The Mali Empire was created by Sundiata Keita. It lasted over 1235-1600 CE. It had a sweet government and military. It had a great economy because of trading. There were various religions practiced in the Mali Empire, but over time it became more Islamic. Muslims tried to persuade people of other religions to convert. Timbuktu was the most famous city in the empire. Malian and/or other West African sailors traded with Americans. The Mali Empire was at least twice the size of the Ghana Empire.
Sundiata Keita was the son of a King of Manden Kurufa and the buffalo woman. His mom was called a buffalo woman because she was hunched back and ugly. It took a long time for him to walk and talk, so his father other wives and children made fun of him and his mom. It was prophecised that he would be a great leader.
The Sosso Kingdom conquered Sundiata's homeland. People from the Manden Kurufa sought out the child of prophecy. They found him and told him what happened. He left Mema with an army.
Sundiata defeated the evil sorcerer king of the Sosso Kingdom. His magician discovered the weakness of the evil sorcerer king. Prior to that, the king was invincible. He had great magic powers! This was because he had a magical musical instrument. His weakness was a white rooster crest. Sundiata shot an arrow with the crest on it and it hit him. Then he disappeared.
Parts of the Ghana Empire was conquered after the defeat of Somaoro. The emperors of the Mali Empire was known as Mansa. Sundiata Keita is the child of prophecy and the Lion King.
History of Mansas
Manden Kurufa was a 'federation of Mande tribes.' This kingdom was the heart of the Mali Empire. It was a part of the Ghana Empire until the Almoravids attack GE. After that, Manden Kurufa became 12 different kingdoms.
Those kingdoms were conquered by the Sosso Empire; Sundiata Keita destroyed the Sosso Empire
After Sundiata died his son became Mansa. His name was Ouali Keita I. He expanded the empire. He made soldiers become farmers. He went on a hajj to Mecca.
Generals of the Mali army sons were adopted by Ouali. Their last names became Keita because of this adoption. 2 of the sons fought each other 4 control of the empire. Ouati became the next Mensa. He was the Mensa for 4 years. Khalifa became the Mansa after him. He was mentally ill. He shot fire-tipped arrows at people from his rooftop. He was killed in a revolt.
Manding Bory Keita became Mansa after Khalifa was killed. He was Sundiata youngest son. He was known as Mansa Abubakari. He was named after Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr was Muhammad father in law.
Sakoura became the next Mansa. He was born a slave and became a general in Sundiata army. He expanded the empire; he conquered a Serer Kingdom. He made trade deals with Tripoli and Morocco. He went on a hajj to Mecca, but when was coming back he got killed. His killers may have been from the Afar tribe.
Ko Mamadi Keita became Mansa after Sakoura. He was Sundiata nephew. He was known as Mansa Gao Keita. He had a good Emperor.
Abunakari II was the next Mansa. He was the son of Mansa Gao Keita. He sent out to navies into the Atlantic ocean and they never came back. He was on the second voyage. Legend as it, they ended up in the Americas.
Mansa Musa Keita I was the next ruler. He was a good Muslim and he turned a school into a university. It is called Sankore. It had the largest library in the world. He went on a hajj and gave away so much gold that the Egypt and Arabia had hyperinflation! He had 12,000 women slaves and 100s of elephants and camels. The animals were carrying food and weapons. On his way back home he met a poet that was also an architect. The poet helped create a mosque in Timbuktu.
Souleyman Keita became the next Mansa. He was the brother of Mansa Musa. His senior wife and some generals tried to overthrow him, but they were stopped and his wife was put in jail. He went on a hajj and had diplomatic relationships with Egypt and Morocco. The Wolof revolted during his reign and created their own empire. Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar and traveler. He came to the Mali Empire during Souleyman reign and was very impressed.
Camba Keita became the next Mansa. He was the son of Souleyman. He only ruled for 9 months because he was killed by one of Maghan I sons.
The next Mansa was Mari Djata Keita II. He was a tyrant and he almost bankrupted the empire. He sent a giraffe as a gift to a king in North Africa. He got sick and died.
Mansa Musa Keita II became the new ruler. He improved the economy. Kankoro-Sigui Mari Djata ran the empire behind the scenes during Ketia II reign. He was non-royal. He squashed a rebellion by the Tuareg. Gao became independent at this time.
Tenin Meghan Keita II only ruled for 2 years.
A non-royal became Mansa for the first time in the history of the Mali Empire. His name was Sandaki Keita. He only ruled a year.
Meghan Keita III became Mansa. He may have been of royal blood. The Mossi emperor Bonga invaded Macina, which was a city in the Mali empire. He was unable to conquer it.
Musa Keita III lost Timbuktu to the Tuareg.
Ouali Keita II was Musa's brother. The Portuguese were raiding the coast of Gambia. Malian soldiers killed the raiders. Diogo Gomes develop a diplomatic relationship with the Mali Empire in response to that. The Songhai Empire conquered Mema (the city Sundiata Keita got his army from) and they took Timbuktu from the Tuareg. Mossi conquered Macina and Wagadu (This city-state that created the Ghana Empire).
