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Crime Violent crime in Mali is infrequent, but petty crimes, such as pick pocketing and simple theft, are common in urban areas. Passports and wallets should be closely guarded when in crowded outdoor areas and open-air markets.

Individuals are advised against traveling on the Bamako-Dakar railroad and should be vigilant for pickpockets, especially at night. Criminals will not hesitate to use violence if they encounter resistance from their victims. There are sporadic reports of nighttime robberies occurring on the roads outside of the capital; tourists should not drive outside of Bamako at night.

Travelers should stay alert, remain in groups, and avoid poorly lit areas after dark. Violent criminal activity does occasionally occur in Bamako. Violent attacks were also reported prior to the coup, most occurring south of the Niger River in the neighborhood of Badalabougou. Most reported attacks took place at night. The majority targeted unaccompanied individuals and ranged from muggings at gun- or knife-point to physical assaults.

Many of the attacks occurred near the residences of the victims, both inside and outside of their vehicles. Sporadic banditry and random carjackings have historically plagued Mali's vast northern desert region and its borders with Mauritania and Niger. While banditry has not targeted U. The current instability in the north has increased the risk of carjacking, kidnapping, and banditry.

In November , two French nationals were kidnapped from their hotel rooms in Hombori, one of whom was reportedly beheaded in early The following day, one German was killed while a Dutch citizen, a Swedish citizen, and a South African were kidnapped in Timbuktu.

In April , a Swiss national was kidnapped in Timbuktu and seven Algerian diplomats were kidnapped in Gao. Criminal Penalties While in Mali, you are subject to its laws even if you are a U. In some places driving under the influence could land you immediately in jail. There are also some acts that might be legal in the country you visit, but still illegal in the United States, and you can be prosecuted under U.

Engaging in sexual conduct with children or using or disseminating child pornography in a foreign country is a crime prosecutable in the United States. If you break local laws in Mali, your U. Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking in illegal drugs in Mali are severe, and convicted offenders can expect long jail sentences and heavy fines. The U. Embassy does not always receive timely notification by Malian authorities of the arrest of U. You are encouraged to carry a copy of your passport with you at all times, so that proof of identity and citizenship are readily available in the event of questioning by local authorities.

If arrested, you should always politely insist that you be allowed to contact the U. Medical Facilities and Health Information Medical facilities in Mali are extremely limited, especially outside of Bamako.

Psychiatric care to the same standard as that practiced in the United States does not exist. Embassy in Bamako maintains a list of physicians and other healthcare professionals who have indicated willingness to treat U. The Embassy is unable to recommend medical professionals or facilities.

Most U. Travelers should carry with them an adequate supply of needed medication and prescription drugs, along with copies of the prescriptions, including the generic names for the drugs. Be careful to avoid purchasing potentially dangerous counterfeit medications when buying on the local market in Mali. Safety and Security Continued insecurity exists in Mali. Given these threats, on January 19, the U.

Embassy advised U. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. Ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks and Romans, waged war against their neighbors in an effort to gain access to resources, territory, power, and glory.

These conflicts were often spearheaded by some of the fiercest leaders in history, like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Genghis Kahn.

Though each warrior had different motives for their actions, they were each effective leaders who held or contributed to the growth of vast empires. Explore this collection to learn how the contemporary world was shaped by the conquests of ancient civilizations. Students study a map to gain familiarity with the Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian empires and those that came between them.

Sundiata Keita was the first ruler of the Mali Empire in the 13th century C. He laid the foundation for a powerful and wealthy African empire and proclaimed the first charter of human rights, the Manden Charter. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content.

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Even in these cases household members are not limited to the nuclear family and may include children from previous marriages, nephews, nieces, or other family members, and clients. Kin Groups. Many Malian ethnic groups are further divided in several lineages and clans, which are represented at the village level by clusters of households sharing a common section of a village under the leadership of a respected family elder.

Traditionally certain clans entertain joking relationships with one another e. Despite the fact that residence is predominantly patrilocal, recent studies show that women maintain close bonds with their family of origin.

Women continue to be involved in the lives of their natal family members via periodic visits, and via the exchange of gifts and services throughout their lives. Kinship bonds continue to be important despite geographical dislocation. Malian migrants, both to the city and to foreign destinations, maintain strong links with their extended families and contribute substantially to the local economies by sending home a constant flux of money and gifts.

Despite the poverty of the majority of the population, real or fictitious kinship links provide support and comfort for many Malians in times of need. Infant Care. Babies are kept in close contact with their mothers and accompany them in most of their activities, usually carried on the mother's back and secured by a tightly wrapped cloth. In the cities, the complex male and female initiation practices found in the rural areas are often reduced to simple circumcision the removal of the foreskin for boys and clitoridectomy the removal of the clitoris for girls —usually performed on the eighth day of the baby's birth.

Traditionally male and female initiation marked the passage from childhood to adulthood it was a requirement for women to marry, and in some areas it was incorporated within the marriage process and entailed the passing of traditional and religious knowledge from the old to the new generations. On the other hand urban circumcision tends to be incorporated into another set of rituals, those performed on the occasion of the naming of a child. Child Rearing and Education. Children's informal education is to a great extent a collective endeavor, with people other than the children's parents participating in their rearing.

Small children, up to two or three years, receive much affectionate attention from both family and nonfamily members and are rarely disciplined. Education is free and compulsory for the first nine years, although private schools, which draw their students from the better-off strata of the population, are expanding.

In general, the attitude toward western-style schooling is ambivalent—both because it is viewed as a colonial legacy and also because it is often disconnected from the rural populations' complex realities. In addition, scarce opportunities for employment in the formal sector of the economy, especially in rural areas, may demotivate families and pupils from investing resources and time in formal schooling.

Traditionally, children learned about their future economic responsibilities by observing and helping older same-sex kin, but in the cities boys increasingly have fewer responsibilities, while girls are still expected to help at home.

Higher Education. Since independence the government has devoted more resources to secondary education than to mass primary schooling. Secondary schools are concentrated in urban areas, Bamako in particular. Until very recently the most important objective for the Malian school was the production of administrative cadres, and until the state guaranteed employment for students with a secondary-school or university diploma.

At that time, however, the state had to confront the fact that it could no longer assume this responsibility, and since then, enrollment in state schools has dropped. The numerous student strikes that have occurred in the late twentieth century were an expression of students' anxiety about their uncertain professional future as well as dissatisfaction with the form and quality of education.

Statistics from the s suggest a literacy rate of about 38 percent. Students' success rate is also extremely low. In the s only 50 percent of the students who began primary education were likely to complete six years of schooling and go on to secondary education. Female students are underrepresented at all levels of education, and their presence decreases from one educational level to the next; for instance, in there were 2, female students out of a total of 13, at the university level.

Malians are very proud of their traditions of hospitality toward local and international visitors, and indeed, hospitality has been raised to the level of a national value.

Greetings and salutations for special occasions births, marriages, deaths, etc. They symbolize an individual's education and his or her concern and respect for others, with younger people typically expected to initiate the greeting as a sign of respect for their elders. Foreign travelers who learn at least a few greetings in Bamana or other local languages have their efforts warmly acknowledged by the local people.

The majority of the Malian population is Muslim, and foreign travelers, both men and women, are encouraged to be sensitive to the local dress code e. Gift-giving and sharing of resources are some of the axioms upon which Malian society is based. Consequently, one's integration in the Malian society requires the learning of the complex grammar of gift-giving. A different set of rules govern people's behavior in market places, where initial prices are typically inflated and bartering is an expected ritual.

Religious Beliefs. An estimated 80 percent of the Malian population is Muslim, with the others practicing Christianity 1 percent or following traditional religious practices 19 percent. Islam has been present in this area since the eighth century, but until the coming of the French its practice was mostly restricted to merchants, clerics, and the rulers and the elites of the great West African empires that blossomed in this area.

Under French colonization Islam's influence greatly expanded in the region. For instance, during the first phases of French colonization, colonial administrators relied upon Islamic representatives to extend their control over the local populations. The French also aided in the establishment of new Islamic tribunals in the region. Finally, transformations of the local economy and people's increased mobility contributed to the spreading of Islam.

Today Mali is a secular state, but religion and in particular national Islamic religious organizations play an important role in the life of the country. Rituals and Holy Places. There are a number of celebrations that are performed on the occasion of major Islamic events, such as the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed and of his baptism.

Ramadan in Bamana, sunkalo , literally "the fasting month" is concluded by a religious feast called in Bamana selijinin , or "small feast. This is a time when most families sacrifice a sheep, people wear their best outfits, and everyone busily exchanges gifts of meat and prepared foods as a sign of solidarity. All these Islamic holidays as well as Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas are officially recognized. Western health care is limited, with one doctor per 18, persons.

Medical facilities are insufficient, under equipped, and mostly concentrated in urban areas, especially Bamako. In most cases patients need to provide nearly all supplies necessary for their treatment, including medicines, disposable medical equipment, and food.

Given both the under funding of the health sector and some corruption among underpaid and under trained health-care personnel, patients must rely on their social network for financial help and to ensure that they receive proper care. This process obviously delays medical treatment and discriminates against the poor. Statistics show that one out of five children in rural areas will die before the age of five; the child mortality rate decreases significantly in urban areas and in Bamako in particular.

Average life expectancy increased slightly in the late twentieth century, reaching forty-nine years however, the increasing spread of AIDS in this region will have a dramatic impact on this figure. Most people utilize both Western and traditional systems of medicine. An emerging sector of research is the so-called ethnopharmacopeia, which involves the production on a larger scale of traditional medicines of proven efficacy.

