Bamako, population 1,690,471 (2006), is the capital of Mali, and is the biggest city in the country. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the Upper and Middle Niger Valleys, in the southwestern part of the country. Bamako is the nation's administrative center, as well as a river port and a major regional trade center. Manufactures include textiles, processed meat and metal goods. There is commercial fishing on the Niger River.
The area of the city has been continuously inhabited since the Palaeolithic, but the legendary founding of Bamako occurred in the seventeenth century by Seribadian Niaré and Soumba Coulibaly, or Bamba Sanago, before its chiefdom passed to Diaoussadian Niaré. The city was an important market town and a leading center of Muslim learning under the Mali Empire, but by the 19th century it had declined. In 1883 the region was occupied by French troops, and in 1908, Bamako became the capital of the French Sudan. Its population has grown rapidly; in 1960 Bamako's population was approximately 160,000.
