AN ATLAS OF MALI - Delta and Gourma

By Olivier Walther, University of Florida

This atlas explores the geography of the Inner Delta of the Niger River and Gourma region in Mali, from Mopti to Timbuktu, through the 1:200,000 maps produced by the French National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the 1950s and 1960s. Each map serves as a starting point for a reflection on the nature of geographical space. Taken together, these commentaries show the variety of the Sahara and of the Sahel and the many ways in which societies have contributed to shaping these extraordinary regions.

This atlas also maps the North, the Ifoghas and Menaka, and the West of Mali.

Map	Description
	66 – Hâssi Touîl. This map of western Mali shows a great expanse of Mauritanian territory. Unlike Burkina Faso or Niger, Mauritania has been free of cross-border jihadist attacks for more than a decade. This success is due to a carrot-and-stick approach pursued by the Mauritanian authorities, who both released some suspected Jihadists under surveillance, while militarizing their border with Mali. In sparsely populated regions such as Hâssi Touîl, Mauritanian forces have relied on highly mobile patrols to monitor and kill insurgents crossing the border from Mali.
	67 – Râs el Mâ. This colorful map of Râs el Mâ shows the western end of Lake Faguibine, whose flood-fed waters have almost completely disappeared since the 1980s. The lake can only fill up if the smaller lakes closer to the Niger River receive enough water to overflow, which is increasingly rare. In the SE corner of the map is the village of Tondidarou, where a group of more than 180 engraved megaliths dating back to the Ghana Empire were discovered in the early 20th century
	68/69 – Tombouctou Ouest/Est. Timbuktu today is no longer the “pile of poorly-built mud houses” described by René Caillé in 1828. However, unlike Agadez in Niger, the city has never fully recovered from the decline of trans-Saharan trade and remains largely disconnected from the rest of the country. Almost 65 years after Mali's independence, Timbuktu is still not linked by a paved road to the national network.
	70 – Gourma–Rharous. Gourma–Rharous is an important city of the Niger River Bend. To the south is the Gourma region of Mali, a pastoral region where traditional institutions governing land use have long remained very liberal. Only wells dug by tribes and the recurrently occupied campsites are considered as landed property. Access to resources and occupation of the land by nomadic tribes is by force.
	83 – Nampala. Nampala lies on the National Road 33 (RN 33) leading to Diabaly, much further south, in the Office du Niger irrigation zone (map #99). The eastern part of Nampala is covered by large wetlands on this 1956 IGN map. The town has been the target of several rebel and Jihadi attacks since the 1990s. In 2016, the military camp of the Malian army located at a short distance from Nampala was attacked by Ansar Dine, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and a Fulani militia. Militants destroyed the base, burned the town and fled back into the bush. This pattern is typical of many attacks in the Sahel, a region where most militant groups are numerically small and struggle to hold territory or cities against conventional forces.
	84 – Sa. The immense inland delta of the Niger River has remained dedicated to pastoralism rather than irrigated agriculture. Traditionally, Fulani pastoralists, Bozo fishermen and Bambara and Nono farmers were granted access to the Delta seasonally, a system that has been considerably weakened by droughts and development initiatives of the state. Reestablishing access to natural resources is one of the key objectives of the Jihadist movements implemented in the region since the early 2010s.
	85 – Niafounké. The small town of Niafounké is well known of all the admirers of Ali Farka Touré, a Malian singer and instrumentalist, who became its mayor in 2004. Travelers to Timbuktu inevitably stop off at Niafounké after crossing the northern part of the Inner Delta because it is there that the National Road 38 (RN38) crosses the Niger River.
	86 – Bambara Maoundé. Bambara Maoundé is one of the most important cities of the Niger Bend. South of the city, the relief is marked by the presence of fossilized dunes, which bear witness to more arid episodes in the region. Théodore Monod preferred to call them “dressed dunes” because they are fixed by vegetation. Similar forms can be seen in the Mauritanian Trarza and between Zinder and Kano in Nigeria. To the south of the map is the Gandamia (or Dyoundé) massif, one of the most spectacular natural sites of Mali, populated by Dogon, Fulani and the westernmost Songhay group of West Africa.
	87 – Hombori. The Hombori region shares several cultural characteristics with the nearby Dogon Country (map #102), most notably villages built on high cliffs to survive slavery raids. The region is home to several ethnic groups on the periphery of their settlement area. This is particularly true of the Dogon, who are here at their northeastern limit. The Songhay live in an advanced stronghold far from the historic cities of the Niger River (Gao, Timbuktu), in the Hombori massif, in northern Gandamia and in Boni (map #103). The Fulani population is made up of nobles and tributaries (rimaïbé). The rimaïbé villages are perched in the hills, while those of the noble Fulani remain on the plains. Tuareg live here on the edge of their Gourma pastoral areas. The summit of Mount Hombori – the highest mountain in Mali at 1155 m – is a Sahelian refuge for rare species. The plain surrounding the mountains is punctuated with seasonal lakes, sand dunes, and a tiny population of wild elephants.
