Country Focus – Mali

Population: around 15 million

Religious affiliations: 55% Muslim

Government type: Semi- Presidential (They have a President and a prime minister and a cabinet)

GDP per capita:  $1,843 (the average is about $11,000)

Independence Day:  22nd September 1960

Colonised by: France

Historical fact/figure: Home to the richest man to have lived Mansa of Mali.

In 1324 Musa began his pilgrimage with an entourage of thousands of escorts.  He also brought considerable amounts of gold, some of which was distributed along the journey.

Accompanied by thousands of richly dressed servants and supporters Musa made generous donations to the poor and to charitable organizations as well as the rulers of the lands his entourage crossed. On his stop in Cairo, Egypt, the Emperor gave out so much gold that he generated a brief decline in its value. Cairo’s gold market recovered over a decade later.  He was included on the 1375 Catalan Atlas, one of the most important world maps of Medieval Europe.

Fun Fact: According to Gaoussou Diawara, the fourteenth century African ruler of Mali, Abubakari II, discovered America nearly two hundred years before Christopher Columbus

Current situation: One of the poorest nations in the world, suffering from draughts, hunger and malnourishment.

Political situation: Home to terrorist group Ansar Dine who seeks to impose strict Sharia law across Mali

Known for: Home to the city of Timbuktu