Koulikoro

Koulikoro stands on the Niger where the river leaves the rocky upper valley and becomes navigable towards Ségou. Hills overlook the water, and local tradition associates the area with the struggle between Sundiata Keita of Manding and Sumanguru Kante of Sosso. The defeat of Sumanguru in the thirteenth century is remembered in the epic of Sundiata as a decisive moment in the rise of Mali.