The history of the eponymous Mali Empire and of the Songhai Empire during the 13th to 16th centuries
The borders of Mali are those of French Sudan, drawn in 1891. They are artificial, and unite parts of the larger Sudan region with parts of the Sahara. As a consequence, Mali is a multiethnic country, with a majority of its population consisting of Mandé peoples.
Mali's history is dominated by its role in trans-Saharan trade, connecting West Africa and the Maghreb. The Malian city Timbuktu is exemplary of this: situated on the southern fringe of the Sahara and close to the Niger River, it has played an important role in the trans-Saharan trade from the 13th century on, with the establishment of the Mali Empire, who had no power in West Africa. After this the Songhai empire started growing.
Prehistory
Paleolithic
The Sahara was often drier, but also more rainy for a long time than it is today. Hence, it was a place uninhabitable for humans 325,000 to 290,000 years ago and 280,000 to 225,000 years ago, apart from favourable places like the Tihodaïne lake on the water-storing Tassili n'Ajjer.[1] In these and other dry periods, the desert stretched repeatedly far to the north and south; its sand dunes can be found far beyond the present-day borders of the Sahara. Human traces can only be expected in the rainier green phases. It is possible that anatomically modern humans, which perhaps developed in the said isolated phase 300,000 to 200,000 years ago south of the Sahara, were already in the long green phase over 200,000 years ago the water-rich area at that time. Even around 125,000 to 110,000 years ago there was an adequate network of waterways that allowed numerous animal species to spread northward, followed by human hunters. Huge lakes contributed to this, such as the Mega Lake Chad, which at times covered over 360,000km2.[2] On the other hand, the desert stretched far north and south again 70,000 to 58,000 years ago and is therefore likely to have represented a barrier that was difficult to overcome. Another green phase followed 50,000 to 45,000 years ago.[3]
In Mali the find situation is less favorable than in the northern neighbors. Excavations at the Ounjougou complex[4] on the Dogon Plateau near Bandiagara have shown that hunters and gatherers lived in the region more than 150,000 years ago. Dating back to between 70,000 and 25,000 years ago is certain. The Paleolithic ended very early in Mali because after this section 25,000 to 20,000 years ago there was another extreme dry phase, the Ogolia. When towards the end of the savannah landscape.[5]
After the end of the last maximum expansion of the northern ice masses towards the end of the last glacial period, the climate was characterized by much higher humidity than it is today. The Niger created a huge inland lake in the area around Timbuktu and Araouane, as well as a similarly large lake in Chad. At the same time, savannah landscapes and a landscape in northern Mali are comparable to that which characterizes the south today. This was around 9500 BC The humid phase that began after the Younger Dryas period, a cold period after the last glacial period, was around 5000 BC. Chr. Increasingly replaced by an increasingly dry phase.
The Neolithic, the time in which people increasingly produced their own food instead of hunting, fishing, or collecting it as before, developed during this humid phase. This is usually divided into three sections, which are separated from each other by distinct dry phases. Sorghum and millet were planted and around 8000 BC. Large herds of cattle that were close to the zebus grazed in what is now the Sahara; Sheep and goats were not added until much later from West Asia, while cattle were first domesticated in Africa.
Ceramics appeared at the central Malian site of Ounjougou dating to about 9,400 BC, and are believed to be an instance of the independent invention of pottery.[6] i.e. 9500 to 7000 v. BC, in the Aïr according to Marianne Cornevin as early as 10,000 BC. Chr. The earliest Neolithic is attributed to the phase of the productive way of life, although no plants were cultivated and no cattle were kept. In Mali, the Ravin de la Mouche site, which belongs here, was dated to an age of 11,400–10,200 years. This site belongs to the Ounjougou complex on the Yamé, where all eras since the Upper Paleolithic have left traces and the oldest ceramics in Mali to 9400 BC. Was dated. In Ravin de la Mouche, artifacts could date between 9500 and 8500 BC. The site Ravin du Hibou 2 can be dated to 8000 to 7000 BC. Thereafter, where the said oldest ceramic remains were found in the course of a research program that has been running since 1997 in the two gorges, a hiatus between 7000 and 3500 BC occurred. BC because the climate was too unfavorable - even for hunters and gatherers.
Archaeological evidence indicates that nomadic pastoralists reappeared around 4000 BCE, just before a previously humid climatic phase—lasting until roughly 3500 BCE—began to decline. Excavations at Karkarichinkat (ca. 2500–1600 BCE) and possibly Village de la Frontière (ca. 3590 cal BCE), along with sediment studies conducted at Lake Fati, support this narrative of climatic and cultural change. Lake Fati’s existence between 10,430 and 4660 BP is documented by layers of mud along its eastern edge, and a 16-centimeter sand stratum dated to roughly 4500 BP reveals a desiccation event that occurred about a millennium later than on the Mauritanian coast. Around a thousand years after that point, aridity reached its maximum, likely prompting the movement of cattle-herding communities from the east into Mali. This shift in climate forced the drying of lakes in the north and led to a general southward migration of the population.[7]
The late Neolithic was marked by renewed immigration from the Sahara around 2500 BC. Chr., Which had grown into an enormously spacious desert. This aridization continued and forced further migrations to the south, the approximate course of which is archaeologically understandable. On the basis of ethno-archaeological studies of ceramics, three groups were found that lived around Méma, the Canal de Sonni Ali, and Windé Koroji on the border with Mauritania in the period around 2000 BC. Lived. This was made possible by ceramic research at the Kobadi site (1700 to 1400 BC), the MN25 site near Hassi el Abiod, and Kirkissoy near Niameyin Niger (1500 to 1000 BC). Apparently,y the two groups hiked towards Kirkissoy last. No later than the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. Millet cultivation reached the region at the Varves Ouest site, more precisely the cultivation of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), but also wheat and emmer, which were established much earlier in the east of the Sahara, now (again?) Reached Mali. Ecological changes indicate that tillage must have started as early as the 3rd millennium. But this phase of agriculture ended around 400 BC. In turn by an extreme drought.
The use of ocher in funerals was common up to the 1st millennium, even with animals, as the spectacular find of a horse in the west of the inland delta, in Tell Natamatao (6km from Thial in the Cercle Tenenkou) shows, whose bones are included Ocher had been sprinkled. There are also rock carvings typical of the entire Sahara, in which not only symbols and depictions of animals but also depictions of people appear. From the 1st millennium BC Paintings in the Boucle-du-Baoulé National Park (Fanfannyégèné), on the Dogon Plateau, and in the Niger River Delta (Aire Soroba).
Archaeological investigations at Karkarichikat Nord (KN05) and Karkarichinkat Sud (KS05), located in a fossil river valley approximately 70 km north of Gao, have provided the first evidence in West Africa south of the Sahara for ritual tooth modification among women dating to around 4500–4200 BP. This practice, reminiscent of those in the Maghreb, involved procedures ranging from tooth extractions to filing, resulting in pointed shapes. Unlike the male remains, it was predominantly the women’s teeth that displayed such modifications—a tradition documented to have persisted until the 19th century.[8]
It was also found there that the inhabitants of the valley already obtained 85% of their carbon intake from grass seeds, mainly from C4 plants; this happened either through the consumption of wild plants, such as the wild millet, or through domesticated lamp-cleaning grasses. This provided the earliest evidence of agricultural activity and cattle breeding in West Africa (around 2200 cal BP).
The sites of the Dhar Tichitt tradition in the Méma region, a former river delta west of today's inland delta, also known as the "dead delta", belong to the period between 1800 and 800/400 BC. Chr. Their settlements measured between one and eight hectares, but the settlement was not continuous, which may be related to the fact that this region was not suitable for cattle farming during the rainy season. The reason for this was the tsetse fly, which prevented this way of life from expanding southwards for a long time.
In contrast to these cattle breeders, who then drove their herds northwards again, the members of the simultaneous Kobadi tradition, who had lived exclusively from fishing, collecting wild grasses, and hunting since the middle of the 2nd millennium at the latest, remained relatively stationary. Both cultures had copper that they brought from Mauritania. At the same time, the different cultures cultivated a lively exchange.
Earlier Iron Age
A series of early cities and towns were created by Mande peoples related to the Soninke people, along the middle Niger River (in Mali) including at Dia which began from around 900 BC, and reached its peak around 600 BC,[9] and at Djenné-Djenno, which was occupied from around 250 B.C. to around 800 AD.[10] Djenné-Djenno comprised an urban complex consisting of 40 mounds within a 4 kilometer radius.[11] The site is believed to exceed 33 hectares (82 acres), and the town engaged in both local and long-distance trade[12] During Djenné-Djenno's second phase (during the first millennium AD) the borders of the site expanded during (possibly covering 100,000 square meters or more), also coinciding with the development at the site of a kind of permanent mud brick architecture, including a city wall, probably built during the latter half of the first millennium AD using the cylindrical brick technology, "which was 3.7 meters wide at its base and ran almost two kilometers around the town".[12][13]
There are a few references to Mali in early Islamic literature. Among these are references to "Pene" and "Malal" in the work of al-Bakri in 1068,[14] the story of the conversion of an early ruler, known to Ibn Khaldun (by 1397) as Barmandana,[15] and a few geographical details in the work of al-Idrisi.[16]
After Soumaoro Kanté's defeat in the Battle of Kirina in 1235, the Ghana Empire became permanent allies with the Mali Empire, later gradually submitting to their increasing dominance to become a submissive state.[17]
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire started in 1230 and was the largest empire in West Africa and profoundly influenced the culture of West Africa through the spread of its language, laws, and customs.[18] Until the 19th century, Timbuktu remained important as an outpost at the southwestern fringe of the Muslim world and a hub of the trans-Saharan slave trade. Mandinka from 13th to the 17th century. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became known for the wealth of its rulers, especially MansaMusa I. The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Africa, allowing the spread of its language, laws, and customs along the Niger River.[citation needed] It extended over a large area and consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms and provinces.[19]
The empire was known for its abundant gold resources, which were used to finance the construction of impressive architecture, such as the famous Great Mosque of Djenné. The Mali Empire was also known for its thriving trade network, which stretched across the Sahara Desert and into North Africa and the Middle East.
The modern countries included are Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, and parts of Niger and Burkina Faso. But Mali itself is the centre of the empire.
Songhai Empire
In the fifteenth century, with the Mali Empire weakening, Songhai, led by Sunni Ali Ber asserted their independence. The Songhai made Gao their capital and began an imperial expansion across the Niger valley, west to Senegal and east to Agades. At this time Songhai also seized control of Timbuktu.[20]
The Songhai empire eventually collapsed under pressure from the Moroccan Saadi dynasty. The turning point was the Battle of Tondibi of 13 March 1591. Morocco subsequently controlled Gao, Timbuktu, Djenné (also seen as Jenne), and related trade routes with much difficulty until around the end of the 17th century.
After the collapse of the Songhai Empire, no single state controlled the region. The Moroccans only succeeded in occupying a few portions of the country, and even in those locations where they did attempt to rule, their hold was weak and challenged by rivals. Several small successor kingdoms arose. The most notable in what is now Mali were:
Places which were under the control of the Bambara Empire
The Bambara Empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 to 1861, was based at Ségou and also Timbuktu (also seen as Segu), and ruled parts of central and southern Mali. It existed until El Hadj Umar Tall, a Toucouleur conqueror swept across West Africa from Futa Tooro. Umar Tall's mujahideen readily defeated the Bambara, seizing Ségou itself on March 10, 1861, and declaring an end to the empire.
A split in the Coulibaly dynasty in Ségou led to the establishment of a second Bambara state, the kingdom of Kaarta, in what is now western Mali, in 1753. It was defeated in 1854 by Umar Tall, leader of Toucouleur Empire, before his war with Ségou.
The Senufo Kenedugu Kingdom originated in the 17th century in the area around what is now the border of Mali and Burkina Faso. In 1876 the capital was moved to Sikasso. It resisted the effort of Samori Ture, leader of Wassoulou Empire, in 1887, to conquer it, and was one of the last kingdoms in the area to fall to the French in 1898.
An Islamic-inspired uprising in the largely FulaInner Niger Delta region against rule by Ségou in 1818 led to the establishment of a separate state. It later allied with Bambara Empire against Umar Tall's Toucouleur Empire and was also defeated by it in 1862.
This empire, founded by El Hadj Umar Tall of the Toucouleur peoples, beginning in 1864, ruled eventually most of what is now Mali until the French conquest of the region in 1890. This was in some ways a turbulent period, with ongoing resistance in Messina and increasing pressure from the French.
The Wassoulou or Wassulu Empire was a short-lived (1878–1898) empire, led by Samori Ture in the predominantly Malinké area of what is now upper Guinea and southwestern Mali (Wassoulou). It later moved to Ivory Coast before being conquered by the French.
Mali fell under French colonial rule in 1892.[21] By 1893, the French appointed a civilian governor of the territory they called Soudan Français (French Sudan), but active resistance to French rule continued.[19] By 1905, most of the area was under firm French control.[19]
French Sudan was administered as part of the Federation of French West Africa and supplied labor to France's colonies on the coast of West Africa.[19] In 1958 the renamed Sudanese Republic obtained complete internal autonomy and joined the French Community.[19] In early 1959, the Sudanese Republic and Senegal formed the Federation of Mali.[19] On 31 March 1960 France agreed to the Federation of Mali becoming fully independent.[22] On 20 June 1960 the Federation of Mali became an independent country and Modibo Keïta became its first President.
Following the withdrawal of Senegal from the federation in August 1960, the former Sudanese Republic became the Republic of Mali on 22 September 1960, with Modibo Keïta as president.[19]
On November 19, 1968, a group of young officers staged a bloodless coup and set up a 14-member Military Committee for National Liberation (CMLN), with Lt. Moussa Traoré as president.[19] The military leaders attempted to pursue economic reforms, but for several years faced debilitating internal political struggles and the disastrous Sahelian drought.[19][23]
A new constitution, approved in 1974, created a one-party state and was designed to move Mali toward civilian rule.[19][23] However, the military leaders remained in power.[23] In September 1976, a new political party was established, the Democratic Union of the Malian People (UDPM), based on the concept of democratic centralism.[23] Single-party presidential and legislative elections were held in June 1979, and Gen. Moussa Traoré received 99% of the votes.[19][23] His efforts at consolidating the single-party government were challenged in 1980 by student-led anti-government demonstrations that led to three coup attempts, which were brutally quashed.[19][23]
The political situation stabilized during 1981 and 1982 and remained generally calm throughout the 1980s.[23] In late December 1985, however, a border dispute between Mali and Burkina Faso over the mineral-rich Agacher strip erupted into a brief war.[24] The UDPM spread its structure to cercles and arrondissements across the land.[23]
Shifting its attention to Mali's economic difficulties, the government approved plans for some reforms of the state enterprise system and attempted to control public corruption.[19][23] It implemented cereal marketing liberalization,[25] created new incentives to private enterprise, and worked out a new structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).[19][23] But the populace became increasingly dissatisfied with the austerity measures imposed by the IMF plan as well as their perception that the ruling elite was not subject to the same strictures.[19] In response to the growing demands for multiparty democracy then sweeping the continent, the Traoré regime did allow some limited political liberalization.[19] In National Assembly elections in June 1988, multiple UDPM candidates were permitted to contest each seat, and the regime organized nationwide conferences to consider how to implement democracy within the one-party framework.[19] Nevertheless, the regime refused to usher in a full-fledged democratic system.[19]
By 1990, cohesive opposition movements began to emerge, including the National Democratic Initiative Committee and the Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Alliance pour la Démocratie au Mali, ADEMA).[19] The increasingly turbulent political situation was complicated by the rise of ethnic violence in the north in mid-1990.[19] The return to Mali of large numbers of Tuareg who had migrated to Algeria and Libya during the prolonged drought increased tensions in the region between the nomadic Tuareg and the sedentary population.[19] Ostensibly fearing a Tuareg secessionist movement in the north, the Traoré regime imposed a state of emergency and harshly repressed Tuareg unrest.[19] Despite the signing of a peace accord in January 1991, unrest and periodic armed clashes continued.[19]
2000s
Konaré stepped down after his constitutionally mandated limit of two terms and did not run in the 2002 elections.[19] Touré then reemerged, this time as a civilian.[19] Running as an independent on a platform of national unity, Touré won the presidency in a runoff against the candidate of Adema, which had been divided by infighting and suffered from the creation of a spin-off party, the Rally for Mali. Touré had retained great popularity because of his role in the transitional government in 1991–92.[19] The 2002 election was a milestone, marking Mali's first successful transition from one democratically elected president to another, despite the persistence of electoral irregularities and low voter turnout.[19] In the 2002 legislative elections, no party gained a majority; Touré then appointed a politically inclusive government and pledged to tackle Mali's pressing social and economic development problems.[19]
However, due to the 2012 insurgency in northern Mali, the military government controls only the southern third of the country, leaving the north of the country (known as Azawad) to MNLA rebels. The rebels control Timbuktu, 700km from the capital.[28] In response, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) froze assets and imposed an embargo, leaving some with only days of fuel. Mali is dependent on fuel imports trucked overland from Senegal and Ivory Coast.[29]
Refugees in the 92,000-person refugee camp at Mbera, Mauritania, describe the Islamists as "intent on imposing an Islam of lash and gun on Malian Muslims."[30] The Islamists in Timbuktu have destroyed about a half-dozen venerable above-ground tombs of revered holy men, proclaiming the tombs contrary to Shariah.[30] One refugee in the camp spoke of encountering Afghans, Pakistanis and Nigerians.[30]
Ramtane Lamamra, the African Union's peace and security commissioner, said the African Union has discussed sending a military force to reunify Mali and that negotiations with terrorists had been ruled out but negotiations with other armed factions is still open.[30]
