Mama Maghan | |||||
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Mansa of Mali | |||||
Reign | early 17th century | ||||
Born | c. 1550 [1] | ||||
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Dynasty | Keita | ||||
Father | Niani Mansa Mamadou [2] | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Mama Maghan, also known as Nyamaghan, was a self-proclaimed Mansa of the Mali Empire in the early 17th century.
The eldest son of Niani Mansa Mamadou, [2] Nyamaghan was appointed ruler of the city of Kita under his father in order to defend the western part of the crumbling Mali Empire. After his father's death in the early 1600s, the empire split between Nyamaghan and his brothers Mansa Kuru and Mansa Kanda. He marched south to restore imperial control over the Niger river valley, in chaos since Niani Mansa Mamadou's defeat outside Djenne in 1599. There he founded the kafu of Juma. [3]
Colonial-era historian Maurice Delafosse incorrectly reported that Mama Maghan besieged Segou in 1670, but this was a confusion on his part with a siege in the 1720s by Famagan Ouattara, ruler of the Kong Empire. [4] [5]
Mansa Musa was the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire, which reached its territorial peak during his reign. Musa's reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali's power and prestige, although he features comparatively less in Mandinka oral traditions than his predecessors.
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Sundiata Keita was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He was also the great-uncle of the Malian ruler Mansa Musa, who is usually regarded as the wealthiest person of all time, although there are no reliable ways to accurately calculate his wealth.
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[Mārī Jāṭa] ruled for 25 years, according to what they relate, and when he died his son Mansā Walī ruled after him...His brother Wātī ruled after him and then a third brother, Khalīfa. Khalīfa was insane and devoted to archery and used to shoot arrows at his people and kill them wantonly so they rose against him and killed him. He was succeeded by a sibṭ [son of a daughter] of Mārī Jāṭa, called Abū Bakr, who was the son of his daughter.
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Mansa Sulayman was mansa of the Mali Empire during the middle of the 14th century. He was the brother of Mansa Musa and succeeded Musa's son Magha as mansa.
Mansa Jata, commonly referred to as Mari Jata II, possibly incorrectly, known in oral histories as Konkodugu Kamissa was mansa of Mali from 1360 to 1374. He was an ineffective ruler, and his reign, recorded by the contemporary North African historian Ibn Khaldun, marked the beginning of the decline of the Mali Empire.
Maghan II or Kita Tenin Maghan was a mansa of the Mali Empire from 1387 to 1389. He was the son of Mansa Mari Diata II and the brother of Mansa Musa II.
Maghan III, also known as Mahmud I, was mansa of the Mali Empire from 1390 to about 1415, although the date for the end of his reign is highly speculative. He assumed the throne after killing the usurper Sandaki, who had ruled for only two years. He came from the 'pagan lands' to the south of the empire, and claimed to be descended from Mansa Qu, thereby restoring the descendants of Sunjata to the throne, occupied since Mansa Musa by descendants of Mande Bori. Upon his ascension he took the regnal name 'Maghan'.
The Keita dynasty ruled pre-imperial and imperial Mali from the 11th century into the early 17th century. It was a Muslim dynasty, and its rulers claimed descent from Bilal ibn Rabah. The early history is entirely unknown, outside of legends and myths. The first Keita mansa was Sundiata Keita. This is when Mari Jata is crowned and Keita becomes a clan name. A couple of generations after him, his great-nephew, Mansa Musa Keita I of Mali, made a celebrated pilgrimage to Mecca.
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Mansa Mahmud Keïta IV, also known as Niani Mansa Mamadou or Soro Mansa Mamadou, was the last reigning emperor of the Mali Empire, according to the Tarikh al-Sudan written in the 17th century. A prominent, if perhaps composite, character in oral traditions, he was responsible for bringing the empire back from its nadir in the 1540s and 50s, but ultimately the defeat outside of the city of Djenne in 1599 brought an end to Mali's imperial period.
Mande Bori, also known as Mande Bakari and known in Arabic as Abu Bakr, is a heroic figure in Mande oral tradition who was involved in the founding of the Mali Empire. He was the brother and right-hand man of Sunjata, the founder of the empire, and served as the empire's kankoro-sigui, an office that has been translated as "viceroy" or "lieutenant-general". Though Mande Bori never himself reigned as mansa, his grandsons Musa and Suleyman ruled the Mali Empire at the apex of its power and prestige, and he is often erroneously cited as Mansa Abu Bakr II.
The military history of the Mali Empire is that of the armed forces of the Mali Empire, which dominated Western Africa from the mid 13th to the late 15th century. The military culture of the empire's driving force, Mandinka people, influenced many later states in West Africa including break-away powers such as the Songhay and Jolof empires. Institutions from the Mali Empire also survived in the 19th century army of Samory Ture who saw himself as the heir to Old Mali's legacy.
Mansa Mahmud II, also known as Muhammad or Mamadou, was mansa of the Mali Empire from 1481 to 1496. He was the son, but not necessarily the immediate successor, of Mansa Uli II.
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Wuli was a Mandinka kingdom located on the north bank of the Gambia River in what is now the eastern portion of The Gambia and the Tambacounda region of Senegal. Ruled as an independent polity by the Wali family from the early 16th century until European colonialism in the late 19th, it controlled an important crossroads for trading routes linking the upper Niger river valley with the coast.
The history of the Mali Empire begins when the first Mande people entered the Manding region during the period of the Ghana Empire. After its fall, the various tribes established independent chiefdoms. In the 12th century, these were briefly conquered by the Sosso Empire under Soumaoro Kante. He was in turn defeated by a Mande coalition led by Sundiata Keita, who founded the Mali Empire.