106 Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavementthe world map as a great empire rich in gold, ivory, copper,
iron, and other resources exchanged in an international
market. Mansa Musa distributed so much gold to countries
he passed on his way to Mecca that the gold standard in
Egypt suff ered from severe defl ation for years aft erward.
It was during Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage that his gener-
als annexed Gao, the seat of Songhai power and infl uence,
extending the imperial territory to the farthest eastern
region. Th e son of Mansa Musa, Maghan II, reigned for a
short time aft er Mansa Musa’s death, then the legitimate
heir according to Mande tradition, the brother of Musa,
Mansa Sulayman (1336–1358), took the throne.
During the reigns of Mansa Musa and Mansa Sulay-
man, Mali’s territorial domain comprised the entire Sahel-
Sudan region, thus bringing many diverse peoples and
cultures under the same imperial authority. Th e confeder-
ated political organization remained the archetypal model
for the empire’s new acquisitions; each country’s autonomy
was maintained and protected.
Th e biggest threat to Mali’s continuous hegemony came
from the eastern provinces of Gao and Timbuktu that had
originally belonged to Songhai but was annexed by the Man-
denka under Mansu Kanku Musa’s rule. Having a diff erent
ethnicity, a civilization that predated Mali by several centu-
ries, an ancient oral and written tradition, and a long history
of autonomy, material wealth, and military power, the proud,
independent people of Songhai were never comfortable under
foreign rule. Th e Songhai rebellion began in the very womb
of Mali at the Niani royal court of Mansu Musa where Ali
Kolon, the founder of the Dia (Shi/So) dynasty and grandfa-
ther of Sunni Ali Ber, was raised and educated. Ali Kolon and
his younger brother, Sulayman Nare, were kidnapped when
they were boys aft er Mansa Musa’s generals conquered Gao,
and though they were accorded the same royal treatment of
Mande princes, they never renounced their loyalty to Song-
hai and fl ed Niani aft er Musa’s death determined to recapture
Gao and Timbuktu. By the end of the 14th century, Ali Ko-
lon’s armies ousted the Mandenka from Gao and reclaimed
their independence, setting off a series of military off enses
that gradually supplanted Mali’s imperial power.
Th e greatest of the Dia (Shi/So) emperors was Sunni
Ali Ber who led his armies on a mission of expansion, con-
quering Djenne and recapturing Timbuktu in 1468, only
two years aft er his enthronement. As a ruler Sunni Ali Ber
was charismatic, clever, ambitious, militarily adept, ex-
tending the territorial horizon and building the economycommunal economy; every citizen of Mali was given access
to tools, cultivable land and its production.
Lastly, Sundiata codifi ed the 33 clans of the Malinke,
designating their relationships (sana-khu), and sworn alli-
ances that served as an internal fortress of solidarity. Fur-
thermore, he elevated and formalized the art of the griot
(historian) when he declared that the griot represents “the
head, the eyes, ears, mouth, and soul of Mali.” Art, music,
architecture, religion, metaphysics, science, trade, history,
every minute and indispensable element of culture was
augmented by ennobling, fi rst, the individual human being,
and by extension, all the knowledge and practices that foster
human development. An empathetic humanism anchored
Sundiata’s enormous span of ideas that ushered in a new
epoch of artistic innovation and sociopolitical probity.
Th e mansas who succeeded Sundiata, though never his-
torically capable of matching the legendary role of founder/
culture hero, were nevertheless exceptional leaders in their
own right. Mansa Wulin, the son and fi rst successor to Sun-
diata, was a great king who followed in his father’s foot-
steps, expanding Mali’s territories and enforcing the laws
Sundiata had instituted. His brother, Wati, who succeeded
him, was less successful. Khalifa, another brother of Wulin
and Wati, was mentally disturbed and would kill Malinke
people for sport. Sundiata’s grandson succeeded Khalifa but
was usurped by Sakura, a powerful slave of the royal court,
whose political and cultural expansion of the empire im-
pacted North and West Africa. Aft er Sakura died, the king-
ship reverted to the traditional Keita lineage of Sundiata.
Mansu Ku, the son of Mansa Wulin, succeeded Sakura and
Mansa Muhammad succeeded his father.
Th e royal lineages that followed were legitimate Keita
heirs descending from Sundiata’s younger brother, Mand-
ing Bori. Fraternal inheritance of the throne was customary
in Mali’s system of succession, and the dynasty of Manding
Bori reinvented the empire in its own image of exploration
and magnifi cence. Manding Bori/Bokari, known in writ-
ten Arabic texts as Abubakr Muhammad II, ascended the
throne in 1311 but shortly aft erward abdicated his position
and led a mass expedition of about 2,000 ships into the
Atlantic. Kanku Musa, the younger brother of Manding
Bokari, became the emperor of Mali in 1312 aft er Mand-
ing Bokari did not return to Mali. During his reign, Mali
reached the height of its political power, prosperity, intel-
lectual development, and trade relations, and Mansa Kanku
Musa’s famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325 placed Mali on