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10 Fascinating Facts You never Knew About Mali


The Republic of Mali is a landlocked West African country. Bamako is Mali's capital. The country is made up of eight regions. The currency used in Mali is the West African CFA Franc (XOF). Mali got its independence from France on June 20, 1960. Mali's president is Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, and the prime minister, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga. As per the April 2009 census (the most recent statistics), Mali has a population of 14,517,176 people. The official language in Mali is French. Mali's principal industry is agriculture. Get to know more fascinating things about Mali by reading the facts listed below.
1. Mali has the third highest average birth rate in the world. The average birth rate in Mali is six children per woman.

2. Mali is the largest country in West Africa, in terms of surface area (478,841 square miles/1,240,192 square kilometers. It is the eighth-largest country in Africa.
Malian women sharing a local dish

3. The elephant fish Mormyrops oudoti is a freshwater fish that is unique to Mali.

4. The prime meridian marker runs through Gao, Mali. Standing on the marker, you can have a foot in the east hemisphere and another in the west, literally speaking.

5. Mali is the third largest producer of gold in Africa, after South Africa and Ghana.

6. Mansa Musa I, the richest man in the history of the world was from Mali. He was worth $400 billion dollars (inflation-adjusted to today's dollars). Mansa Musa I was West Africa's Malian emperor in the early 1300s. He made his fortune by exploiting Mali's salt and gold production. Many of the mosques he built as a young man still stand today.

7. The Tomb of Askia, in Gao, is believed to be the burial place of Askia Mohammad I, one of the most prolific emperors of the Songhai empire. Askia's tomb was built at the end of the fifteenth century and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

8. Bamako, the Malian capital, is one of the fastest growing cities in Africa. As such, Mali's total population is expected to double by 2035.

9. Renowned African musicians Salif Keita, dubbed the "Golden Voice of Africa" and Grammy Award winner Oumou Sangare are Malians.
Oumou Sangare
Salif Keita
10. The Grand Mosque in the Malian city of Djenné is the largest adobe (clay) building in the world.



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