Mali Empire

Mali Empire
[*Nyeni*] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Bambara)
after c. 1230:
[*Manden Kurufaba*] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Bambara)^[1]
	Mali Empire ; [Nyeni] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Bambara); after c. 1230:; [Manden Kurufaba] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (Bambara)
	Extent of the Mali Empire (c. 1350)
Capital	Niani; later Ka-ba
Language(s)	Malinké, Mandinka, Bambara, Fulani, Bozo
Religion	African Traditional Religion, Islam
Political structure	Empire
	Mansa (Emperor)
- 1235–1255	Mari Djata I (first)
- c. 17th century	Mahmud IV (last)
Legislature	Gbara
Historical era	Postclassical Era
- Established	c. 1230
- Capital moved from Niani to Kangaba	1559
- State collapses and divided among emperor's sons	c. 1600
	Area
- 1250	100,000 km2 (38,610 sq mi)
- 1312	1,294,994 km2 (500,000 sq mi)
- 1380	1,100,000 km2 (424,712 sq mi)
- 1500	400,000 km2 (154,441 sq mi)
Currency	Gold dust; (Salt, copper and cowries were also common in the empire)
Today part of	The Gambia; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Ivory Coast; Mali; Mauritania; Niger; Senegal
	National Symbol: Falcon; Sacred Animal:Falcon and numerous other animals according to each of the governing clans (Lion, Boar, etc.)

The Empire of Mali dates back from c. 1230 to the 1600s in the area of West Africa that, at its height, covered portions of the present-day countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire. Though the kingdom of Mali existed for hundreds of years earlier as a state of the Empire of Ghana, it only became an empire itself under the leadership of King Sundiata.^[4] The history of this time has been preserved in the story of Sundiata's Epic.

References

↑ Piga, Adriana: "Islam et villes en Afrique au sud du Sahara: Entre soufisme et fondamentalisme", page 265. KARTHALA Editions, 2003
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Taagepera, page 497
↑ Hempstone, page 312
↑ Jackson, John G. (2001). Introduction to African Civilizations. New York, NY: Kensington Publishing Corp. p. 207. ISBN 0-8065-2189-9. Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)