Nioro du Sahel often referred to as simply Nioro is a town and commune in the Kayes Region

Kayes Region

Kayes Region is one of eight first level national subdivisions, called Regions in Mali. It is the first administrative area of Mali and covers an area of 120,760 km²...

 of western 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...

, 241 km from the city of Kayes. It is located 275 miles ( by road) north-west of the capital Bamako

Bamako

Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...

. The commune as of 1998 had a population of 60,112 although current estimates are nearer 69,100 people.

Founded in the 16th or seventeenth century by a slave

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 named Diawandé, Nioro attained its greatest height in the eighteenth century when it served as the capital of the Bambara kingdom of Kaarta

Kaarta

Kaarta, or Ka'arta , was a short-lived Bambara kingdom in what is today the western half of Mali.As Bitòn Coulibaly tightened his control over Ségou, capital of his newly-founded Bambara Empire, a faction of Ségou Bambara dissatisfied with his rule fled west...

. The town became an important trading center between Upper Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

 and the Sudan

Sudan (region)

The Sudan is the name given to a geographic region to the south of the Sahara, stretching from Western to Eastern Africa. The name derives from the Arabic bilâd as-sûdân or "land of the Blacks"...

.

In the early 1850s, Toucouleur

Toucouleur

The Toucouleurs are a Fula agricultural people who live primarily in West Africa: the north of Senegal in the Senegal River valley, Mauritania, and Mali.-History:...

 conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall

Umar Tall

El Hadj Umar ibn Sa'id Tall , , born in what is now actual Senegal was a West African political leader, Islamic scholar, and Toucouleur military commander who founded a brief empire encompassing much of what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.-Name:Umar Tall's name is spelled variously: in...

 invaded Kaarta, forcing the kingdom's conversion to Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

; he built a great mosque in Nioro in 1854.

The town has an airstrip at Nioro Airport

Nioro Airport

Nioro Airport is an airport serving Nioro du Sahel in Mali....

.