Description

Mali, with its 1,241,238 square kilometers, is the largest state in West Africa after Niger. It is landlocked within West Africa between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. It is crossed by two major rivers: the Senegal and the Niger. Most of the population lives in rural areas.

• The northern two-thirds of the country, entirely desert, belong to the Southern Sahara, with annual rainfall of less than 127 mm. This region is crossed by nomads with their herds;
• the center: the Sahelian region, relatively dry (with relatively insufficient tropical rains), is covered with steppe gradually replaced towards the south by savannah. The Niger valley is cultivated thanks to certain development works: there is rice, cotton, shea (name in Bambara language), peanuts, millet, sorghum.