	88 – In Tillit. In Tillit is a locality in the eastern part of the Malian Gourma, a vast pastoral region that extents south of the Niger Bend. Geographers have long wondered how best to map nomadic areas and pastoral territories. To represent the scale of movements and their possible overlapping in space, Jean Gallais has depicted pastoral areas encompassing the itineraries of several tribes at several key times of the year. This cartography highlights some particularly important sites, such as the Dorey wells or, further west, the Gossi pond and the Amniganda salt pans (cure salée in French).
	100 – Niono. The vast inhabited region south of Louguel is known as the Wagadu forest, after the Wagadu (or Ghana) empire that ruled southwestern Mauritania and western Mali from the early millennium to the thirteenth century. The region’s difficult access and dense vegetation cover have made it a sanctuary for Jihadist groups, like the Sambisa forest south of Maiduguri in Nigeria for the Boko Haram insurgency. In 2011, Mauritania and Mali undertook a series of joint counter-terrorism operations aimed at Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) military bases in the Wagadu forest. In recent years, several Malian military bases have been attacked in this region, such as Nara and Kwala.
	101 – Mopti. The city of Mopti is unique in Mali, both for its location near the confluence between the Bani and Niger rivers and for its commercial activity. Built on a series of islands connected by dikes, the city is extremely densely populated and a major port of the Inner Delta. Mopti is now the third largest urban agglomeration in Mali after Bamako and Sikasso. Unlike other Malian towns, which were already well-developed before colonization, such as Djenné, Gao or Timbuktu, Mopti owes most of its development to the colonial and post-colonial periods. Before the war in Mali, Mopti was a major touristic destination, due to its proximity to the Dogon Country and Djenné. Across the rice paddies, 10 km to the east, is Mopti’s sister city Sevaré. Located on the National Road 6 (RN6), Sévaré has experienced strong growth in the last two decades, due to the huge military complex built near the airport by the United Nations. South of Mopti are the ruins of the city of Hamdallaye founded around 1820 by Sekou Amadou, which was the capital of the Fula empire of Macina until conquered by El Hadj Oumar Tall. The impressive wall that surrounded the city is still partially visible today. A new mosque has been built a short distance from RN6.
	102 – Bandiagara. A World Heritage Site, the spectacular Bandiagara Cliff has long protected pagan populations from slave raids, before becoming a celebrated hotspot for anthropologists and a popular tourist destination. It was heartbreaking to see the Cliff and the Seno Plain transform into one of the most violent conflict regions of the Sahel in the late 2010s. In the Séno-Gondo plain, where some of the worst massacre took place, the expansion of the Fulani in the nineteenth century led Dogon farmers to withdraw from their villages on the plain and adopt defensive settlements in cliff. In the twentieth century, the descendants of these farmers have moved eastwards to fill the void left by the Fulani, giving rise to an agricultural front that they regard as their original lands. Today, competition for land and water between farmers and herders is increasingly fierce. New crops have replaced the pastures of the Fulani, whose way of life is now threatened by a lack of investment in the pastoral sector and recurring droughts. The presence of the Malian state in the region has also diminished as insecurity in the center of the country increases. This explosive context encourages ethnic militias to capitalize on the fear of religious extremism to promote their local objectives.
	103 – Douentza. Nested at the westernmost tip of the spectacular Gandamia massif, Douentza is the last stop for travelers on their way to Timbuktu by road, crossing the fossilized dunes of the Niger Bend. The city was founded by Bambaras from Segou, and then conquered by the Fulani.
	111 – Ké Macina. Two rivers slowly converge on this beautiful map of Central Mali drawn by the IGN in 1955: the Bani River in the south and the Niger River in the north. The irrigated area of the Office du Niger is visible west of Ké Macina.
	112 – San. The most interesting feature of the San map is the city of Djenné, on the Bani River. The monumental Great Mosque of Djenné is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Mali. Built in 1907 near Seku Amadu’s mosque, the mud plastering (crépissage in French) is restored annually before the rainy season. Near Djenné lie the ruins of Djenné-Djenno, established in about 250 BC, one of the oldest cities in West Africa.
	113 – Tougan. When this map was last updated in 1969, the little town of Tougan was part of Haute-Volta. The country was renamed "Burkina Faso" or "Land of the Honest Men" by Thomas Sankara in 1984.
	114 – Ouahigouya. All roads converge on Ouahigouya, the largest urban center in northern Burkina Faso and the last major city before the Malian border and the Dogon Country. The city is surrounded by artificial lakes that support irrigated agriculture.
	121 – Koutiala. Koutiala is a major crossroads between the Niger River valley and Sikasso to the south. On this 1955 map, all the depressions are occupied by wetlands. The wooded savannah that once covered almost the entire region has now largely disappeared, replaced by cotton and cereal crops.
	122 – Yorosso. The town of Yorosso is only 30 km away from Burkina Faso. In this rural region of Mali, the border sometimes follows the course of a river, sometimes cuts through fields and low-lying hills, with no apparent logic.
	127 – Sikasso. Will be added soon
	128 – Bobo-Dioulasso. Will be added soon
	131 – Niellé. Will be added soon
	132 – Djibo. Will be added soon
	133 – Dori. Will be added soon
	134 – Téra. Will be added soon