E S S ON ]
The Empiresof
Mali and Songhar
\\'ltut tr tttts lrrl t,, tlr
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tntIL L'tnpirrt r,l \Itli
Key Term
. gflot
| 'Iinde stillthrivesit
Mall <ttrthe shoresoJ tltc
NigerRiver.
n 1235.the Battleof Kirina
markedthe lall of Ghana
and tbe end ol King Sumanguru'sreign.But it also
meantthe riseof the kingdomof
Mali and the beginningof King
Sundiata\rcign.-fhebattlcis rich
in legendsthat areretoldt()day.
Accordingto lcgend.Sumanguruand Sundiataweremagictans.
Their rnagicwould decidethe
battles victor.In the heatof thc
nratch.King Sundiatafuriousl-v
roarcdat tbc warriorsof King
Sumanguru,and they scurriedlbr
covcr.When Sumangurubellorvcrl
in [ctu rr ] .ll)e h c a d so f e ig h trp irit s
magicallyappearcdabovehis
hc-ad.
However,Sundiatas magicwas
morc powerful,and he defezrted
the spirits.Then Sundiatafixed
rvithhis gazeand
Surn:rnguru
aimedan arrow at him. The arrol'
shouldcr.
onl1,grazcdSumanguru'.s
h u t it J rlin c e lh irno l rl l h i : n r a g i ca)powers.
A present-dayl\4andinkegriot,
finishcsthe tale:
or storyteller.
|'f-t hc uatnuishnlSumaneuru
L looktdup loioardstlrcsun.
A greatblackbird flew oaetaboae
tfu:fray. . . . "The ltird of Kirina,"
Sumanguru
Ithe kinglmutteretl.
let out a grcatcry and,turninghis
ht)rse's
hcfld,hetooktof,ight.
Recordedby D.T. Niane of Mali,
trom a gr i('t in Cuinea,Afrrc.r
To the griot who describedthis
battle.Sundiatawasa hero.
Mali Developsa ProsperousTrade
Sundiatabecanreking of the
new empireof Mali. whichhad
oncc bcen a part tlf Ghana.And he
its capitalat Niani,on
established
the upper Nigcr.
Sundiatr nevel firught again
aftcr Kirina. He relied on his army
The
to extendMali'sboundaries.
prosperking focusedon restoring
ity to his kingdom.
tr
:a
i
Sundiatafirst concentrateo0n
improvingagriculturc.His soldicrs
clearedlandfor farming.and they
plentedricc,vams,onions,beans,
grains.and cotton. In a fcw r,'cars.
M al i hcc a mc,r IrrrLlu cli\clilrn rir)g
region.
Howcver,as in Cihana,Malit
on trade.The
economywasbaserd
vearsof fightinqin Glrana
mar'rv
haran
hadintenuptedtrans-Sa
trade- trade that crosscdthc Sahara.So.onceN{alicontrollecl
Ghana\gold mincs.Sundiatasct
(hesaltand g0ld
aboutrest()ring
with Niani iisthc kingexchanse
dom'.sner.vtrade cLrnter.
Sundiataand his succcssors
cxpandedMali s traderoutesnorth
andeastacrossthc Saharato Clairo.
Egtpt. and t<;Tunisin lunisja.You
carllocatctheseciticsin the Atlas
on the map on page
525.Mali controlled
salt rninesin the north
at Tirghazaand copper
minesin the eastat
Takedda.
In addrtionto the
gold minesat Wangara,
the
pcopleof Mali had discovered
a
new source0f qolclat Bure, nclt
far from the new capitalon the
NigerRivcr.FronrBurc theveasilv
shippedrold alongthe Nigerto
interested
lraders.The Nigerbc(lrn c ii h u \ ) lrig h rr; rrlirr t rrrd in g
gold and otlrergoods.
Lesstharrl(X)vearsafterthc
vict()r),atKirina,Mali had becorre
the most powerful kingdontin
Africa.By the late 1300s.
