[28] These men had to be of the horon (freemen) caste and appear with their own arms. Additionally, the Songhai Empire seized the copper mines of Takedda. Although this time in the kingdom was prosperous, Mali's wealth and power soon declined. By 1560, the once powerful empire was not much more than the core of the Manden Kurufaba. [28] Both of these men were part of Mali's warrior elite known as the ton-ta-jon-ta-ni-woro ("sixteen slave carriers of quiver"). At each halt, he would regale us [his entourage] rare foods and confectionery. However, it went through radical changes before reaching the legendary proportions proclaimed by its subjects. What separates these rulers from the founder, other than the latter's historic role in establishing the state, is their transformation of the Manden Kurufaba into a Manden Empire. By maintaining the developments of Sakoura and Abubakari Keita I, the Kolonkan Keita mansas steered Mali safely into its apex. It contained three immense gold mines within its borders unlike the Ghana Empire, which was only a transit point for gold. They are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. He was insulted by this as well, feeling that the gift was inadequate for him. From at least the beginning of the 11th century, Mandinka kings known as faamas ruled Manden from Ka-ba in the name of the Ghanas.[26]. He could read and write Arabic and took an interest in the scholarly city of Timbuktu, which he peaceably annexed in 1324. The Mali Empire covered a larger area for a longer period of time than any other West African state before or since. Ibn Khaldun recounts that the people rushed upon him and killed him during a popular revolt. All of them agree that he took a very large group of people; the mansa kept a personal guard of some 500 men,[75] and he gave out so many alms and bought so many things that the value of gold in Egypt and Arabia depreciated for twelve years. [41], Following Musa Keita III's death, his brother Gbèré Keita became emperor in the mid-15th century. The oldest brother, Sérébandjougou Keita, was crowned Mansa Foamed or Mansa Musa Keita III. As a result of steady tax revenue and stable government beginning in the last quarter of the 13th century, the Mali Empire was able to project its power throughout its own extensive domain and beyond. Mansa Abubakari Keita II left Musa Keita as regent of the empire, demonstrating the stability of this period in Mali, and departed with the second expedition, commanding some 2,000 ships equipped with both oars and sails in 1311. There seems to have been either a vacancy or unknown ruler between 1559 and the start of the last mansa's reign. The dramatic increase in the empire's growth demanded a shift from the Manden Kurufaba's organisation of three states with twelve dependencies. This primary source retells his story of being in Cario and the effect his generosity and wealth had on the city for years to come. Eventually, however, this began to change. [51] Mansa Musa placed a heavy tax on all objects that went through Timbuktu. Free warriors from the south came armed with bows and poisonous arrows. During most of his journey, Ibn Battuta travelled with a retinue that included servants, most of whom carried goods for trade. After the victory, King Soumaoro disappeared, and the Mandinka stormed the last of the Sosso cities. In 1534, Mahmud Keita III received another Portuguese envoy to the Mali court by the name of Pero Fernandes. A vacancy or rule by a court official seems the most likely, since the next ruler takes the name of Mahmud IV. Gold dust had been weighed and bagged for use at least since the time of the Ghana Empire. In 1285, a court slave freed by Sundiata Keita, and who had also served as a general, usurped the throne of Mali. The third great account is that of Ibn Khaldun, who wrote in the early 15th century. Robert Smith, "The Canoe in West African History", harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBourgeois1987 (, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFHunwick1999 (. Where the empire of Mali reigned covered the modern day areas of Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia and Guinea, along with small regions of the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, and Niger. The most common measure for gold within the realm was the ambiguous mithqal (4.5 grams of gold). The Twelve Doors of Mali were a coalition of conquered or allied territories, mostly within Manden, with sworn allegiance to Sundiata and his descendants. [59], The Mali Empire maintained a semi-professional, full-time army in order to defend its borders. