Bamako

Bamako (bämäkō`), city (1987 pop. 646,163), capital of Mali and of its Bamako region, SW Mali, on the Niger River. It is the nation's administrative center, as well as a river port, a junction on the Dakar-Niger RR, and a major regional trade center. Manufactures include textiles, processed meat, and metal goods. Bamako ships shea-nut oil, kapok, cotton, and peanuts. There is commercial fishing on the Niger. Bamako was a leading center of Muslim learning under the Mali empire (c.11th–15th cent.) but by the 19th cent. had declined into a small village. In 1883 it was occupied by French troops. In 1908, Bamako became the capital of the French Sudan (see Mali) and began to develop into a major city. As a result of a conference of Africans from French West and Equatorial Africa, held in Bamako in 1946, the Rassemblement démocratique africain, an important regional political party, was founded. Bamako is a picturesque city, with a botanical and zoological park and many decorative gardens. Bamako's educational institutions include schools of administration, medicine, and engineering. The city also has an international airport.

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Bamako

City pop., 1996: metro area, 809,552), capital of Mali. Located in southwestern Mali on the Niger River, it was a settlement of a few hundred inhabitants when it was occupied by the French in 1880. It became the capital of the former colony of French Sudan in 1908. Now spanning both sides of the river, it has several colleges and most of Mali's industrial enterprises. The city more than tripled in size in the 1960s, largely because of rural migration from drought-stricken areas of the countryside.

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Bamako

the capital of Mali, in the south, on the River Niger. Pop.: 1 379 000 (2005 est.)

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Bamako 

capital of the Republic of Mali; located on the left bank of the Niger River. Population, about 200,000 (1968; suburbs included).

In 1882, Bamako, at that time a small settlement, was occupied by French colonial troops. Bamako became a military strong point on the Niger River for the colonialists. Between 1920 and 1960, Bamako was the administrative center of the French Sudan. Since 1960 it has been the capital of the Republic of Mali.

Bamako is a railway station on the Dakar-Niger line and a highway junction. There is an important airport in Bamaka. It is the major industrial, commercial, and distribution center of the country. Bamako accounts for about 85 percent of the country’s entire production of electrical energy. The Thermal Electric Power Station generates 6.4 megawatts (MW), and the Sotuba Hydroelectric Power Station, located 6 km from Bamako, generates 5.2 MW. Bamako has a food industry (a slaughterhouse, a plant for the production of fruit drinks and mineral waters, and a cigarette factory); the Metal-Sudan Plant; factories for the production of plastic goods and the assembly of transistor radios; metal repair shops; handicrafts (weaving, wood carving, ivory carving, goldsmithing, silversmithing, and leatherworking); and a match factory.

Bamako has a rectangular plan with the main square in the center. In the southern part of the city there are well-constructed blocks of buildings and a park zone, where a sports complex and several educational institutions were built between 1962 and 1966 according to plans by the Soviet architect L. N. Afanas’ev and others. The administrative center and the former palace of the president are located 3 km north of Bamako on Mt. Koulouba. There are many houses made of banko (clay and straw) in the western and eastern parts of Bamako. Construction has been going on since 1960 on the right bank of the Niger River.