<P> Mali is a landlocked nation in West Africa, located southwest of Algeria, extending south - west from the southern Sahara Desert through the Sahel to the Sudanian savanna zone . Mali's size is 1,240,192 square kilometres . </P> <P> Desert or semi-desert covers about 65 percent of Mali's area . The Niger River creates a large and fertile inland delta as it arcs northeast through Mali from Guinea before turning south and eventually emptying into the Gulf of Guinea . </P>

What was the geographical location of the empire of mali
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