Nioro du Sahel

Nioro du Sahel
Nioro du Sahel
Commune and town
	Nioro du Sahel Location in Mali
	Coordinates: 15°11′N 9°33′W / 15.183°N 9.550°W
Country	Mali
Region	Kayes Region
Cercle	Nioro du Sahel Cercle
Government
• Mayor	Abbas Sylla
Population (1998)
• Total	60,112
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)

Nioro du Sahel, often referred to as simply Nioro, is a town and urban commune in the Kayes Region of western Mali, 241 km from the city of Kayes. It is located 275 miles (by road) north-west of the Malian capital Bamako. As of 1998, the commune had a population of 60,112, although current estimates are nearer to 69,100 people.

Founded in circa 1240 by a Diawando slave named Beydari Tamboura,^[1] Nioro attained its greatest height in the eighteenth century as the then-capital of the Bambara kingdom of Kaarta. The town became an important trading center between Upper Senegal and the Sudan.

In the early 1850s, the Toucouleur conqueror El Hadj Umar Tall invaded Kaarta, forcing the kingdom's conversion to Islam; he built a great mosque in Nioro in 1854. Umar Tall's son Ahmadu Tall took refuge in Nioro after the fall of his capital Segou to the French in 1890. His army, led by the Wolof king-in-exile Alboury Ndiaye, failed to defend the city against the advancing colonial army in January 1891.^[2]

The town has an airstrip at Nioro Airport.

Climate

Climate data for Nioro (1961–1990)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	31.4 (88.5)	34.7 (94.5)	37.5 (99.5)	40.0 (104.0)	41.3 (106.3)	39.4 (102.9)	34.8 (94.6)	32.9 (91.2)	34.5 (94.1)	37.3 (99.1)	35.7 (96.3)	31.6 (88.9)	35.9 (96.6)
Daily mean °C (°F)	22.7 (72.9)	25.2 (77.4)	28.2 (82.8)	31.4 (88.5)	34.0 (93.2)	33.1 (91.6)	29.5 (85.1)	27.9 (82.2)	28.8 (83.8)	29.7 (85.5)	26.7 (80.1)	22.9 (73.2)	28.3 (82.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	13.5 (56.3)	16.1 (61.0)	19.1 (66.4)	23.6 (74.5)	27.2 (81.0)	27.0 (80.6)	24.6 (76.3)	23.6 (74.5)	23.6 (74.5)	22.6 (72.7)	18.2 (64.8)	14.2 (57.6)	21.2 (70.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	0.5 (0.02)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	2.5 (0.10)	7.1 (0.28)	46.4 (1.83)	132.8 (5.23)	148.9 (5.86)	92.0 (3.62)	26.0 (1.02)	1.0 (0.04)	0.8 (0.03)	458 (18.03)
Average rainy days	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.7	2.0	5.1	11.4	10.2	9.1	3.1	0.3	0.1	42.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours	259.4	246.0	275.3	267.5	263.7	251.4	247.8	245.1	247.8	260.4	255.0	244.6	3,064
Source: NOAA^[3]

References

^ Dicko, Seïdina Oumar. Hamallah, le protégé de Dieu. Editions Jamana, 1 Jan 1999 pg 39
^ Charles, Eunice A. (1977). Precolonial Senegal : the Jolof Kingdom, 1800-1890. Brookline, MA: African Studies Center, Boston University. p. 130. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
^ "Station Name: NIORO" (TXT). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 24 August 2024.