COVER N.49 - Mali

Postmark: Bamako, 15OCT2021 
Posted on the 15th November; received on the 8th November
__________________________________________________________________________________

Mali! Once again a rather unexpected but nonetheless (or even more so) appreciated letter dropped into my letterbox. Thanks you so much Roland. I said it before, I repeat: your contribution to the diversity in my collection leaves me wordless.

A former French colony, Mali emerged to full independency in 1961, roughly one year after severing the colonial ties that linked both Mali and Senegal (the Mali Federation) to France.

Often cited on news for not the best reasons due to the presence of ISIS militants in the country and a unstable poilitical situation regarding the country's administration, Mali has much more to be cited for, like the famous earth made houses at Djenné or Timbuktu, or the outstanding vituosism of its Kora players, not to mention musicians like  Alif Farka Touré or Salif Keita.

The stamp on the cover ws issued on December 2020, as part of a 2 stamp set (500 and 1000 Francs) promoting the African Philatelic Hub, a website created by the postal administrations of Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Central African Rebublic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Marocco to provide easy access to philatelique products of the participating countries, via web.

The postamark indictes that the letter was mailed from Mali's capital, Bamako.