Mali saw 31 years of dictatorship until 1991, when a military coup led by Amadou Toumani TOURE ousted the government, established a new constitution, and instituted a multi-party democracy. When Senegal withdrew after only a few months, the remaining area was renamed the Republic of Mali. In 1960, French Sudan gained independence from France and became the Mali Federation. In the late 16th century, the Songhai Empire fell to Moroccan invaders and disintegrated into independent sultanates and kingdoms.įrance, expanding from Senegal, seized control of the area in the 1890s and incorporated it into French West Africa as French Sudan. Timbuktu remains a center of culture in West Africa today. Under Songhai rule, Timbuktu became a large commercial center and well-known for its scholarship and religious teaching. The Songhai Empire, previously a Mali dependency centered in Timbuktu, gained prominence in the 15th and 16th centuries. The empire also influenced West African culture through the spread of its language, laws, and customs, but by the 16th century it fragmented into mostly small chiefdoms. Primarily a trading empire, Mali derived its wealth from gold and maintained several goldfields and trade routes in the Sahel. At its peak in the 14th century, it was the largest and wealthiest empire in West Africa and controlled an area about twice the size of modern-day France. Present-day Mali is named after the Mali Empire that ruled the region between the 13th and 16th centuries.
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