Geography of Mali
Location: | Western Africa, southwest of Algeria |
Geographic coordinates: | 17 00 N, 4 00 W |
Map references: | Africa |
Area: | total: 1.24 million sq km land: 1.22 million sq km water: 20,000 sq km |
Area - comparative: | slightly less than twice the size of Texas |
Land boundaries: | total: 7,243 km border countries: Algeria 1,376 km, Burkina Faso 1,000 km, Guinea 858 km, Cote d'Ivoire 532 km, Mauritania 2,237 km, Niger 821 km, Senegal 419 km |
Coastline: | 0 km (landlocked) |
Maritime claims: | none (landlocked) |
Climate: | subtropical to arid; hot and dry (February to June); rainy, humid, and mild (June to November); cool and dry (November to February) |
Terrain: | mostly flat to rolling northern plains covered by sand; savanna in south, rugged hills in northeast |
Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Senegal River 23 m highest point: Hombori Tondo 1,155 m |
Natural resources: | gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropower note: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited |
Land use: | arable land: 3.76% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 96.21% (2005) |
Irrigated land: | 2,360 sq km (2003) |
Natural hazards: | hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons; recurring droughts; occasional Niger River flooding |
Environment - current issues: | deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching |
Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Geography - note: | landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan |