Mali Empire

Lore & Background

The empire began as a small Mandinka kingdom at the upper reaches of the Niger River, centered around the Manding region. It developed during the 11th and 12th centuries as the Ghana Empire declined. The first ruler with accurate written information is Sundiata Keita, a warrior-prince of the Keita dynasty who freed the local people from the rule of Soumaoro Kanté, king of the Sosso Empire. The conquest of Sosso around 1235 marked Mali's emergence as a major power, with the Kouroukan Fouga as its constitution. After Sundiata's death around 1255, rulers were titled mansa. In 1285, Sakura, a former slave who had risen to general, carried out a military coup. After his death, the Keita dynasty was restored with Mansa Gao (c. 1300–1305). Mansa Musa took the throne around 1312 and made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca from 1324 to 1326, where his generous gifts and expenditure of gold caused significant inflation in Egypt. Maghan I succeeded him around 1337 but was deposed by his uncle Suleyman in 1341. During Suleyman's 19-year reign, Ibn Battuta visited Mali. Suleyman's death marked the end of Mali's Golden Age and the beginning of a slow decline. The Tarikh al-Sudan records Mali was still a sizeable state in the 15th century. From 1507, neighboring states chipped away at its borders. In 1544/45, the Songhai invaded the capital but were unsuccessful. Mali made a brief comeback in the late 16th century, but a disastrous defeat outside Djenne in 1599 ended those hopes. The empire rapidly disintegrated, replaced by independent chiefdoms, and the Keitas retreated to Kangaba.

Reader's Guide

The Mali Empire's significance lies in its role as the largest empire in West Africa at its peak, shaping the region's culture through the spread of its language, laws, and customs. Its wealth, particularly under Mansa Musa, had tangible economic effects: during his 1324–1326 pilgrimage, his generous gifts and expenditure of gold caused significant inflation in Egypt. The empire's history is known from 14th-century Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta, 16th-century Andalusian traveller Leo Africanus, and Mandinka oral tradition recorded by griots. Ibn Battuta, who visited Mali in 1352, left the first eyewitness account of a West African kingdom. After Ibn Khaldun's death in 1406, Arab primary sources are limited to Leo Africanus, writing more than a century later. For the later period, major written sources are Portuguese accounts of the coastal provinces. The empire's constitutional foundation was the Kouroukan Fouga. The name Mali is the Fula form of the word; in Manding languages, Manden or Manding is the name of the heartland. Medieval sources are divided on whether Mali is a town or region: Ibn Battuta called the capital city Mali, the 1375 Catalan Atlas portrayed a 'city of Melly', and Leo Africanus said the capital was called Melli, but al-Umari gives Mali as the capital province and Ibn Khaldun refers to Mali as a people.

Did You Know?

• The conquest of Sosso around 1235 marked the emergence of Mali as a major power, with the Kouroukan Fouga as its constitution.
• Mansa Musa's pilgrimage from 1324 to 1326 caused significant inflation in Egypt due to his generous gifts and expenditure of gold.
• In 1285, Sakura, a former slave of the imperial family who had risen to general, carried out a military coup.
• Ibn Battuta, who visited Mali in 1352, left the first eyewitness account of a West African kingdom.
• The name Mali is the Fula form of the word; in Manding languages, the heartland is called Manden or Manding.