This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Bamako carries its geography in its own name. In Bambara the word means crocodile river, a description of the site the Niger River gave the settlement long before any government made it a capital. The Niger has shaped the city ever since, from the trade and travel the river carried past its banks to the growth of the modern capital that now spans both sides of it.