france invaded mali in 1880. after that, france owned mali. france gave mali the names "french sudan" and the "sudanese republic". at some times it also included other nearby countries. in early 1959, mali and senegal united and they became the mali federation. they became independent from france on june 20, 1960. senegal left the mali federation a few months later. the republic of mali, with modibo keïta as the first president, left the french community on september 22, 1960.