The history of Senegal is commonly divided into a number of periods, encompassing the prehistoric era, the precolonial period, colonialism, and the contemporary era.
The Music of Mali is, like that of most African nations, ethnically diverse, but one influence predominates; that of the ancient Mali Empire of the Mandinka. Mande people make up 50% of the country's population, other ethnic groups include the Fula (17%), Gur-speakers 12%, Songhai people (6%), Tuareg and Moors (10%) and another 5%, including Europeans. Mali is divided into eight regions; Gao, Kayes, Koulikoro, Mopti, Ségou, Sikasso, Tombouctou and Bamako.
Sundiata Keita was a puissant prince and founder of the Mali Empire. The famous Malian ruler Mansa Musa, who made a pilgrimage to Mecca, was his great-nephew.
Modibo Keïta was the first President of Mali (1960–1968) and the Prime Minister of the Mali Federation. He espoused a form of African socialism.
Souleymane Cissé is a Malian film director.
Massa Makan Diabaté was a Malian historian, author, and playwright.
Djibril Tamsir Niane is a historian, playwright, and short story writer, born in Conakry, Guinea.
Habib Koité is a Malian musician, singer, songwriter based in Mali. His band, Bamada, is a supergroup of West African musicians, which included Kélétigui Diabaté on balafon until his death in 2012.
Iba N'Diaye was a French-Senegalese painter. Trained in Senegal and France during the colonial period, N'Diaye utilised European modernist fine arts training and medium to depict his views of African realities. He returned to Senegal upon its independence, and became the founding head of Senegal's national fine arts academy. Disenchanted with the prevailing artistic and political climate of mid-1960s Dakar, N'Diaye returned to France in 1967 and exhibited around the globe, returning to his birthplace of Saint-Louis, Senegal, to present his work in Senegal again only in 2000. N'Diaye died at his home in Paris in October, 2008 at the age of 80.
Mamadou Konte was a Senegalese music producer and founder of the Africa Fête Music Festival and a leading figure behind the African and world music genres.
Lamine Diakhate was an author, poet and literary critic of the négritude school and has served his country as a politician and diplomat.
Abdoulaye Konaté is a Malian artist. He was born in Diré and lives and works in Bamako.
Paulin Soumanou Vieyra was a Beninese/Senegalese film director and historian. As he lived in Senegal after the age of 10, he is more associated with that nation.
Founded the day before the independence of Mali on September 22, 1960, under the name “d'Ensemble folklorique du Mali” - by 1978 had evolved into an artistic group specializing traditional Malian dance, Les Ballets maliens, but open to the innovations of contemporary dance and choreography.
Alioune Badara Bèye is a Senegalese civil servant, novelist, playwright, poet, and publisher.
Mathilda Marie Berthilde Paruta, better known as Darling Légitimus, was a French actress. In 1983, she received the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in the film Sugar Cane Alley.
Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté is a prominent Mandé kora player and jeli from Bamako, Mali. He is the 71st generation of kora players in his family and a son to Sidiki Diabaté.
Alioune Diop was a Senegalese writer and editor, founder of the intellectual journal Présence Africaine, and a central figure in the Négritude movement.
Ziguinchor is the capital of the Ziguinchor Region, and the chief town of the Casamance area of Senegal, lying at the mouth of the Casamance River. It has a population of over 230,000. It is the second largest city of Senegal, but largely separated from the north of the country by The Gambia.
Madina Ly-Tall is a Malian historian and diplomat.
