The
Empire of Mali
by
W.F. Conton
by
W.F. Conton
Excerpts from West Africa in History
The Empire of Mali has been described by a modern historian, writing in 1959, as ‘one of the greatest states in the world of its time’. It did not reach this position until after it had conquered Ghana and the Susu, and Sundiata was only one of the many builders of the Empire’s strength. His great achievement was to unite the many tribes within the Empire’s borders under one centralized rule. He thus laid the foundations of Mali’s greatness. Sundiata is remembered amongst the descendants of his people as a sickly child, lame as a result of some form of paralysis. This sickness was to be a blessing in disguise to the child, however. For the all-conquering Susu king Sumanguru, whom we met at the end of the last chapter, spared his life out of pity for his condition, although he killed some of his brothers and sisters. We are told how the handicapped child used to crawl on all fours to steal food, but when caught, would fight like a lion.
Fortune tellers had predicted a great future for this child, and we can imagine his parents’ disappointment when he did not even walk until he was seven years old. It was at this age that he lost his father, Maghan Kon Fatta, King of Mali. Sundiata’s eldest brother, Dankaran Touman, succeeded to the throne. Lovingly cared for by the royal staff. Sundiata gradually recovered the use of his legs, and grew stronger daily. Soon he was famous at court as a warrior and hunter, and, like all successful athletes, he became very popular. This popularity aroused the envy of the King (his brother); and Sundiata in the end had to flee from the Mali capital, Niani, with his mother, a sister, and a brother. The King’s hatred pursued them so far that no Mandingo village would shelter them.
Emperor Sumanguru also seems to have sensed somehow that the young Sundiata was someone to be feared. When the fleeing prince sought refuge in Tabo, the capital of the ruling family of Futa, Sumanguru ordered this family, who were also his vassals, to expel him. The same thing happened at another capital, Djeliba, south-west of Niani, and at the court of the ruler of the now very much weakened kingdom of Ghana. It was Tounkara, king of the Meama near Lake Faguibine, who finally gave the exiles asylum. Sumanguru must have been a formidable ruler!
But this great Emperor’s rule was now drawing near its end. A revolt of all Mandingos suddenly exploded, set off by the Emperor’s pitiless ‘taxation’ which consisted of depriving the Mandingos of their most beautiful women, as well as their food and gold. When Sumanguru gathered his army to suppress the revolt, the Mali Emperor took fright and fled, having heard that Sumanguru had powers of witchcraft. Thus it was left to Sundiata, the formerly crippled child, and now a prince in exile, to fight the tyrant. A delegation from the Mandingo rebels persuaded the King of the Meama to give Sundiata (whose military skill and courage were now well known in the area) an army...
... One sad blow befell the brave young man on the eve of his departure to face his frightening foe. His mother died. Although stricken with grief, Sundiata only stayed long enough to bury her, and the very next day he marched with the brother who had shared his exile, against Sumanguru. They re-entered Mandingo country among much excitement and rejoicing, and their army grew stronger daily. These two brothers had become fast friends during their exile, and we may be sure that their initial affection and trust in each other was an important factor in their success. King Sesay of Ghana added to the men and arms the Meama king had given them; Kamara Labe, King of Tabo, overcame his fear of Sumanguru sufficiently to place himself under Sundiata’s orders. Most important of all, practically all the Mandingo leaders had now rallied to his banner. Finally, the King of Bobo in modern Upper Volta added his contribution of 1,500 archers.
The decisive battle was joined near the village of Krina, which still exists today. As a Mandingo poem says, ‘The battle of Krina was terrible’. Sumanguru’s defeat was complete, although the Emperor himself was not captured. With his reputation as a sorcerer, of course, he was soon said to have ‘disappeared’, having been shot with the one weapon which could harm him - an arrow tipped with the spur of a white cock. Legend added that a baobab tree grew on the spot from which he vanished.
The triumphant Sundiata now attacked his defeated enemy’s capital, the city of the Susu, which was famed for its 188 strongpoints. After a siege of several months he stormed it. We believe that it was he who then went on to destroy the subject capital of Ghana (Koumbi) also; but he may have sent one of his generals on this comparatively easy mission. In any case, he was now undisputed Emperor of Mali. He did not, in his hour of triumph, forget those who had helped him reach it. All his generals were given military commands within the Empire.
Sundiata’s picture develops as that of a young man with the grit and pluck to overcome a great handicap; affectionate, generous, athletic and brave. The Empire of Mali had a most attractive founder.
