Mopti (Fulfulde: Mobti) is a town and an urban commune in central Mali. Located in the Inner Niger Delta region of the country, the town also serves as the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the confluence of the Niger and the Bani Rivers and is linked by an elevated causeway to the town of Sévaré. The urban commune, which includes both Mopti and Sévaré, had a population of 114,296 in the 2009 census.

Geography

Mopti lies on the right bank of the Bani River, a few hundred meters upstream of the confluence of the Bani with the Niger River. Between August and December when the rivers flood the Inner Niger Delta, the town becomes a series of islands connected by raised causeways. During this period the only road access to the town is along a 12&nbsp;km causeway that links Mopti to Sévaré. Mopti lies to the west of the Dogon Plateau and is 66&nbsp;km northwest of Bandiagara and 76&nbsp;km north-northeast of Djenné.<!--all distances as the crow flies--> The town is the capital of the Mopti Region and the administrative center of the Mopti Cercle.

The urban commune of Mopti includes the towns of both Mopti and Sévaré. The commune is completely surrounded by the rural commune of Socoura. At the time of the 2009 census the population of the Mopti commune was 114,296. For administrative purposes the commune is subdivided into 11 quartiers: Komoguel I, Komoguel II, Gangal, Toguel, Bougoufié, Mossinkoré, Taïkiri, Médina Coura, Sévaré I, Sévaré II, and Sévaré III. The seat of the commune, the Hôtel de Ville de Mopti, is in Komoguel I. The name replaced the earlier Bozo name of Sagan. Unlike towns such as Djenné, Timbuktu and Gao, Mopti was a village until the French conquest at the end of the 19th century and did not play an important role in the history of the region. In his account he described the village, which he called Isaca, as having 700-800 inhabitants with the houses constructed of sun-dried mud bricks. The inhabitants grew rice on the floodplains, herded livestock and fished with cotton nets. Large quantities of the dried fish were traded in Djenné and other markets. The women made a "beautiful kind of pottery" which they sold in Djenné and to boats heading for Timbuktu. In 1893 French forces under Louis Archinard occupied the region which then became part of the French Sudan.

At the time of the French conquest, Mopti consisted of several separate settlements on small areas of higher ground that remained above the water during the annual flood. French soldiers exploring the Niger on gunboats described Mopti as consisting of a pair villages on the bank of the river 2&nbsp;km apart with a third village slightly inland.

According to the French colonial army officer, Capitaine Lucien Marc, in 1902 Mopti was a "miserable village" with a few huts. Between 1905 and 1912 the French colonial forces constructed a 12&nbsp;km dyke connecting Mopti with Sévaré to allow access to the town by road when the Niger was in flood. The village expanded rapidly in the first decade of the 20th century,

In 2002, Mopti was one of several Malian cities to host the Cup of African Nations tournament. A large, modern stadium was constructed for this event.

During the Tuareg rebellion, when Islamists for a time took over most of Northern Mali, Mopti was one of the most northerly towns that remained under government control.

Amadou Toumani Touré, a former president of Mali, is a native of Mopti.

Mosque

The Great Mosque (also called the Komoguel Mosque) is an example of Sudano-Sahelian architecture. The present building was constructed on the site of an earlier mosque dating from 1908 but sources differ on the exact date. The web site of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention gives a period of between 1933 and 1935 while the Aga Khan Development Network gives the slightly later period of between 1936 and 1943. The design was based on that of the Great Mosque of Djenné and is constructed using sun-dried mud bricks which are covered with a layer of banco. In restoration work carried out in 1978, the upper parts of the building were covered with a layer of cement but this later proved to be problematic as rain water penetrated the cement layer and created large fissures in the underlying mud structure. In the restoration carried out between 2004 and 2006 funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the cement layer was removed and the building restored to its original form. Both passengers and freight are also transported by pinasses, large wooden canoe shaped vessels, that are privately operated.

Mopti is connected by a 12&nbsp;km elevated causeway to Sévaré which lies on the Route Nationale 16 (RN16), the bitumen surfaced road that links Bamako in the west to Gao in the east. Moreover, Mopti is served by an airport located in Sévaré.

Culture

The city is the subject of a 1999 documentary film, L'Esprit de Mopti. It is also the birthplace of Slovak celebrity Ibrahim Maiga.

Demographics

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Niger River at Mopti

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Average monthly flow (m<sup>3</sup>/s) at the Mopti hydrometric station over the period 1922-1990

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Many ethnic groups are present in the commune including Fula, Bozo, Bambara, Dogon, Songhai, Bobos and Mossis. The most spoken language is Fula followed by Bozo. Average daily maximum temperatures in the hottest months of the year — April and May — exceed . Temperatures are slightly cooler, though still very hot, from June through September, when practically all of the annual rainfall occurs.

<gallery perrow="6">

File:Mosque Mopti.jpg|Mopti Grand Mosque

file:Mopti7.jpg|Market scene

File:Sévaré3.jpg|Countryside near Sévaré in the commune of Mopti

File:Mopti2.jpg|Boats in the harbour

File:Mopti sel.jpg|Unloading rock salt from Taoudenni

File:ASC Leiden - W.E.A. van Beek Collection - Dogon markets 20 - Women with onions and cabbages at the Mopti market, Mali 1992.jpg|Women selling onions and cabbages at the Mopti market, 1992

</gallery>

See also

  • List of cities in Mali
  • St. Joseph Cathedral, Mopti

References

Further reading

  • . Extracts from the Université de Rouen: pages 528-535, pages 561-566.<!-- section on Mopti starts at page 488 -->
  • Pictures of Mopti and villages around it