AN ATLAS OF MALI - West - African Networks Lab

By Olivier Walther, University of Florida

This atlas explores the geography of Western Mali, from Kayes to Bamako, 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 Delta and Gourma, and the Ifoghas and Ménaka region.

Map	Description
	77 – Kankossa. Kankossa is a small Mauritanian town on the road between Kiffa and Kayes in Mali. Despite its remoteness, the region plays an important role in the cross-border movements of cattle between the two countries. The border follows the course of the Karakoro River in the southern part, before dipping southwards through a series of low plateaus. The western part of the map shows some large sandy areas, while the rest of the region has all the characteristics of the Sahelian shrub savannah.
	78 – Yélimané. Yelimané is a small Malian town to the west of Nioro. On this 1956 map, the vegetation appears particularly dense. The western part of the region features several large ponds typical of the Sahel, where off-season crops are grown. To the east is a sparsely populated plateau where water is less abundant. In 2022, unidentified terrorists attacked the military camp located near the airfield and the customs office.
	79 – Nioro. Once the capital of the Bambara kingdom of Kaarta, Nioro is a typical Sahelian town, open to farmers, cattle herders, and long-distance traders. The town makes up for its relative geographical remoteness by its religious importance, thanks to the Chérif of Nioro, Bouyé Haïdara, a major figure in Sufi Islam.
	80 – Ballé. The village of Ballé is located south of the Mauritanian border, which in this remote region of western Mali, follows the parallel of latitude 15°30’. Farmers grow off-season crops on the banks of the river that seasonally flows through the village. As West Africa urbanizes, cash crops have become increasingly important to supply the local markets with onions, tomatoes, pepper, maize, or beans. Longitudinal dunes are visible across the region on this 1961 map. These fossil dunes were formed during previous episodes of aridity, the last one of which occurred almost 6,000 years ago in the Sahara. Today, these dunes are stabilized and cultivated mainly for cereal crops such as millet.
	81 – Nara. The Nara region is dotted with large, shallow ponds, the edges of which are intensively farmed on a seasonal basis. To the east of this 1961 map, IGN cartographers have depicted two small areas of tiger bush, a form of vegetation typical of the Sahel. Seen from the air, the tiger bush appears as a series of patches of very dense vegetation, separated by bare ground. These alternating patterns develop in flat regions where the lack of rainfall prevents vegetation from covering the entire ground. Instead, bushes and grasses cluster in the most favorable parts of the landscape.
	82 – Ségé. This map of Ségé drawn in 1961 is perfectly divided by the border between Mali and Mauritania, which runs in a straight line along the parallel of latitude 15°30' for 409 km. The tiger bush covers a significant part of the region, creating a patchwork of densely wooded areas and bare soil, as in the neighboring Nampala region further east (map #83). More recent aerial images show that this vegetation, so emblematic of the Sahel, has been largely harvested for its wood and replaced by fields.
	93 – Bakel. The Senegalese town of Bakel is an important commercial hub. In this upstream region of the Senegal River shared between Sénégal, Mali and Mauritania, all international borders follow watercourses. Mali is bounded by the Sanon Kolé river as far as Nayé, then the Falémé river as far as Aroundou, the Sénégal river as far as Lani Tounka, and finally the Karakoro. The border post of Diboli-Kidira, through which the bulk of official trade between Mali and Senegal passes, lies to the south. The Senegalese town of Kidira was one of the stops of the Dakar-Niger Railway before international passenger operations stopped in 2010.
	94 – Kayes. Kayes is the largest city of western Mali with an estimated population of 80,000 in 2024. It was an essential stop for travelers on the Dakar–Niger Railway. The cessation of international rail links between Senegal and Mali 15 years ago has further accentuated the geographical isolation of this regional crossroads separated by almost 600 km from Bamako. Initially built around the train station, Kayes has experienced a rapid expansion on both sides of the Niger River. Upstream of Kayes is the fort of Médine, built by the French in 1855 and unsuccessfully attacked by the Toucouleur forces of El Hadj Oumar Tall in 1857.
	95 – Sandaré. The small town of Sandaré is located on the National Road 1 (RN 1) linking Bamako to Kayes. This road, crucial for supplying Mali, has long remained in poor condition. The town lies to the north of a relatively wooded plateau dotted with small hills. In 1956, when this IGN map was produced, the dominant vegetation in the region was wooded savannah.
	96 – Diéma. Diéma is a small town at the crossroads of National Road 1 (RN1), which links Bamako to Kayes, and National Road 3 (RN3), which takes travelers to Nioro du Sahel. In 1956, evenly spaced villages form gaps in the wooded savannah. Numerous streams and more or less temporary ponds occupy the valley bottoms of this peripheral region.
	97 – Doubala. Doubala is one of the countless small villages that dot this region of western Mali, some 200 km north of Bamako. The southern part of the map is occupied by two large reserves: the Boucle du Baoulé National Park and the Kongosanbougou classified forest. The boundaries of the National Park, indicated in green, closely follow the loop of the Baoulé in the SW of the map. The river first flows north towards Torodo, before making a spectacular turn south towards Bakorobougou.
	98 – Mourdiah. Mourdiah is the quintessential Sahelian town, with its banco compounds surrounded by a wall forming a regular checkerboard around the mosque. Here and there, a few granaries testify to the importance of agricultural activities in the region. The town is bisected by a large sandy oued. To the SW of the town, the army has built a large military camp to house the men and equipment fighting the jihadist groups occupying the Wagadu forest to the NE. In 2024, Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked the base with suicide bombers and artillery before being repelled by the Malian army and its Russian mercenaries.
	99 – Sokolo. The east of the map shows a portion of the large irrigation scheme managed by the Office du Niger to produce rice and sugar cane in two ancient branches of the Niger River (map #83). Rice paddies are clearly visible on this 1961 map of the IGN. The water that irrigates this region is diverted from the Niger at Markala, 120 km south of Sokolo. The Office du Niger was conceived by the French in the early years of the colonial period. The cultivated area (100,000 ha) is much smaller than that which could be irrigated (250,000 ha), which has led the Malian government to call on Libyan and Chinese investors over the past 15 years.
	104 – Dalafi. Senegal occupies almost the entire map of Dalafi, with only a thin strip of Malian territory visible along the Falémé River to the east. Some remarkable trees are indicated on the map: palm trees in the Kobakoye valley and sisal near Tonkoula. This is not unusual: IGN maps list up to 11 tree species, depending on the region. To the SW of the map is Niokolo-Koba National Park, a World Heritage Site.
	105 – Kossanto. The most striking feature of this 1957 map of western Mali is the sandstone escarpment that stretches for over 160 km, parallel to the Senegalese border. Known as the Tambaoura Cliff, this 50-200m high escarpment forms the western edge of the Mandingo Plateau. To the west lies the Bambouk schist plain, where gold has been mined since the tenth century. The border between the two countries follows the Falémé River. Kossanto (or Khossanto), which gives its name to the map, lies in the SW corner of the map in Senegal.
	106 – Bafoulabé. The Malian city of Bafoulabé lies at the confluence of the Bafing and Bakoy rivers, which form the Senegal River. The radial-concentric plan of Bafoulabé is quite original: all avenues converge on a large traffic circle adorned with the sculpture of Mali Sadio, a hippopotamus hero. The two rivers are crossed by ferry. The Dakar-Niger Railway crosses the Bafing at Mahina, using a bridge built in 1895. Bafoulabé’s economic importance declined considerably during the twentieth century, following the opening of the railway line between Senegal and Mali, which has affected fluvial transport, and the shift of the population to Mahina, 6 km to the south.
	107 – Kita. On this 1957 map, the small town of Kita appears surrounded by classified forests and natural parks, including the Badinko and Kongossambougou Reserves and the Boucle du Baoulé National Park.
	108 – Kolokani. The spectacular northern loop (or boucle in French) of the Baoulé River is clearly visible on this 1955 map of Kolokani. Much of the region is occupied by the Boucle du Baoulé National Park and the Fina Faunal Reserve. Kolokani is located at the eastern end of the map, outside the nature reserves.
	109 – Banamba. This 1956 map of Central Mali shows the Niger River downstream from Bamako. The town of Banamba is located some 55 km NW of the mighty Niger, on the National Road 27 (RN27) that leads to the capital city. The wooded savannah visible in the mid-1950s has now almost completely disappeared, replaced by cereal crops.
	110 – Ségou. In 1861, Ségou became the capital of the Toucouleur empire, an Islamic state founded by El Hadj Oumar Tall, born in present–day Senegal. The French urged the local Bambara to resist their Toucouleur overlords, and, in 1889, Col. Louis Archinard entered Ségou without a fight. Downstream from Ségou, the Markala dam was built by the French in the mid-1930s to divert the water of the Niger to the north and increase irrigation.
	115 – Kéniéba. This region of western Mali, near the border with Senegal, is characterized by significant gold deposits. Located NW of Kéniéba, the Loulo-Gounkoto gold mine, owned by Barrick Gold and the State of Mali, is not yet visible on this map updated in 1971.
	116 – Bafing–Makana. The Bafing River, which flows southward on this map of western Mali, is the main tributary of the Senegal River. In 1987, a huge dam was built on the Bafing, north of Goungoundala, to generate electricity and promote agriculture. Guinea is visible south of the Bafing River in the lower portion of the map. On this 1957 map, Bafing–Makana was a very small village and it doesn’t look any bigger on recent satellite images.
	117 – Sirakoro. Sirakoro is a small town of western Mali, near the Guinea border. The main feature of the map is the Bakoye River, which joins with the Bafing River to form the Senegal River in Bafoulabé (map #106).
	118/119 – Bamako Ouest/Est. More than 10 years after the outbreak of civil war in Mali, Bamako remains an island of stability largely untouched by the political violence ravaging the rest of the country.
	120 – Dioïla. This map shows the extent of the flood zone of the Bani, a tributary of the River Niger. Only a fraction of the floodplain is actually planted with rice, notably north of Dioïla, where an irrigated perimeter has been set up on the north bank of the Baoulé. The Bani and its tributary the Banifing meet at a place called Bafoulabé, which means “meeting of the two rivers”, not to be confused with the much bigger city of the same name south of Kayes.
	130 – Tingréla. This map shows the Tingréla (or Tengréla) region in the far north of Côte d'Ivoire. The international boundary between Côte d'Ivoire and Mali follows the Babani River in the west, before turning east until it reaches the Bagoé River. Tingrela and Kadiana in Mali are two very active border markets. This region is widely known for its Sudanese-style mosques characterized by projecting frameworks and minarets in the form of truncated pyramids. This architectural style of the Gur and Mandé cultural areas is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2021. It originated between the 12th and 14th centuries in the city of Djenné, further north, and spread southwards to the Sudanese savannah following trade routes.