Editing Mali (section)

=== Ethnic groups ===
[[File:Traveller_at_Bambara_wedding,_Mali,_West_Africa.tiff|thumb|left|A [[Bambara people|Bambara]] wedding in Mali, observed by a tourist]]
[[File:Mali_family.jpg|thumb|left|[[Fulani]] children in Mali]]
[[File:Mali1974-151 hg.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] are nomadic inhabitants of northern Mali.]]

Mali's population encompasses a number of [[sub-Saharan]] ethnic groups. The [[Bambara people|Bambara]] are by far the largest single ethnic group, making up a third of the population.<ref name="CIA-2021-Mali"/> The largest ethnic groups are Bambara (33.3%), Fulani (Peuhl) (13.3%), Sarakole/Soninke/Marka (9.8%), Senufo/Manianka (9.6%), Malinke (8.8%), Dogon (8.7%), Sonrai (5.9%), Bobo (2.1%), Tuareg/Bella (1.7%), other Malian (6%), from members of Economic Community of West Africa (0.4%), other (0.3%) (2018 est.).<ref name="CIA-2021-Mali"/> In Mali and in [[Niger]], the Moors are also known as [[Azawagh Arabs]], named after the [[Azawagh]] region of the [[Sahara]]. They speak mainly [[Hassaniya Arabic]], one of the regional [[varieties of Arabic]].<ref>Popenoe, Rebecca (2003) ''Feeding Desire – Fatness, Beauty and Sexuality among a Saharan People''. Routledge, London. pp. 16–17. {{ISBN|0-415-28096-6}}</ref>

In the far north, there is a division between [[Berber people|Berber]]-descended [[Tuareg people|Tuareg]] nomad populations and the darker-skinned Bella or [[Tamasheq]] people, due to the historical spread of [[Slavery in Mali|slavery]] in the region. An estimated 800,000 people in Mali are descended from slaves.<ref name=slaves>{{cite news|last=Tran|first=Mark|title=Mali conflict puts freedom of 'slave descendants' in peril|newspaper=The Guardian |date=23 October 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/oct/23/mali-conflict-freedom-slave-descendants-peril|access-date=24 November 2012 |location=London |archive-date=5 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005100538/http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/oct/23/mali-conflict-freedom-slave-descendants-peril |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Slavery]] has persisted in Mali for centuries.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fortin|first=Jacey|title=Mali's Other Crisis: Slavery Still Plagues Mali, And Insurgency Could Make It Worse|newspaper=International Business Times|date=16 January 2013 |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/malis-other-crisis-slavery-still-plagues-mali-insurgency-could-make-it-worse-1017280 |access-date=16 January 2013|archive-date=8 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208102058/http://www.ibtimes.com/malis-other-crisis-slavery-still-plagues-mali-insurgency-could-make-it-worse-1017280|url-status=live}}</ref> The Arabic population kept slaves well into the 20th century, until slavery was suppressed by [[French Sudan|French authorities]] around the mid-20th century. There still persist certain hereditary servitude relationships,<ref>"[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1206_021205_salakkayak.html Kayaking to Timbuktu, Writer Sees Slave Trade] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010190141/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1206_021205_salakkayak.html |date=10 October 2017 }}". National Geographic News. 5 December 2002.</ref><ref>"[http://www.kirasalak.com/Mali.html Kayaking to Timbuktu, Original National Geographic Adventure Article discussing Slavery in Mali] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100922151608/http://www.kirasalak.com/Mali.html |date=22 September 2010 }}". National Geographic Adventure. December 2002/January 2003.</ref> and according to some estimates, even today approximately 200,000 Malians are still enslaved.<ref>{{cite news|last=MacInnes-Rae|first=Rick|author-link=Rick MacInnes-Rae|title=Al-Qaeda complicating anti-slavery drive in Mali|publisher=CBC News |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/al-qaeda-complicating-anti-slavery-drive-in-mali-1.1150057 |date=26 November 2012|access-date=25 April 2014|archive-date=5 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305175918/http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/al-qaeda-complicating-anti-slavery-drive-in-mali-1.1150057|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some mixed European/African descendants of Muslims of [[Spanish people|Spanish]], as well as French, Irish, Italian and Portuguese origin, live in Mali, where they are known as the [[Arma people]] (1% of the nation's population).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory05fage|url-access=registration|title=The Cambridge History of Africa|first1=J. D.|last1=Fage|first2=Richard|last2=Gray|first3=Roland|last3=Oliver|date=1975|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521204132}}</ref>

Although Mali has enjoyed reasonably good inter-ethnic relationships based on a long history of coexistence, some hereditary servitude and bondage relationship exist, as well as ethnic tension between settled Songhai and nomadic Tuaregs of the north.<ref name=p6/> Due to a backlash against the northern population after independence, Mali is now in a situation where both groups complain about discrimination on the part of the other group.<ref>Hall, Bruce S. (2011) ''A History of Race in Muslim West Africa'', 1600–1960. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|9781107002876}}: "The mobilization of local ideas about racial difference has been important in generating, and intensifying, civil wars that have occurred since the end of colonial rule in all of the countries that straddle the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.{{nbsp}}... contemporary conflicts often hearken back to an older history in which blackness could be equated with slavery and non-blackness with predatory and uncivilized banditry." (cover text)</ref> This conflict also plays a role in the continuing [[Northern Mali conflict (2012–present)|Northern Mali conflict]] where there is a tension between both Tuaregs and the Malian government, and the Tuaregs and radical [[Islamist]]s who are trying to establish [[sharia law]].<ref>Hirsch, Afua (6 July 2012) [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/06/mali-war-over-skin-colour Mali's conflict and a 'war over skin colour'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211081540/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/06/mali-war-over-skin-colour |date=11 February 2017 }}, ''The Guardian''.</ref>

There is also a small [[History of the Jews in Mali|Jewish]] community in Mali.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mali-virtual-jewish-history-tour|title=Mali Virtual Jewish History Tour}}</ref>