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Mali Empire

AfricaHeartland today: Mali and Guinea

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Founded by the Mandinka leader Sundiata after he defeated the Sosso, Mali controlled the gold and salt routes of the western Sahel. Under Mansa Musa it reached Timbuktu and Gao. From the 1460s Songhai took over much of what remained of its territory.

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Key events

  1. By oral tradition Sundiata defeats the Sosso king Sumanguru at Kirina and founds the Mali EmpireDisputed

    The account comes from griot oral tradition and the Sundiata epic, put into writing later. Wikidata dates the empire's start to c. 1230; World History Encyclopedia and Wikipedia give c. 1235 for Kirina.

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  2. Mali takes over the lands of the old Ghana Empire; one account dates Sundiata's capture of its capital to 1240Disputed

    Only World History Encyclopedia gives 1240 for the capture of the capital. Wikipedia says only that the lands of the old Ghana Empire were conquered, without a date.

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  3. – Mansa Musa travels to Mecca by way of Cairo, and the gold he spends there reportedly lowers its price in EgyptDisputed

    EBSCO and Wikipedia's Mansa Musa article give 1324 to 1325; Wikipedia's Mali Empire article gives 1324 to 1326. The effect on Egypt's gold price comes from al-Umari, who wrote in Cairo some years later.

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  4. – Mansa Musa returns with scholars and architects, and mosques go up in Timbuktu and GaoDisputed

    World History Encyclopedia credits architects Musa brought back with building mosques at Gao and Timbuktu, with the Djinguereber mosque finished by 1330. Wikipedia notes that modern scholarship questions whether his Andalusian recruit al-Sahili designed it and points to existing West African building traditions.

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  5. – Ibn Battuta stays in Mali under Mansa Sulayman and writes that there is complete security in the country

    Ibn Battuta reached the capital on 28 June 1352 and left on 27 February 1353, by the dates in the translation. He also called Sulayman a miserly king.

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  6. Songhai under Sunni Ali takes Timbuktu and takes over much of what remained of Mali's territoryDisputed

    EBSCO and Wikipedia give 1468 for Timbuktu; World History Encyclopedia's Songhai article says Songhai held it by 1469. Wikipedia says the Tuareg took the city from Mali in 1433 to 1434. How much of Mali's heartland fell is debated: World History Encyclopedia says Sunni Ali conquered the rump of Mali around 1468, while Wikipedia has Songhai sacking Mali's capital in 1544 to 1545 and a Mali state surviving into the 1600s.

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