Goundam is a commune

Communes of Mali

A Commune is the third level administrative unit in Mali. Mali is divided into eight regions and one capital district . These subdivisions bear the name of their principal city. The regions are divided into 49 Cercles...

 and town in north central Mali

Mali

Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

, in the Tombouctou Region. It is the capital of Goundam Cercle

Goundam Cercle

Goundam Cercle is a second level administrative subdivision of the Tombouctou Region in north-eastern Mali. Its administrative center is the town of Goundam. In the 2009 census, the cercle had a population of 150,150....

, one of five subdivisions

Cercles of Mali

A cercle is the second level administrative unit in Mali. Mali is divided into eight regions and one capital district . These subdivisions bear the name of their principal city. The regions are divided into 49 cercles....

 of the Region. In the 2009 census the commune had a population of 16,253. The main ethnic groups are Songhay, Tuareg and Fulani

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

.

Situation

The town sits on the Tassakan channel which runs west along the southern edge of the town center, draining from the Niger River

Niger River

The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...

 (between October and January when it is in flood) towards the nearby Lac Télé which is approximately 4 metres below the level of the Niger. The Niger river town of Diré

Dire

As a location, Dire may refer to:*Diré, Mali*Dire – one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia....

 lies 35 km to the southeast, while Timbuktu

Timbuktu

Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

 is connected by highway 97 km to the east-northeast. Lac Fatil and Lac Oro lie to the southwest, near the Goundam Airport

Goundam Airport

Goundam Airport is an airport serving Goundam in Mali....

. Further north lies Lake Faguibine

Lake Faguibine

Lake Faguibine is a lake in Mali on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert situated 80 km west of Timbuktu and 75 km north of the Niger River to which it is connected by a system of smaller lakes and channels. In years when the height of the annual flood of the river is sufficient, water...

 and to the south and west is the vast Niger inland delta

Niger Inland Delta

The Inner Niger Delta, also known as the Macina, is a large area of lakes and floodplains in the semi-arid Sahel area of central Mali, just south of the Sahara desert.-Location and description:...

, seasonal marshlands which feed the local lakes and rivers along this edge of the Sahara desert.

History and culture

The Town has a long history as a center for Songhay farmers and Bozo

Bozo people

The Bozo are a West African ethnic group located predominantly along the Niger River in Mali. The name Bozo is thought to derive from Bambara bo-so, 'Bamboo house'; the people accept it as referring to the whole of the ethnic group but use more specific clan names such as Sorogoye, Hain, and Tieye...

 fishing communities, as well as settled elements of the semi-nomadic Fula

Fula people

Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...

, Tuareg and Maure

Maure

A Maure, since the 11th century, is the symbol of an African head. The term has Phoenician and Greek origins; see Moors.- U Moru :The main symbol in the coat of arms in Corsica is U Moru, Corsican for "The Moor", originally a female Moor blindfolded and wearing a necklace made of beads...

 peoples. Goundam was a city of the Songhai Empire

Songhai Empire

The Songhai Empire, also known as the Songhay Empire, was a state located in western Africa. From the early 15th to the late 16th century, Songhai was one of the largest Islamic empires in history. This empire bore the same name as its leading ethnic group, the Songhai. Its capital was the city...

, fell to the Moroccan invasion in 1591, and was latter seized by Tuareg confederations from the northeast and the Fula of the delta region. Most powerful of these Fula states was the Macina Empire, centered to the southwest. The Toucouleur Empire

Toucouleur Empire

The Toucouleur Empire was founded in the nineteenth century by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur people, in part of present-day Mali....

 conquered the area in the mid 19th century, and the French captured the town in 1894.

French conquest

Goundam was the site of a major reverse in the French drive to Timbuktu, known at the time as the "Goundam Massacre". In December 1893 French lieutenant colonel Eugene Bonnier  took a small company of troops downriver from the French outpost at Segou to conquer Timbuktu on his on initiative. His advance guard, an even smaller force of two gunboats commanded by Lieutenant H. Gaston Boiteaux, went ahead, but contrary to their orders advanced to Timbuktu themselves, beating out Bonnier. Bonnier pursued him, finding Boiteau had taken the fabled city prior to the Lt. Col's arrival on 10 January 1894. That day, after arresting his subordinate, Bonnier marched out towards Goundam with a small number African troops. They took the town 14 January, but on the way they had seized 500 sheep at a Tuareg encampment, and fought Tuareg raiders at nearby Tacoubao. In the early hours of 15 January, Tuareg warriors attacked Bonnier's camp, killing him, 11 officer, 2 French NCOs, 68 African Tiailleurs, and their interpreter. A rescue column, commanded by the future Marshal of France Joseph Jacques Joffre, recaptured Goundam on 8 February and Timbuktu four days later.

Refugee center

In the period following the Sahel droughts of the 1970s, and again following the 1990s Tuareg Rebellion, Goundam became a major relocation center for Tuareg and other refugees from the north of Mali. Many still remain around Goundam town.

Agriculture

The seasonal wetlands near Goundam are, due to desertification and a low annual rainfall of 150-200mm, one of the few opportunities local farmers have for food cultivation. The staple here is mostly rice. With highly variable year to year rain, the Goundam area has often an unpredictable extents of fertile lands around seasonally flooded river branches, ponds and lakes.

External links

• Satellite photos of Goundam, Mali (16 25 03N/003 40 04W). Brian J. McMorrow 1999-2005.
• Images and Reports from Federal Government of Germany's "Mali-Nord" program in Goundam (2002).
• Goundam, Mali Page, Falling Rain.com