Mansa Muhammad Keita II ruled over a declining empire. The Fulani invaded provinces in the Mali Empire. Keita II developed closer relationships with Portugal. Songhai Empire took over the salt mines that were a part of the Mali Empire. Muhammad asks Portuguese to help Malians fight the Fulani. The Portuguese refused.
Mansa Muhammad Keita III lost more land to the Songhai Empire(SE). SE took over Mali's copper mines. Mansa sought military help from the Portuguese to combat SE. The Portuguese refused again. Kaabu Empire swallows up Malian provinces in Gambia. Songhai defeats Mali in battle and takes over the palace. Malian forces regroup and kicked out Songhai forces. Futa Tooro takes over a providence of the Mali Empire. The Mali Empire was small at this point.
There were a few more Mansas, but they weren't so influential. After Mahmud Keita, IV died his sons tore the empire apart. They fought over who should rule, which destroyed what little was left of the Mali Empire.
Manden Kuruka became 3 kingdoms. These kingdoms fought each; they would only join forces if they were attacked by another kingdom.
In my opinion, if the royals stayed in power the Mali Empire would have lasted longer. It seems like they made better decisions than the non-royal rulers.
Government
Mansa=King
Gbara=Congress. It was created by the Lion King in 1235 CE. It had 32 members 29 of which were Mandinka. There were 4 voting blocks. The blocks were military, royal, Islamic, and life force manipulators. They created a constitution called Kouroukan Fouga.
Military
Toni-Tigi: 16 clans that made up the army. Their symbol was the arrow and quiver.
Mandekalu: They were the cavalry. They wore chainmail and iron helmets. They used spears and swords in battle.
Kele-Koun: Generals of Ton-Tigi.
Farima: Commander. They answered directly to the Mansa. The Kele-Kouns were subordinate to them.
Slaves were used as soldiers and administors they were called Sofas.
This great military helped create the Mali Empire.
Economy
Mali empire controlled gold and copper mines, salt mines, etc. There were many skilled workers in the empire. There were farmers, fishermen, blacksmiths, potters, leatherworkers, weavers, etc. The Mali Empire traded a lot with Muslims. Blacksmiths created lodges to teach people their trade. Those lodges were connected to various trading cities.
Religion
People in the Mali Empire practiced traditional religions. They believed nature was full of spirits. Every natural object had a spirit in it. They thanked the deities of the earth for their crops. Over time they became more Islamic. Some of the Muslims in the Mali Empire tried to impose Islam on others. That's why the Dogon left the Mali Empire. They wanted to continue to practice the religion of their ancestors. They now live on the border of modern-day Mali.
As the empire became more Islamic, they got more trade from Muslim kingdoms. The Mali Empire gained a lot from Islam and they made Islam more popular in West Africa. Islam is a great religion for imperialism. That is because it is monotheistic.
It was a great city of Islamic learning. It was created by the Tuareg. It became a part of the Mali Empire around 1300. There were 3 great mosques there. They were great universities. In 1450 there were 100,000 people living there. Timbuktu was ruled by the Tuareg for a period, but it still was a center of learning. It became in greater when it became a part of Songhai Empire. Timbuktu fell off once the SE was destroyed. It got raided a lot by various African tribes. Then Morocco conquered it and killed some of its scholars.
The greatest scholar in Timbuktu was Ahmed Baba. He wrote 50 books and he was a professor at Sankore. One of his books was about grammar. He had a library of over 1,000 books! He had a lot of books translated into Arabic.
West African sailors that may have been Malian traded gold for corn with the Mayans. Africans also exported gold tipped spears to Americans. Americans told Columbus about Africans coming to the America. Columbus wrote about in his diary.
Conclusion
This empire seems better than the Benin Empire! The Mali Empire was founded by the Lion King. It lasted for over 300 years. It had a sweet government and military. It became Islamic, which helped in trading and technology. The Republic of Mali is named after this Empire. I give it an A+.
References
http://www.bu.edu/africa/files/pdf/SUNDIATA1.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundiata_Keita
http://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/sundiata-keita-lion-king-mali-005733
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soumaoro_Kant%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Empire
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/mali-empire-ca-1200
http://www.ducksters.com/history/africa/empire_of_ancient_mali.php
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mali_Empire
http://histclo.com/country/afr/mali/act/ma-rel.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/5/925755/-
http://www.islamandafrica.com/
http://www.africanholocaust.net//news_ah/africa_contribution_islam.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankore_Madrasah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gbara
https://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_11_1.pdf
http://www.globalresearch.ca/before-columbus-how-africans-brought-civilization-to-america/5407584
http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/01/23/10-pieces-of-evidence-that-prove-black-people-sailed-to-the-americas-long-before-columbus/
https://www.britannica.com/place/Timbuktu-Mali
http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/ode-ahmad-baba-al-massufi
http://kentakepage.com/ahmed-baba/
Mali Empire
Oral History of Mali
Timbuktu
Ahmad Baba
Africans in early America
Islam in Africa
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