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The Mali Empire was an empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of its language, laws, and customs.
The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia, southern Senegal and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic groups in Africa. They speak the Manding languages in the Mande language family, which are a lingua franca in much of West Africa. Virtually all of Mandinka people are adherent to Islam, mostly based on the Maliki jurisprudence. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and live in rural villages. Their largest urban center is Bamako, the capital of Mali.
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.
In 1324, while staying in Cairo during his hajj, Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali Empire, told an Egyptian official whom he had befriended that he had come to rule when his predecessor led a large fleet in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean and never returned. This account, recorded by the Arab historian al-Umari, has attracted considerable interest and speculation as a possible instance of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. The voyage is popularly attributed to a Mansa Abu Bakr II, but no such mansa ever reigned. Rather, the voyage is inferred to have been undertaken by Mansa Muhammad ibn Qu.
Naré Maghann Konaté was a 12th-century faama (king) of the Mandinka people, in what is today Mali and the progenitor of the Maghan people of Ghana. He was the father of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, and a character in the oral tradition of the Epic of Sundiata.
Abu Bakr, known as Bata Mande Bori in oral tradition, was the fifth mansa of the Mali Empire, reigning during the late 13th century. He was a son of a daughter of Sunjata, the founder of the Mali Empire, and may have been adopted by Sunjata as a son. Abu Bakr succeeded Khalifa, a tyrant who was deposed after a brief reign. Abu Bakr was the first mansa of the Mali Empire to succeed through the female line. It remains debated whether Abu Bakr's succession marked a return to a traditional pattern of succession that had been ignored by his predecessors or if it was a break from traditional succession caused by political instability. After an unremarkable reign, Abu Bakr was succeeded by Sakura, an enslaved court official who seized power in a coup.
Sakura was a mansa of the Mali Empire who reigned during the late 13th century, known primarily from an account given by Ibn Khaldun in his Kitāb al-ʻIbar. Sakura was not a member of the ruling Keita dynasty, and may have been formerly enslaved. He usurped the throne following a period of political instability and led Mali to considerable territorial expansion. During his reign, trade between the Mali Empire and the rest of the Muslim world increased. He was killed in the early 1300s while returning from the hajj and the Keita dynasty was restored to power.
The Battle of Kirina, also known as the Battle of Krina or siege of Karina, was a confrontation between Sosso king Sumanguru Kanté and Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita's forces roundly defeated those of Sumanguru Kanté, guaranteeing the pre-eminence of Keita's new Mali Empire over West Africa.
Sunjata is an epic poem of the Malinke people that tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire. The epic is an instance of oral tradition, going back to the 13th century and narrated by generations of griot poets or jeliw (djeli). There is no single or authoritative version. Material pertaining to the epic first began to be collected during the early 20th century in French Sudan, notably by the French elite school École William Ponty, resulting in the "modern" version of the tale as considered standard today, based on the oral account by Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate, a griot or traditional oral historian, translated into French by Djibril Tamsir Niane in 1960.
The Sosso Empire, also written as Soso or Susu, or alternatively Kaniaga, was kingdom of West Africa that originated as a vassal of the Ghana Empire before breaking away and conquering their former overlords. Inhabited by the Soninke ancestors of the modern-day Sosso people, it was centered in the region south of Wagadou and north of Beledougou. The empire peaked under the reign of Soumaoro Kante, who was defeated by the rising Mali Empire of Sundiata Keita.
Musa II was mansa of the Mali Empire from 1374 to 1387.
Maghan II 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.
Mansa Sandaki or Sandaki Mari Djata, also known as Sandiki or Santigi, was a mansa of the Mali Empire from 1389 to 1390.
Maghan III, also known as Mahmud I, was mansa of the Mali Empire from 1390 to about 1400. 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.
Muhammad ibn Qu was the eighth mansa of the Mali Empire. He succeeded his father, Mansa Qu, and the predecessor of Mali's most famous ruler, Mansa Musa.
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 Keita, despite Bilal having been of Abyssinian origin.
Mansa Mahmud Keita IV was the last emperor of the Mali Empire according to the Tarikh al-Sudan. Prior to his rule there was a vacancy of some sort, indicated by the long period of the time in which neither written or oral sources give a ruler. We do know that more than one person made a claim for the throne, which caused the Sankar-Zouma and Farima-Soura to refuse aid to Mansa Mahmud IV and the Keita family, on his military operation against Djenné.
Tiramakhan Traore was a 13th-century general in the Mali Empire who served under Sundiata Keita. Traore expanded the power of Mali westward and set up the Kabu Empire. In his conquest of the region, he is reported to have defeated the Bainuk king Kikikor and annexed his state. The Guelowar royal family, including the royal family of Kaabu prior to their defeat at the Battle of Kansala, claimed descent from Tiramakhan Traore.
Kangaba is a town, commune, and seat of the Kangaba Cercle in the Koulikoro Region of south-western Mali.
Sassouma Bereté was the first wife of the 13th century King of Mali Maghan Kon Fatta, the father of Sundiata Keita.
References
- ↑ Fage, J.D.; Oliver, R.A. (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050. The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 380. ISBN 978-0-521-20981-6 . Retrieved 2022-04-19.