On 10 December 2012 Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra was arrested by soldiers and taken to a military base in Kati.[31] Hours later, the Prime Minister announced his resignation and the resignation of his government on national television.[32]
On 10 January 2013, Islamist forces captured the strategic town of Konna, located 600km from the capital, from the Malian army.[33] The following day, the French military launched Opération Serval, intervening in the conflict.[34]
By 8 February, the Islamist-held territory had been re-taken by the Malian military, with help from the international coalition. Tuareg separatists have continued to fight the Islamists as well, although the MNLA has also been accused of carrying out attacks against the Malian military.[35]
A peace deal between the government and Tuareg rebels was signed on 18 June 2013.[36]
The peace deal between the Tuareg rebels and the Malian government was broken in late November 2013 because of clashes in the northern city of Kidal.[39] A new ceasefire was agreed upon on 20 February 2015 between the Malian government and the northern rebels.[40]
In August 2018, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was re-elected for a new five-year term after winning the second round of the election against Soumaïla Cissé.[41]
2020s
Since 5 June 2020 street protests calling for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta began in Bamako. On 18 August 2020 mutinying soldiers arrested President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta and Prime Minister Boubou Cissé. President Keïta resigned and left the country. The National Committee for the Salvation of the People led by Colonel Assimi Goïta took power, meaning the fourth coup happened since independence from France in 1960.[42] On 12 September 2020, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People agreed to an 18-month political transition to civilian rule.[43] Shortly after, Bah N'Daw was named interim president.[44]
In 2023, there was a proposal from Burkina Faso to establish a federation with Mali. The aim of the federation was to amplify the political and economic influence of both nations by combining their resources, territories, and populations. This initiative was part of a larger trend of African countries forming regional alliances to address shared challenges and advance their collective interests. The proposal faced criticism and opposition due to concerns over cultural, historical, and economic differences between the two countries, as well as issues regarding the distribution of power and resources and the potential loss of national sovereignty.[48]
↑ Ouardia Oussedik: Les bifaces acheuléens de l’Erg Tihodaine (Sahara Central Algérien): analyse typométrique, in: Libyca 20 (1972) 153-161.
↑ S. J. Armitage, N. A. Drake, S. Stokes, A. El-Hawat, M. J. Salem, K. White, P. Turner, S. J. McLaren: Multiple phases of North African humidity recorded in lacustrine sediments from the Fazzan Basin, Libyan Sahara, in: Quaternary Geochronology 2,1-4 (2007) 181–186.
↑ Das Projekt Peuplement humain et paléoenvironnement en Afrique began in 1997 in Ounjougou (Pays dogon – Mali).
↑ Stefan Kröpelin et al.: Climate-Driven Ecosystem Succession in the Sahara: The Past 6000 Years. In: Science, 320,5877 (2008) 765–768, doi:10.1126/science.1154913.
↑ Huysecom, Eric; Rasse, M.; Lespez, L.; Neumann, K.; Fahmy, A.; Ballouche, A.; Ozainne, S.; Maggetti, M.; Tribolo, Ch.; Sorian, S. (2009). "The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth-millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali)". Antiquity: 906.
↑ Soriano, Sylvain; Rasse, M.; Huysecom, Eric (2010). "Ounjougou: A long Middle Stone Age sequence in the Dogon country (Mali)". BAR International Series. 2164: 1–16.
↑ Mcintosh, Susan Keech; Mcintosh, Roderick J. (Oct 1979). "Initial Perspectives on Prehistoric Subsistence in the Inland Niger Delta (Mail)". World Archaeology. 11 (2 Food and Nutrition): 227–243. doi:10.1080/00438243.1979.9979762. PMID16470987.
↑ McIntosh, Roderick J.; McIntosh, Susan Keech (2003). "Early urban configurations on the Middle Niger: Clustered cities and landscapes of power". In Smith, Monica L. (ed.). The Social Construction of Ancient Cities. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books. pp.103–120. ISBN9781588340986.
1 2 Mcintosh, Susan Keech; Mcintosh, Roderick J. (February 1980). "Jenne-Jeno: An Ancient African City". Archaeology. 33 (1): 8–14.
↑ Shaw, Thurstan. The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns. Routledge, 1993, pp.632.
↑ al-Bakri in Nehemiah Levtzion and J. F. Pl Hopkins, eds and trans., Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History (New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1981, reprint edn Princeton, New Jersey,: Marcus Wiener, 2000), pp. 82-83.
↑ ibn Khaldun in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds, and transl. Corpus, p. 333.
↑ al-Idrisi in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds. and transl, Corpus, p. 108.
↑ Stride, G. T; Ifeka, Caroline (1971). Peoples and empires of West Africa: West Africa in history, 1000–1800. Africana Pub. Corp. p.49.
↑ "The Empire of Mali, In Our Time – BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Maliportal 
