What distinguished the empires of West Africa, particularly Mali and later Songhay, was their ability to centralize political and military power while allowing the local rulers to maintain their identities along side Islam. The administration of such an enormous territory was formidable and relied on the establishment of a government sensitive to the diversity of the land, population and cultures and accepting of the indigenous rulers and their customs. The introduction of Islam also instituted more cosmopolitan social structures, such as universities, world religions and, especially, centralized state systems and military forces.Īt its peak, the Mali Empire extended across West Africa to the Atlantic Ocean and incorporated an estimated 40 to 50 million people. 1000 encouraged trade between the empires and North Africa. The acceptance of Islam by the rulers of Ghana, Mali and Songhay (also spelled Songhey and Songhai) in c. 1150, owing its wealth primarily to the vast gold fields of Buri and Bambak. The emergence of the three centralized states at given points in history can be attributed to the coupling of the lucrative gold trade from the Sudan with the salt brought by North African Muslim traders. These handsome terracotta sculptures are from the Inland Niger Delta region near Djenne (pronounced JEH-nay also spelled Jenne), one of several important trading cities that grew and developed during the Mali Empire. The figurative sculptures featured in this resource furnish one part of the historical puzzle of this region. Although archaeology has already provided invaluable information pertaining to the life styles and skills of the peoples from this region of West Africa, the archaeological record is still incomplete. 1210-1260), the son of the king who defeated the Ghana king Sumanguru and founded the empire of Mali.Īrchaeology offers the most tangible evidence of earlier civilizations. The epic poem "Sundiata" (also spelled Sundjata) chronicles the life of Sundiata Keita (ca. Official oral historians, known as griots, recorded the peoples' and courts' histories. Oral sources of African histories included poems, praise songs, and accounts of past events. Oral histories are the traditional means by which people typically pass on their histories. Although other written accounts of the ancient West African empires exist, Ibn Battuta is one of the few who actually traveled to this area and wrote from personal experience. Rihlah describes life in Mali between 13/4 and records his travels to Anatolia (current-day Turkey), Crimea, east Africa, Persia (present-day Iran), India, Cylon, Sumatra, North Africa and perhaps China. One of the most famous travelogues is Rihlah by the African-born Ibn Battuta (1304-1368/9), a great Arab traveler of the time. The few written accounts about ancient Mali were recorded by Arab travelers and scholars. Each contributes a different element to the overall story. Human histories are reconstructed from a variety of sources-written, oral and archaeological. Their migrations are indicative of the mobility of African peoples in many parts of Africa. Today, Mande-speaking peoples live in almost all parts of West Africa, having migrated in search of trade or having been displaced by war or climatic conditions. The Mande-speaking peoples living in present-day Mali (Bamana, Senufo and Dogon peoples) have inhabited this area since the days of the Mali Empire. Predominately a savannah, this vast region has two seasons-a rainy season and a dry season, the latter being the longer of the two. Note that the old kingdoms of Mali and Ghana are not the present-day countries of Mali and Ghana. At its peak (1200-1300), the Mali Empire covered an area that encompasses significant portions of the present-day country of Mali, southern and western Mauritania and Senegal. Although each empire rose to assert its power, they coexisted independently for centuries. 700 to 1600 the ancient empires of Ghana (700-1100), Mali (800-1550) and Songhay (1300-1600) controlled vast areas of West Africa (see map and time line).