After extending the frontiers of Mali until they
enclosed
all the states forming Sumanguru’s defeated Empire (including Ghana),
and reached the Atlantic coast to the west of his capital, Sundiata
died. He was either shot by an arrow during a public demonstration, or
drowned, others say, in the River Sankara near his capital at a spot
where sacrifices to his memory are still offered.The Empire he founded was Muslim, unlike Ghana which was heathen. It was the mediaeval world’s chief producer of gold. Its finances were very healthy, and it had a prosperous Berber and Arab merchant class dealing in gold and slaves. Historians of the period contrast the peace of Sundiata’s Mali with the warfare which cost Europe and North Africa so much of their wealth at that time. But the peak of Mali’s power and fame was probably reached long after his death in 1255, in which year its king first took the proud title of Emperor (Mansa).
The most renowned of the Emperors of Mali was Mansa Kankan Musa, grandson of Sundiata’s sister. His fame rests largely on a hadj (pilgrimage) he made to Mecca in 1324, in the course of which he passed through Cairo. Cairo in the fourteenth century was quite as much a cross-roads of the world as Baghdad had been in the tenth century. And yet such was Kankan Musa’s display of wealth that the citizens of Cairo were still talking about it a hundred years later. So were the Italians even though he did not visit their country. From 1339 to 1433 a series of their maps marked the position of Mali and depicted its Emperor's wealth...
...Much of our knowledge of the Mali Empire
comes from an
account of a journey made to it in 1352 - 5. The traveller’s full name
was Muhammed Ibn ‘Abd Allah, but he is usually called Ibn Batuta and he
was a Moroccan Arab. One of the things that impressed him most was the
fervour with which some of the people of Mali practised Islam. He
describes how the ordinary people of the Empire observed with great
regularity the hours of prayer, and attended mosque services with their
children so faithfully that on Fridays you would find no room left if
you arrived late!... We read, also, of the very strong sense of
brotherhood
which the Muslims of Mali felt with the rest of the Islamic world.
Whilst Ibn Batuta was in the capital the Emperor, who had just
recovered from a two-month illness, held a banquet in commemoration of
the late Sultan of Morocco. During the banquet reading desks were
brought in at which the Koran was read, just as Christian monks used to
have portions of the Bible read to them from a little pulpit in their
refectory. Then prayers were offered for the Sultan and the Emperor...
... But like the capital of Ghana the capital of Mali occupied different sites at different times. The village of Niani near Bamako was a later site, chosen by Sundiata himself. Niani means ‘misery’, and local tradition confirms that it was built after Sundiata’s flight there. Mandingos do not rebuild ruined towns, for they believe that this is to invite a repetition of the tragedy which ruined them in the first place. They move to a new site near by to keep watch over the spirits of their ancestors.
So we can conclude that at least one of the sites of Mali’s capital was about 250 miles south of Koumbi Saleh, site of the capital of the Empire of Ghana, which it overthrew. Mali was much more extensive than Ghana. At one time much of modern Guinea, Senegal, Sudan and modern Ghana was subject to the Emperor whose capital Ibn Batuta tells us was ten miles from the Sankara river. Other important towns in this broad domain were Taghaza, Walata, Karsakhun and, further downstream on the Niger, Timbuktu and Gao, which was later to become the capital of the Empire of the Songhai, which overcame Mali. Then there were Muli, the modern Muri, near Niamey...
... But like the capital of Ghana the capital of Mali occupied different sites at different times. The village of Niani near Bamako was a later site, chosen by Sundiata himself. Niani means ‘misery’, and local tradition confirms that it was built after Sundiata’s flight there. Mandingos do not rebuild ruined towns, for they believe that this is to invite a repetition of the tragedy which ruined them in the first place. They move to a new site near by to keep watch over the spirits of their ancestors.
So we can conclude that at least one of the sites of Mali’s capital was about 250 miles south of Koumbi Saleh, site of the capital of the Empire of Ghana, which it overthrew. Mali was much more extensive than Ghana. At one time much of modern Guinea, Senegal, Sudan and modern Ghana was subject to the Emperor whose capital Ibn Batuta tells us was ten miles from the Sankara river. Other important towns in this broad domain were Taghaza, Walata, Karsakhun and, further downstream on the Niger, Timbuktu and Gao, which was later to become the capital of the Empire of the Songhai, which overcame Mali. Then there were Muli, the modern Muri, near Niamey...
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