These medicines are less expensive and stem from medical knowledge already in the hands of the majority of Malians. This sector would offer the possibility of local industrial expansion if training and funding were provided to cooperatives of traditional healers and local researchers. A major public holiday in Mali, and the occasion of parades, political speeches, and other celebrations, is 22 September, Independence Day. These celebrations, which attract tourists, often become the occasion of visits by politicians and are thus often reappropriated into a nationalistic rhetoric.

Malian oral literature is extremely rich, varied proverbs, stories, epic poetry , and well researched. The Malian epic tradition the story of Sunjata is the most relevant to a discussion of national culture. Since independence, the jeliw griots , masters of words and the holders of the epic tradition, have been essential in the process of nation building, becoming heavily involved in the process of rewriting Mali's history and of conveying political messages to the general population.

Some Malian scholars are extremely critical of these recent developments and see the griots' art as having lost its critical wit as it moved into the service of politics and the powerful. But the issue is open to debate, as other studies show the resilience of some of the jeliw's prerogatives of social critique. In very schematic terms, two underlying trends can be distinguished in Mali's literary tradition.

The first is represented by a traditionalist literature oriented toward the reconstruction of the precolonial past and the retrieval of precolonial cultural traditions; the second is involved in the critical analysis of Mali's contemporary social problems, including the long-term consequences of colonization. There is also an emerging literature in national languages, predominantly in Bamana. Graphic Arts. Malian pottery, sculpture, and textile traditions—in particular bogolanfini, hand-woven cotton bands decorated with dyes and mud and sewn together to make cloths—are extremely diverse and have been the subject of numerous studies.

Performance Arts. Extremely active—and with significant implication for development—is the predominantly comic theater tradition in Mali known as koteba. The institution in charge of coordinating research in Mali is the Centre national de la recherche scientifique et technologique. Most research projects in Mali are development-oriented and are concentrated in the areas of agriculture and health.

In addition, in the absence of sufficient state funding, Malian researchers are heavily dependent on external aid for training, research, and publication. Amselle, Jean-Loup. Bernstein and B. Campbell, eds. Terray, ed. Arnoldi, Mary Jo. Bagayogo, Shaka. Bazin, Jean. Bertrand, Monique.

Bingen, R. James, David Robinson, and John M. Democracy and Development in Mali , Bird, Charles S. Blonde, Jacques. Valdman, ed. Brenner, Louis. Brenner, Louis, and Sanankoua Bintou. L'enseignement islamique au Mali , Ethnologie et language, la parole chez les Dogons , Ciminelli, Maria Luisa.

Follia del sapere e saperi della follia, L'Enseignement islamique en Afrique noire, Conrad, David, and Barbara Frank. Status and Identity in West Africa, Cutter, Charles. De Jorio, Rosa. Delafosse, Maurice. De Noray, Marie-Laure. Diarrah, Cheick Oumar. Dieterlen, Germaine, and Youssouf Cisse. Djata, Sundiata A. Duran, Lucy. Furniss and L. Gunner, eds. Echenberg, Myron. Economist Intelligence Unit. Country Profile: Mali, Fay, Claude. Frank, Barbara E. Griaule, Marcel. Hoffman, Barbara.

Hopkins, Nicholas. Imperato, Pascal James. Mali: A Search for Direction, Keita, Mamadou Konoba. Kendall, M. Klimkeit, Dirk. Konate, Moussa. Launay, Robert, and Benjamin F. Maas, Pierre. Mann, Michael, and David Dalby. A Thesaurus of African Languages, Martin, Guy. McNaughton, Patrick R. Meillassoux, Claude. Montel, Charles. Morgenthau, Ruth Schachter. N'Diaye, Issa. Perinbam, Marie B. Family Identity and the State in the Bamako Kafu, c. Raghavan, M.

Roberts, Richard. Warriors, Merchants, and Slaves, Rovine, Victoria. Savane, Amadou Sy. Schatzberg, Michael. Schulz, Dorothea Elisabeth. Silla, Eric. Sonfo, Alphamoye, and Urbain Dembele. Turrittin, Jane. Vaa, M. Findley, and A. Zahan, Dominique. Toggle navigation. Orientation Location and Geography. Most cities—many of which already existed well before Mali. History and Ethnic Relations Emergence of the Nation. Urbanism Architecture, and the Use of Space Typical of this area is the so-called West Sudanese architecture, characterized by the use of sun-baked clay bricks of various shapes.

Food and Economy Food in Daily Life. Social Stratification Classes and Castes. Political Life Government. Social Welfare and Change Programs Mali, at least on paper, provides an extensive welfare system.

Nongovernmental Organizations and Other Associations Nongovernmental organizations NGOs are the expression of a development approach that takes into account the needs and aspirations of the local people and ideally involves them at all stages in the development project.

Marriage, family, and Kinship Marriage. Socialization Infant Care. Etiquette Malians are very proud of their traditions of hospitality toward local and international visitors, and indeed, hospitality has been raised to the level of a national value. Religion Religious Beliefs.