The Tabula Peutingeriana says "Flumen Girin" (River Girin) and "Hoc flumen quidam Grin vocant, alii Nilum appellant dicint enim sub terra Etyopium in Nilum ire Lacum.", which means "This river which some are naming Grin is called Nile by others and is thought to flow under the ground of Ethiopia (i.e. modern Africa) into the Nile Lake."
Nigeria and Niger take their names from the river. The people who live beside the river have many names for it, such as "Jeliba" or "Joliba" ("great river" in Manding), "Isa Ber" ("big river" in Songhay), "Oya," (a Yoruba River Niger goddess), and "Kworra" or "Quorra." The last name was the name that Europeans used for the lower part of the river before they knew that the upper and lower parts were connected.
The Niger River is quite a clear river. It has only 10% as much sediment as the Nile because the Niger's source is in very old rocks that have little silt. Like the Nile, the Niger River has a flood every year; this starts in September, becomes strongest in November, and finishes by May.
An unusual feature of the river is the Niger Inland Delta. This forms where the river suddenly becomes less steep. This makes a region of connected streams, marshes, and lakes over an amount of land the same size as Belgium. The yearly floods make the delta very good for fishing and farming.
The Niger takes an unusual route. It is a boomerang shape and this confused Europeans for 2000 years. Its source is only 240 km (150 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean, but the river flows away from the sea into the Sahara Desert, then turns near the ancient city of Timbuktu (Tombouctou). From here, it goes southeast to the Gulf of Guinea.
Ancient Romans thought that the river near Timbuktu was part of the Nile River and Ibn Battuta had the same opinion. Early 17th-century European explorers thought that it flowed west and joined the Sénégal River. Many local people probably knew the real route, but Europeans only knew it in the late 19th century, when it was mentioned in the book "Travels in the Interior of Africa" by the Scottish explorer Mungo Park. This unusual route happened because the Niger River is two ancient rivers which are joined together. The upper Niger, from the source, past Timbuktu, to the bend in the river, used to empty into a lake, but the lake has now gone. However, the lower Niger started in hills near the lake and flowed south into the Gulf of Guinea. The Sahara Desert dried up in 4000-1000 BC, and the two rivers changed their routes and they joined (some people disagree, but most people think this is true).
The northern part of the river, which is called the "Niger bend", is important because it is the Sahara Desert's closest big river. Therefore, trade across the west of the Sahara came here, and it became the center of the Sahelian kingdoms of Mali and Gao.
Flag of Mali
The flag of Mali has three equal vertical stripes. Starting from the flagpole, the colours are green, gold, and red, which are the pan-African colours.
The flag became official on March 1, 1961. The original flag became official on April 4, 1959, when Mali joined the Mali Federation. This flag was the same, but the golden stripe had a human "stick figure", called a "kanaga", in black, with its arms pointing to the sky. The figure was removed because of an Islamic belief against making pictures of humans. (Mali is about 90% Muslim.)
Coat of arms of Mali
On 20 October, 1973, the coat of arms of the Republic of Mali was made. The motto of the Republic of Mali is "Un Peuple, Un But, Une Foi" (One People, One Goal, One Faith).
The coat of arms of the Republic of Mali is a circle. There is a light blue background:
Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali
"Pour l'Afrique et pour toi" (French: "For Africa and for you, Mali") is the national song of Mali. Seydou Badian Kouyate wrote the words and Banzoumana Sissoko wrote the music. It became Mali's national song in 1962 and it is a normal song of love of the country. It is about how the people of Mali would sacrifice their lives for their nation and for freedom. A common theme in the song is wanting to unite Africa. The chorus is written below:
In English::
List of heads of state of Mali
This is a list of heads of state of Mali since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day.
A total of six people have served as head of state of Mali (not counting one Acting President). Additionally, one person, Amadou Toumani Touré, has served on two non-consecutive occasions.
The office has been vacant since Bah N'Daw was removed from office in a coup.
List of prime ministers of Mali
This is a list of prime ministers of Mali since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day.
ADM
CCD
PARENA
Mil
UDPM
US-RDA
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French Sudan
French Sudan (Fr.: "Soudan") was a colony in French West Africa.
It existed at two separate times. The first time was from 1890 to 1899, and the second was from 1920 to 1960. In 1960 it became the independent nation of Mali.
It was created as a French territory on September 9, 1880 and its name was "Upper Senegal".
The name changed to the "French Sudan Territory" on August 18, 1890, and its capital was Kayes. On October 10, 1899, French Sudan was broken into pieces: 11 southern provinces became part of French Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Dahomey. However, two provinces were returned in 1900.
In 1902 the parts of the colony which were not organised into military districts became Senegambia and Niger, then the name changed to Upper Senegal and Niger in 1904. Finally, the old name of French Sudan returned in a reorganisation in 1920.
In 1933, Upper Volta stopped existing (It began again in 1947.) and French Sudan gained some of its provinces.
After the October 4, 1958 French vote about the constitution, the "République Soudanaise" joined the French Community, again with the name French Sudan, and it gained complete domestic control on 25 November, 1958.
On April 4, 1959, French Sudan was joined with Senegal to form the Mali Federation. This became fully independent but still inside the French Community on June 20, 1960. This union finished on August 20, 1960, when Senegal left. On 22 September, French Sudan changed its name to the Republic of Mali and left the French Community.
Cunnilingus
Cunnilingus is when a man or another woman has oral sex with a woman. He (or she) licks her sex organs with his (or her) lips and tongue. The word comes from a Latin word for the vulva ("cunnus") and from the Latin word for tongue ("lingua").
The clitoris is the main part of the woman's sex organs that brings the most feeling. Often, a woman reaches an orgasm during cunnilingus.
In the past, some thought cunnilingus to be taboo (bad). People in some countries still think of it as taboo. However, many people in western and other cultures have oral sex.
Agnatha
The Agnatha (Greek = 'no jaws') are a superclass of vertebrates. They are jawless fish.
The Agnatha as a whole may be paraphyletic. This means it is a convenient holdall term, which does not follow the rules of cladistics. For example, most extinct agnathans belong to the stem group (ancestral group) of gnathostomes. But according to the rules, one sister group should not contain ancestors of another sister group,
The living Agnatha (lampreys and hagfish) are known as cyclostomes. Recent molecular data from rRNA, and from mtDNA, show that these living agnathans are monophyletic. There are about 100 species. Hagfish are vertebrates but do not have vertebrae. It is believed that they lost their vertebrae during their lifestyle adaptations.
The lifestyle of the lamprey (an ectoparasite on other fish) and hagfish (a scavenger) means that they are not typical of the fossil groups, which were free-swimming and often armoured.
Agnathans do not have jaws, and have a cartilaginous skeleton. There is a notochord in both larvae and adults. They do not have paired fins. They have seven or more paired gill pouches.