Liptako is an historic region of West Africa. It today falls in eastern Burkina Faso, southwestern Niger and a small portion of southeast central Mali. A hilly region beginning on the right back of the Niger river, Liptako is usually associated with the Liptako Emirate, an early 19th-century Fulani Islamic state, founded by Brahima Saidu. With the semi nomadic Fula, the main historic population of Liptako are the Gourmantche, a minority population in each of the three nations, as well as the Mossi and Songhai.