The Malians in France (French: Les Maliens en France) are people of Malian origin who live in France.
Total population | |
---|---|
120,000[1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Paris, Montreuil-sous-Bois | |
Languages | |
French, Bambara | |
Religion | |
Majority Sunni Islam, minority Roman Catholicism, Atheism, Irreligion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Black people in France, Afro-French, Senegalese people in France, Guineans in France, Ivorians in France, Burkinabe in France, Nigeriens in France, Algerians in France, Mauritanians in France |
The first Malian immigrants came to France in the 1960s. At first, there were male workers from rural regions who came to find long-term employment in France. Then, in the 1970s, there were Family reunification's, in which the wives and children of previous male immigrants came to live in France as well.[2]
Most Malians in France are rural migrants who came from the Senegal River valley,[2] and from the region of Kayes[1] at the extreme south of Mali, a very poor and arid region, at the frontier with Senegal and Mauritania.