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita (c. 1214 – c. 1255) and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Musa Keita. Mansa Musa also ran out of gold on the hajj to Mecca but was not concerned because he knew he had enough gold back in Mali to pay back everyone he owed money to. The most important exploited mineral is gold, a significant source of foreign exchange. Mansa Mari Djata Keita II became seriously ill in 1372,[41] and power moved into the hands of his ministers until his death in 1374. Because of the war going on, trade was disrupted. Iron bridles, for example, were excavated at Kumbi Saleh (see map), possibly the capitol of the ancient Ghana empire (c. 700-1100) and now in the present-day country of Mauritania. Maghan Sundiata was declared "faama of faamas" and received the title "mansa", which translates roughly to emperor. [97] Mansa Mahmud Keita III is forced to flee Niani for the mountains. The most defining moment in Mahmud Keita III's reign is arguably the final conflict between Mali and Songhai in 1545. [41] Only at the state or province level was there any palpable interference from the central authority in Niani. Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. al-Bakri in Nehemiah Levtzion and J. F. Pl Hopkins, eds and trans.. ibn Khaldun in Levtzion and Hopkins, eds, and transl. He also states that Djata or "Jatah" means "lion". After liberating the capital, Mahmud Keita II abandons it for a new residence further north. The only Mandinka power spared from the campaign was Kangaba. This style is characterised by the use of mudbricks and an adobe plaster, with large wooden-log support beams that jut out from the wall face for large buildings such as mosques or palaces. The architectural crafts in Granada had reached their zenith by the fourteenth century, and its extremely unlikely that a cultured and wealthy poet would have had anything more than a dilettante's knowledge of the intricacies of contemporary architectural practice. A dùùkùnàsi performed the same function except with slave troops called sofa ("guardian of the horse") and under the command of a farimba ("great brave man"). The mansa also made a successful hajj, kept up correspondence with Morocco and Egypt and built an earthen platform at Kangaba called the Camanbolon where he held court with provincial governors and deposited the holy books he brought back from Hedjaz. In 1645, the Bamana attacked Manden, seizing both banks of the Niger right up to Niani. Owca V died in 1406, and following his death, there was no continuous record of events in the Mali Empire. In search of a status discourse for Mande". [28] The mansa lost control of Jalo during this period. Then we are going to look at two historical sources. Despite the faama of Niani's wishes to respect the prophecy and put Sundiata on the throne, the son from his first wife Sassouma Bérété was crowned instead. On the return from Takedda to Morocco, his caravan transported 600 female servants, suggesting that indentured servitude was a substantial part of the commercial activity of the empire.[54]. For one, the safety in the streets of Mali went unmatched. With this he 'flooded' Cairo to the point of disrupting the entire gold market for decades to come. Mansa Musa came from his country with 80 loads of gold dust (tibr), each load weighing three qintars. He ruled oppressively and nearly bankrupted Mali with his lavish spending. Each representative or ton-tigi ("quiver-master") provided council to the mansa at the Gbara, but only these two ton-tigi held such wide-ranging power. This is one of the main factors to the fall of the kingdom. However, from 1507 onwards neighbouring states such as Diara, Great Fulo and the Songhay Empire eroded the extreme territories of Mali. During this period only the Mongol Empire was larger. -All art, video editing and animation by Jabari Walker (Myself) -Base map, borders, and city locations expertly researched, dictated and created by Trenton Zylstra. The following description of the visit to Cairo in 1324 by the King of Mali, Mansa Musa, was written by Al-Umari, who visited Cairo several years after the Mansa Musa’s visit. He was the first of a new line of rulers directly descending from Sundiata Keita's sister, Kolonkan Keita. [41], Aside from military conquest, Ouali is also credited with agricultural reforms throughout the empire putting many soldiers to work as farmers in the newly acquired Gambian provinces. During this period, trade routes shifted southward