1923.
Mali gained independence from France in April 1960, and the Republic of Mali was later established. At this time, Bamako had a population of around 160,000. During the 1960s, the country became socialist and Bamako was subject to Soviet investment and influence. However, the economy declined as state enterprises collapsed and unrest was widespread. Eventually, Moussa Traoré led a successful coup and ruled Mali for 23 years. However his rule was characterised by severe droughts and poor government management and problems of food shortages.
In the late 1980s the people of Bamako and Mali campaigned for a free-market economy and multiparty democracy. In 1990, the National Congress for Democratic Initiative (Congrès National d'Initiative démocratique, CNID) was set up by the lawyer Mountaga Tall, and the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Alliance pour la démocratie au Mali, ADEMA) by Abdramane Baba and historian Alpha Oumar Konaré. These with the Association des élèves et étudiants du Mali (AEEM) and the Association Malienne des Droits de l'Homme (AMDH) aimed to oust Moussa Traoré. Under the old constitution, all labor unions had to belong to one confederation, the National Union of Malian Workers (UNTM). When the leadership of the UNTM broke from the government in 1990, the opposition grew. Groups were driven by paycuts and layoffs in the government sector, and the Malian government acceding to pressure from international donors to privatise large swathes of the economy that had remained in public hands even after the overthrow of the socialist government in 1968. Students, even children, played an increasing role in the protest marches in Bamako, and homes and businesses of those associated with the regime were ransacked by crowds.
On 22 March 1991, a large-scale protest march in central Bamako was violently suppressed, with estimates of those killed reaching 300. Four days later, a military coup deposed Traoré. The Comité de Transition pour le Salut du Peuple was set up, headed by General Amadou Toumani Touré.Patrick Manning. Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, 1880–1995: 1880–1995. Cambridge University Press (1998) pp.198–199 Alpha Oumar Konari officially became president on 26 April 1992.
Bamako had been the target of numerous jihadist terrorist attacks during the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel.Rachel Chason, Bloody attack in Mali's capital shows al-Qaeda's shifting strategy, Washington Post (October 29, 2024)/ On 20 November 2015, two gunmen took 170 people hostage in the Radisson Blu hotel. Twenty-one people were killed along with the two gunmen during the seven-hour siege.Mali attack: more than 20 dead after terrorist raid on Bamako hotel , Mamadou Tapily et al, 21 November 2015, The Guardian, Retrieved 5 January 2015 In a series of attacks on 17 September 2024, a group of gunmen from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, attacked a military training school, killing many gendarme and trainees, and set aircraft ablaze at the international airport.Elian Peltier and Christiaan Triebert, Assault on Mali’s Capital Killed 50 or More, but Leaders Say Little, New York Times (September 19, 2024). At least 77 people were killed. This was the first jihadist attack on Bamako since 2016. JNIM is a successor to some of the organizations responsible for the 2015 attack. The 2024 attack was downplayed by the Malian military junta (led by Assimi Goïta), which seized control over the country in a 2021 coup d'état. The fuel blockade targeting Bamako and the 2026 offensive in Mali have also impacted Bamako.
Geography
Bamako is situated on the Niger River floodplain, which hampers development along the riverfront and the Niger's tributaries. Bamako is relatively flat, except to the immediate north where an escarpment is found, being what remains of an extinct volcano. The Presidential Palace and main hospital are located here.
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 two pedestrian sections) and the King Fahd Bridge (four-lane with two motorcycle and two pedestrian sections). Additionally, a seasonal causeway between the eastern neighborhoods of Sotuba and Misabugu was inherited from colonial times (alternated traffic on one lane with five crossing sections). The Sotuba Causeway (Chaussée submersible de Sotuba in French, and Babilikoroni in Bamanankan) is typically under water from July to January. A third bridge (1.4 km long, wide, four-lane with two motorcycle and two pedestrian sections) was built at the same location in 2011 in partnership with the Chinese government to reduce downtown congestion, notably by trucks.
Climate Under the Köppen climate classification, Bamako features a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw). Located in the Sudano-Sahelian zone, Bamako is very hot on average all year round with the hottest months being between March and May. The mildest months are between November and February. During the dry season, rainfall is scarce: virtually none falls between November and April due to the dominance of the Saharan anticyclone and the dry trade winds. The rainy season occurs in the summer with the peak occurring with a few storms beginning in May, then transitioning to the monsoon from June to October.
Environment
Waste Management Controversy In 2015, the Bamako city government privatized waste collection in the city. Before the introduction of this program there was a long standing informal waste collection system carried out by "Economic interest groups." Before the privatization these independent groups collected waste throughout the city. After privatization, not only did many waste collectors become unemployed but the corporation that they enlisted to do the job was collecting only 30% of Bamako's waste. The garbage build up creates toxic living conditions and it only worsens when it rains. Due to the prevalence of waste in Bamako's streets, including informal dumping sites near a school, citizens have taken to protesting, marching and it has even escalated to the point of property damage.
Administration The District of Bamako has been divided into six communes (distinguished by numbers, and not named) since Ordinance No. 78-34/CNLM of 18 August 1978, and amended by a law in February 1982 establishing the new boundaries of Communes III and IV.Ordonnance n° 78-34/CNLM du 18 août 1978, modifiée par une loi de février 1982 fixant les nouvelles limites des Communes III et IV, cité par Doussou Djiré, Commune IV : entre tradition et modernité, l'Essor, 24 April 2009 Each commune is administered by the municipal council and a mayor elected from among its members. The last elections were held on 26 April 2009 and the Alliance for Democracy in Mali hold the majority of representatives for the communes.
Communes and neighborhoods Commune I has a population of 335,407 people (2009) and covers . It is bounded to the north by the rural commune of Djalakorodji (Kati Cercle), west by the Commune II, north-east by the rural commune of Sangarebougou (Kati Cercle), on the east by the rural commune of Gabakourou and south by the Niger River. Nine neighborhoods comprise this commune: Banconi, Boulkassombougou, Djelibougou, Doumanzana Fadjiguila, Sotuba Korofina North, and South Korofina Sikoroni.Badiaga, S. (24 April 2009). "Town I: 26 lists in contention, the Rise"
Commune II has a population of 159,805 people (2009) and covers . It is bounded to the east by the backwater of Korofina at the west foot of the Point G hill, and to the south by Niger River. The municipality has eleven neighborhoods: Niaréla (the oldest), Bagadadji, Medina-Coura, Bozola, Missira, Hippodrome, Quinzambougou, Bakaribougou, TSF, Industrial Area, and Bougouba. The new Cité du Niger island is also located in the Commune II. The area is the most important in the industry sector in Bamako.