These are all pictures of traditional Malian art.
History
Timeline
10th-11th centuries-
|
12th century-The Empire of Ghana dissolves when gold trade moves to the Malinke territory. |
1203- Sumanguru Kante, the king of the Soso, takes over the Malinke and the region of the Niger River. |
1240- Sundiata Keita defeats Sumanguru and turns Mali into an empire. |
1241- Sundiata is king of Mali, Mali is currently the most advanced political organization in West Africa. |
1312-
|
1324-1326-
|
1337-
|
1337-1453-
|
1337-1360-
|
1347-1350-
|
1352-
|
1430s-
|
1599-
|
1960-
|
*Timeline from "The Kingdoms of Africa: Mali: Crossroads of Africa By: Philip Koslow
The Kingdom of Ghana
In A.D 750 a West African kingdom called Ghana, known as the Land of Gold, was prospering during the Dark Ages of Europe. Ghana was ruled by the Soninke people. Ghana relied on their goldfields for four centuries. This trade kept them powerful up till the 12th century. By the 13th century, the goldfields had been exhausted. The fields showed signs of running out. A new source of gold had been found in a land called Bure along the Niger River, but Ghana, weakened by attacks from northern neighbors, could not take over the land of Bure.
The People of Bure
Bure was in the territory of the Malinke, people that were powerful warriors and tradesmen. They were a division of the Mandingo people. The Malinke spoke a similar language to the Soninke, but the Malinke didn't create a unified state ruled by a single king in the same way as the Soninke. They still lived in little communities called kafus. A kafu is a collection of villages that was ruled by a "mansa", a chief. They usually held 10,000 to 50,000 people. The mansa was normally the head of a major descendant line who could be traced back to a powerful ancestor.
The Soso's Attacks
Since the Malinke didn't immediately seize the opportunities of gold trade, in 1203 the king of the Soso people, Sumanguru Kante captured the capital of Ghana, Kumbi Saleh, to control their gold trade, as his army conquered the Malinke. The Soso controlled Ghana and Bure. The North African traders who lived in the capital of Ghana didn't like Sumanguru Kante's greedy nature, so they abandoned their trade posts and settlement and built a new trading post in Walata, north to the edge of the Sahara desert. From there, they could conduct gold trade without bringing their goods through Sumanguru's territory.
Sundiata is Born
The traders hoped that Sumanguru's rule would end quickly. The Malinke he had conquered were not passive people. Before long, a serious threat to Sumanguru's reign appeared under the leadership of Sundiata Keita. Sundiata was the son of a Mandingo king named Maghan Kon Fatta and his second wife Sogolon Kedjou. Legend says that Sogolon was unusually ugly, but Maghan married her because a fortune teller said she would give birth to the nation's greatest hero. Sundiata's early years didn't look so great or heroic. He couldn't bend his legs, and to the agony of his mother and the delight of Sassouma Berete, Maghan's first wife,he crawled around for the first seven years of his life. When Maghan died, Sassouma made sure her son, Dankaran Tuma took his throne, despite Maghan's wish to have Sundiata take the throne. Still jelous of Sogolon and her "heroic" son, she forced them to live in a hut behind the palace.
Sundiata is Cured
Soon after moving into the hut, Sundiata was cured of his stiff-legedness by a blacksmith. Blacksmiths were believed to have magical powers. Not very much information is available on exactly how Sundiata was cured. When he turned ten, he was a skilled hunter and a great leader. Sassouma seemed to be getting more and more evil, so Sogolon decided that her family would be safer away from Niani, the royal city. With the help of some traveling merchants, they headed west to Kumbi Saleh.
Sundiata and Dankaran Tuma
Sundiata joined his first military campaign when he was 15 years old. His strength, bravery, and brains made him the favorite of Mansa Tunkara, the king of the Mema. He had become a skilled hunter and a natural leader. When Sundiata turned 18, he was Tunkara's most trusted advisor. At the time, everyone bowed before Sundiata. He was loved everywhere. Dankaran Tuma had turned out to be a real wimp and a Momma's boy. He really couldn't do anything without Sassouma. When Sumanguru attempted to restrain the rebelling Mandingo people, Dankaran ran from the kingdom. He had left his kingdom to be crushed. The Mandingo people had heard of Sundiata's achievements while in exile and begged him to return to save the kingdom. He agreed, and with a group of Mema soldiers, he returned to claim his throne.
Overthrowing Sumanguru
Sundiata set up his troops along the Niger river, determined to drive Sumanguru out of Mali. In the Mande language, Mali means "Where the king resides". Sundiata recieved a great deal of help from Fakoli, the nephew of Sumanguru, since Sumanguru had stolen his wife. In 1240, the two armies met for battle on the plain of Kirina. This is an account of the battle from a storyteller. The battle started with Sundiata's cavalry charging, but being stopped by the enemy. There was a long struggle. The horses of Mema were well-trained, flexible and agile, so they reared and trampled the enemy troops, braking the enemy center. At this time, Sundiata went off in search of Sumanguru, who was terrified of Sundiata and had hidden from him in the thickest part of the battle. Sundiata saw him from a distance and shot an arrow that grazed his shoulder. Sumanguru's "magic" supposedly only protected him from wounds from iron weapons, so the arrow was tipped with the spur of a rooster. When it hit Sumanguru, his "magic" abandoned him. The king trembled with fear as he looked up to the sky a great black bird flew above him. It was a bird of misfortune. Sumanguru ran and vanished into the mountains, and was never seen again. Sundiata destroyed the once mighty city of Soso. Sundiata created a constitution for the Mandingo and went around bringing kings under control, and by the time he died in 1270, he had transformed his kingdom into and empire. Songs are still sung in his praise. Sundiata is called "The Lion of Mali".
