Bamako tourist information
The administrative, economic, and cultural center of Mali, Bamako lies on the left bank of the Niger River in the southwestern part of the country. Little is known about Bamako before the 11th century, when it achieved prominence as a center of Islamic scholarship in the Mali empire. After the fall of Mali in the 16th century, the Bambara occupied the town, which became a fishing and trading center. In 1806 Scottish explorer Mungo Park estimated Bamako's population to be less than 6000. By 1880 the town had fallen under the domination of the Mandinka warrior Samory Touré, whose kingdom covered an expanse of territory to the south.
In 1883 French Lieutenant Colonel Gustave Borgnis-Desbordes occupied Bamako and used it as a base for military campaigns against Touré. Bamako took on new importance under the French, who valued the town's position on the navigable portion of the Niger River—an asset that had long facilitated Bamako's trade with other towns along the river. The French planned a railroad to connect the town with the navigable section of the Senegal River and Dakar. After securing the region, the French completed the railroad as far as Kayes in 1904. In 1908 the French moved the capital of French Sudan from Kayes to Bamako.
Since the colonial era, Bamako has served as a regional crossroads; it connects many of the country's smaller towns with the Atlantic coast and Dakar. Roads fan out from the city to every province of Mali, and also to the ports of Conakry, Guinea, and Monrovia, Liberia. Bamako is an also an important trade center for the gold mined in the west and the cola nuts and rice crops of the south and east. It is Mali's primary shipping port for its major exports—cotton, peanuts, livestock, and fish—and it is the country's main financial and administrative center. The economy of Bamako includes manufacturing plants that produce motor vehicles, textiles, and pharmaceuticals.
In recent years the city's prosperity has attracted many migrants from rural areas. As a result, the city has been expanding to accommodate the influx and has recently absorbed some of the small villages on the right bank of the Niger River. Despite the influences of colonialism, Bamako has retained much of its precolonial structure. It is distinct among West African capitals for the mud-brick architecture of its residential areas. Today, Bamako has an estimated population of 880,000 people.
by Africana
Bamako aerial map
Please click on any icon on the Bamako aerial tourist map, to find close by places, offering hotels and tourist information. You can zoom in and zoom out our touristical map as well as switch between satelite and map view of Bamako.
Africa | Asia | Caribbean | Central America | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America
