Augustin Prosper Hacquard was a French missionary who became Apostolic Vicar of Sahara and Sudan in 1898. After several years in Algeria, including a short period as head of the Armed Brothers of the Sahara, he was appointed to the French Sudan, the newly acquired territories along the Niger River to the east of Senegal, where he established several mission stations. The missionaries founded several villages, where they settled former slaves.

The Archdiocese of Bamako is the Metropolitan Archdiocesan See for the ecclesiastical province which covers all and only Mali. It depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.