The Empire
As the Mali empire grew, it took over some of the land belonging to the kings of ancient Ghana. The people of Kumbi Saleh, Ghana's capital, were valued for the wealth they brought in and were given special treatment. They didn't have to fall to the ground and cover their heads with dust like everyone else in the presence of the king, they could greet the king by simply clapping their hands. Because centralized rule was new to the people of West Africa, the kings tried hard to maintain the loyalty of the people by upholding the Soninke religion. However, the rulers could not avoid the influence of the Islam religion. By 645, the Muslims had conquered all of Arabia, much of the Middle East, some of North Africa, and much of what is now Portugal and Spain. They decided it would be too risky to try to conquer West Africa. They wanted to keep good relations with their trade partners. Originally, the Muslims thought that if the people of West Africa allowed them to build their Mosques in the West African cities, and the West Africans continued their tolerance for most religions, there was no reason to attack.
Muslim Aggression
In time, some Muslims grew more aggressive. The Sanhaja, a war tribe of the southern Sahara desert, began attacking the Sudanese kingdom Takrur during the 10th and 11th centuries. In order to stop the attacks, the rulers of Takrur became Muslims. Takrur later became an ally of an even more powerful military Muslim group called the Almoravids. After the Almoravids captured Kumbi Saleh in 1037, converting some of the locals to Islam. This increased the Muslim influence on the Empire of Mali. The influence also increased because of trading contact between the Muslim holy men and the Malinke chiefs. On several occasions, a chief would have a problem and a Muslim would tell him that converting to Islam would solve his problem. The chief would eagerly be converted by the Muslim. Empire builders saw that religions like Islam would bind empires together, so many city folk converted. In the country, however, nature took its toll on the people with droughts, destructive rains, blazing heat, and dangerous wild animals. The traditional African beliefs were about binding people and nature, so the traditional beliefs made more sense to the people in the countryside. Because of the contrast between the two folk, Sundiata and other Malinke chiefs had to be careful of what they did.
Mansa Musa
According to legend, Sundiata ruled Mali for about 25 years, then it was ruled by his son Mansa Uli. Uli expanded the empire greatly. But one of Mali's greatest rulers was Mansa Musa. He brought Mali to the attention of the world. He took a pilgrimage to the holy city of Islam, Mecca. He also visited many other countries such as Egypt and made peace with them. He converted much of his empire to Islam. He became known throughout Egypt, Arabia and Europe and attracted lots of trade, bringing wealth and fame to Mali.
The Decline of the Empire
All good things must come to an end, however. Mali had many great rulers, but when they died they were replaced by many bad rulers who could not lead well, losing obedience and loyalty of the people. After the death of Mansa Suleyman, the last great king of Mali, there was a series of second-rate kings, each one worse than the one before. Also, mansas and local chiefs continued to practice Islam, but the countryfolk continued to hold on firmly to their traditional beliefs. Islam had made many neighboring countries friends of Mali, but inside Mali it had turned many friends away from each other. In the year 1400, Gao, a rich Malian city on the Niger river claimed their independence and left Mali. Cities and tribes began fighting each other for power all across Mali. Mali's land shrank when Mali lost control of the Sudan in 1599. Mansa Mahmud the fourth tried to capture the city Jenne, but he was betrayed by a Fulani chief who had previously agreed to join him. The Empire of Mali was now as large as it had been before Sundiata had expanded it. Fortunately, trade did not drop. Then the French, English, Portuguese and Dutch began invading Africa for slaves to send to America. Neighboring countries began taking prisoners to sell into slavery, but many Europeans took pretty much everybody in sight. Even through this tragedy, Mali culture never died. By the late 19th century, most of Mali's former territory belonged to the French. The French found it difficult to conquer and control the West Africans, much like Sumanguru discovered many centuries before. The Malian people just would not sit and be conquered for very long. A man named Somori Ture led an attack against the French invaders and managed to keep them at bay for 15 years, till he was kidnapped. Mali was under colonial rule for a period and their territory was called the French Sudan. After the close of World War Two in 1945, the people of Africa had lost their patience and led a furious, unstoppable movement for independence. On September 22, 1960 the French Sudan became the Republic of Mali, what it remains today. The Republic of Mali is home to people who built some of the world's greatest empires: the Sonike, the Songhay, the Fulani, the Bambara, and the Malinke, so Mali remains "the cultural crossroads of Africa". Mali depends on agriculture, with 75% of the population engaged in food production. During a drought in the '80s, the government launched the Senegal River Valley Development, a project that uses the river water for electricity, irrigation, and fishing. The country is full of "do something people" who work to get what they want. The Malians and their legacy are sources of inspiration all around the world. As a Malian "griot", a storyteller or cultural singer, would say: Mali is eternal.