to the savanna, stimulating the growth of states such as Bonoman. Around the year 1000 CE, West Africa was home to three major kingdoms, the Mali, Ghana, and Sosso. [89] Three years later, Oualata also fell into their hands. [70], Mansa Ouali Keita proved to be an efficient emperor, adding more lands to the empire, including the Gambian provinces of Bati and Casa. Kangaba, the de facto capital of Manden since the time of the last emperor, became the capital of the northern sphere. Special thanks to my team for all of the help! In approximately 1140 the Sosso kingdom of Kaniaga, a former vassal of Wagadou, began conquering the lands of its old rulers. [35], The Kouroukan Fouga also put in place social and economic reforms including prohibitions on the maltreatment of prisoners and slaves, installing documents between clans which clearly stated who could say what about whom. Following a series of usurpations of the throne of Mali, in c. 1285 Sakoura, a former royal court slave, became emperor and was one of its most powerful rulers, greatly expanding the territories of Mali. Our art prints are produced on acid-free papers using archival inks to guarantee that they last a lifetime without fading or loss of color. A map of the Mali Empire (1240-1645 CE) at its peak c. 1337 CE after the reign of Mansa Musa (1312-1337 CE). The Sankoré University was capable of housing 25,000 students and had one of the largest libraries in the world with roughly 1,000,000 manuscripts.[82][83]. [40] The county level administrators called kafo-tigui (county-master) were appointed by the governor of the province from within his own circle. His information about the empire came from visiting Malians taking the hajj, or pilgrim's voyage to Mecca. The lands of Bambougou, Jalo (Fouta Djallon), and Kaabu were added into Mali by Fakoli Koroma (Nkrumah in Ghana, Kurumah in the Gambia, Colley in Casamance, Senegal),[28] Fran Kamara (Camara) and Tiramakhan Traore (Tarawelley in the Gambia),[38] respectively Among the many different ethnic groups surrounding Manden were Pulaar speaking groups in Macina, Tekrur and Fouta Djallon. were subject to the Mali Empire. [94] This envoy from the Portuguese coastal port of Elmina arrived in response to the growing trade along the coast and Mali's now urgent request for military assistance against Songhai. The empire taxed every ounce of gold, copper and salt that entered its borders. Ko Mamadi Keita was crowned Mansa Gao Keita and ruled over a successful empire without any recorded crises. Mali had been a state inside of the Ghanaian empire. After many years in exile, first at the court of Wagadou and then at Mema, Sundiata was sought out by a Niani delegation and begged to combat the Sosso and free the kingdoms of Manden forever. . [41] Dyamani-tiguis had to be approved by the mansa and were subject to his oversight. The Keitas retreated to the town of Kangaba, where they became provincial chiefs.[11]. In 1430, the Tuareg seized Timbuktu. What is evident is that there is no steady lineage governing the empire. Here the sexes were friends, spent time with one another and were agreeable. Has full text primary sources (books, monographs) including works by African-American missionaries in Africa, slaves' accounts of Africa. From the University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He came to power around 1496 and has the dubious honour of being the mansa under which Mali suffered the most losses to its territory. The child of this marriage received the first name of his mother (Sogolon) and the surname of his father (Djata). [48], In 1307 Mansa Musa came to the throne after a series of civil wars and ruled for thirty years. For the most part Mali is covered, with the rest just having areas of the ancient empire cross into their borders. It is during the Kolonkan Keita lineage that the defining characteristics of golden age Mali begin to appear. [73] The emperor's attendants rushed his body home through the Ouaddai region and into Kanem where one of that empire's messengers was sent to Mali with news of Sakoura's death. Following the death of Sundiata Keita in c. 1255, the kings of Mali were referred to by the title mansa. [18] In return for their submission, they became "farbas", a combination of the Mandinka words "farin" and "ba" (great farin). By 300 BC, large organised settlements had developed, most notable near Djenné, one of West Africa's oldest cities. The Portuguese decided to stay out of the conflict and the talks concluded by 1495 without an alliance.