Between August and December when the rivers flood the Inner Niger Delta, the town becomes a series of islands connected by raised causeways.

[5][6] Unlike towns such as Djenné, Timbuktu and Gao, Mopti was a village until the French conquest at the end of the 19th century and did not play an important role in the history of the region.

[7] Two centuries later, the cultivation of rice is still very important to the local economy, dried fish are exported over a large part of West Africa and pottery is still shipped from the port.

[8] At the time of Caillié's visit the village was part of the Massina Empire, controlled by Seku Amadu from his base at Hamdullahi, 21 km to the southeast.

[11] At the time of the French conquest, Mopti consisted of several separate settlements on small areas of higher ground that remained above the water during the annual flood.

[13][14] According to the French colonial army officer, Capitaine Lucien Marc,[15] in 1902 Mopti was a "miserable village" with a few huts.

[16] Between 1905 and 1912 the French colonial forces constructed a 12 km dyke connecting Mopti with Sévaré to allow access to the town by road when the Niger was in flood.

[6] Due to the limited land available, Mopti became more densely built than most Malian cities with many multi-story buildings and narrow streets.

[21] The design was based on that of the Great Mosque of Djenné and is constructed using sun-dried mud bricks which are covered with a layer of banco.

[20] Mopti is the region's commercial center and Mali's most important port; markets around its harbour sell rock salt from Taoudenni, among many other goods.

However, the conflict had a mixed effect on the town as dispossessed people from the rebel-held area came to Mopti and boosted some parts of the economy.

Mopti is connected by a 12 km elevated causeway to Sévaré which lies on the Route Nationale 16 (RN16), the bitumen surfaced road that links Bamako in the west to Gao in the east.

The town lies near the southern boundary of the Sahel region and the weather is hot to sweltering and arid throughout much of the year.