Macina, Mali

Macina, also known as Ké Macina and Massina, is a small town and rural commune in the Cercle of Macina in the Ségou Region of southern-central Mali. The town lies on the north, left bank of the Niger River, and the farmland around it forms part of the irrigated area of the Office du Niger, where rice is grown with water diverted from the Niger upstream of the Markala dam and carried through a system of canals. The commune covers 1,100 square kilometres and contains the main town and 20 villages, and the 2009 census counted 36,170 people in it. Its Wikipedia article says Ke-Macina was founded in 1921 and named after the Bozo village of Ke across the river, and notes that the name Macina also belongs to the Inner Niger Delta region.