Mali

Mali was once the center of one of the richest empires in human history. When Mansa Musa, emperor of the Mali Empire, made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, he brought so much gold that he crashed the economies of every city he passed through. Timbuktu was a center of Islamic scholarship when European universities were just getting started, with libraries holding hundreds of thousands of manuscripts on mathematics, astronomy, law, and medicine. This is not ancient history by African standards - it is practically yesterday.

Modern Mali is a vast, landlocked country that stretches from the Sahara Desert in the north to the savannahs of the south, bisected by the Niger River, which bends through the country like a lifeline. The mud-brick architecture of Djenne, crowned by the Great Mosque - the largest adobe building in the world - is one of the most stunning sights in West Africa. The Dogon Country, where cliff-dwelling communities have maintained their traditions for centuries, is an anthropological wonder. And Malian music, from the desert blues of Ali Farka Toure to the kora mastery of Toumani Diabate, is widely regarded as some of the finest on the planet.