[93]. Mansa Musa Keita was one of the first truly devout Muslims to lead the Mali Empire. [29] The tiny kingdom of Niani was one of several in the Kri area of Manden. From the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library, Timbuktu. Each individual farariya ("brave") had a number of infantry officers beneath them called kèlè-koun or dùùkùnàsi. By the 6th century AD, the lucrative trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt and slaves had begun, facilitating the rise of West Africa's great empires. The Cooperative Africana Microform Project hosts a wide range and depth of primary source material available to researchers via Interlibrary Loan. As a result of this the empire fell. Seeing the throne as their right, two adopted sons of Mari Djata waged a devastating war against one another that threatened to destroy what the first two mansas had built. The leader of the vast Mali Empire made his pilgrimage to Mecca, but not without first stopping in Cairo. The Mali Empire was the largest empire in West Africa and profoundly influenced the culture of West Africa through the spread of its language, laws and customs. All art prints include a 1" white border around the image to allow for future framing and matting, if desired. Bowmen formed a large portion of the field army as well as the garrison. and transl. Ibn Battuta observed the employment of servants in both towns. ... Mali. After entering the country and staying for eight long months, Ibn left with mixed feelings. Mansa Mahmud Keita II came to the throne in 1481 during Mali's downward spiral. Even Sakoura, with his history of being a slave in the Keita family, was considered a Keita; so the line of Bilal had yet to be broken. Imperial Mali is best known through three primary sources: the first is the account of Shihab al-'Umari, written in about 1340 by a geographer-administrator in Mamluk Egypt. At 78% of a 3500 kToe annual primary energy supply, biomass, mainly in the form of wood and charcoal for domestic use, plays the dominant role in the Malian energy balance. As a result of these issues a civil war erupted upon the Kingdom which further incapacitated old Mali. The army of the Mali Empire during the 14th century was divided into northern and southern commands led by the Farim-Soura and Sankar-Zouma, respectively. The Mali Empire expanded through conquest or annexation. Sundjata is credited with at least the initial organisation of the Manding military. But the Mali Empire built by his predecessors was too strong for even his misrule and it passed intact to Musa's brother, Souleyman Keita in 1341. The Sahelian and Saharan towns of the Mali Empire were organised as both staging posts in the long-distance caravan trade and trading centres for the various West African products. 7.A West African Empire Introduction Investigation - Students analyze primary sources, look at maps and visuals to make predictions about their learning for the unit. His brother, Mansa … He also made Eid celebrations at the end of Ramadan a national ceremony. 14. The ancient Malian empire was based on the exploitation of gold, but those deposits were depleted before the advent of colonial rule in the 19th century. At the age of 18, he gained authority over all the 12 kingdoms in an alliance known as the Manden Kurufaba. [28] Manden was split in half with the Dodougou territory to the northeast and the Kri territory to the southwest. According to an account given by Mansa Musa Keita I, who during the reign of Abubakari Keita II served as the mansa's kankoro-sigui, Mali sent two expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean. After unsuccessful attempts by Mansa Mama Maghan to conquer Bamana, in 1670 Bamana sacked and burned Niani, and the Mali Empire rapidly disintegrated and ceased to exist, being replaced by independent chiefdoms. [90] The Gambia was still firmly in Mali's control, and these raiding expeditions met with disastrous fates before Portugal's Diogo Gomes began formal relations with Mali via its remaining Wolof subjects. [71] He reigned for four years, spending lavishly and ruling cruelly, according to the djelis. Mansa Musa was born in 1280 into a family of rulers. There is complete security in their country . Paris, 1974. By 1180 it had even subjugated Wagadou forcing the Soninké to pay tribute. Despite heavy losses, the mansa's army was not deterred and nearly carried the day. [95], The mansa's defeat actually won Sundiata Keita the respect of Morocco, and may have saved it from Songhai's fate. [86], The Songhai settlement effectively shook off Mali's authority in 1375.