Mah was
threetimcsas largeas Cihanahad
everbeen.I
()niotts rrtLtt'lttttc bt'tn
su<h uttimprtrnnl Lrop
hectrtst thtir ift)ng .tlar'or ( 0 ttr, tls(tt k) s(,Qsorl
I
a l l t 'r , l i t l \ tu ttl i r ttr t tttr r l
/ t i r i l r t i , t < r r r tl tl l l o l i \
MansaMusa Enrichesthe Ernpire
Mali's greatestruler,Mansa
Musa,succeeLJcd
lrr the thrtrncin
I307.MansaMusawusa devout
Muslirn.but he respeeted
irll his
subjects'beliefs.He allowedthose
who desiredit to wrrrshiptheir
traditionaleods.However,ntany
of the peoplewho lived in tradc
centershad beenint-luenced
by
theArab tradersand had already
convertedto Islam.LlnderMusa's
rule,conversionsgreatlyincreased,
mainlyduc'to Mali's expanding
trade.
Tlie North African rvriter,lbn
Battuta,praisedthe newly convertedMuslims for faithfully
"observingthe hoursof prayers,
studvingtlie brxtksof law. and
menrorizingthe Qur'an." However,
as a tradirionalN,luslim,lbn Battuta
wa\ shockedby sorneWcstAt'riean
customsthat surlved despite
lslamicinfluence.
For
example.WestAfrican
wom€nwerequite independent.He alsofound
thatpeoplestill scaned
their facesto shon,their
clan afllliations.
Ncvertheless,
in accordance
with Islanricteachings.some
of Mali's rulersmadepilgrimagesttl the holy city of
N{eccain the l\'liddleEast.
MunsaMusamadethe
journeyin 1324.
3.500-mile
Accordingto someaccounts,which may havebecomeexaggerated
over time,
MansaMusa was accompanied
on thisjourney by as many as
people-friends. family
-50.000
mcmbers,cloctors,advisers,and
500 slavescarryinggoldenstaffs.
In addrtion,80 to 100camels,each
A Mansq Mus.l in a
close-upJrom tht' naJ>otr
tlrc ne.\tpaBe.
W"r, efri.o
loadedwith 100poundsof gold
dust,are saidto havetraveledwith
him to Mecca.Hundredsof otner
( dtnel\carriedthe otherrrtpplie\.
MansaMusa'spilgrimagedrew
the attentionof Mediterranearr
merchanr\
lo Mali'\ ecoll()rnrc
importance.Europeanmapmakers
beganto includcMali on rraps
beciruse
of its role in international
trade.
A Dettil from a map of
Mali rnade in Spain
around I375. Mansa
Musa is drawn v;ith
.rceplerund tltrole,
shortfug he is the equol
of European kings.
lV/hdr ell ct t di,l l\;c:r
A f r ic onrtrl t' rt t,,ttv L t
sionto lslonthstt'on !ht
Under MansaMusa,
culture and learning
flourishedin Niani and
other tradg centerssuch
as Timbuktu. When
Musa returnedfrom
Mecca,he brought Arab
scholarsback with him.
MansaMusa invited
thesescholarsto teach
in Mali's learningcenters.As Muslims.they
welcomedthe opportunity to instructtheir
brothersin scholarship
and religion.
Likewise,Muslinr
traderswelcomedthe
opportunitVto trade
with fellow Muslims in
different states.Thus.
they belpedto increase
Mali's trade empirc as
well astheir own profits.
Even Mali's bordersexpanded
under MansaMusa'srule. New
land was acquiredboth peacefully
and asthe resultof war. Most of
Mali wasdivided into states,which
were under Musa\ contlol. Sonre
rcgionsucre allowedto remaininclependentaslong astheir rulers
pledgedtheir loyalty and a portion
of theirwealthto Mali. t
, PowerShiftsto Sonshai
,
,
:
,
Chapter5
After MansaNlusadicd in
1332,Mali wasruled by a seriesof
kingswho rvereunableto protect
its vastterritory.Berber nomads
attackedcaravanroutesin the
desertand threatenedto lake Timbuktu. Peoplefrom the southern
rain forcstsraidedMali's southern
border.And in the west,the Songhai on the middle Niger River
beganto revolt.
The Songhaiwere a mixture
of farmers,traders,fishermen,and
warriorswho lived along the Niger
near the city of Gao. For hundfeds
of years,the Songhaihad fought
off Mali\ control.Sometimesthey
succeededt
sometimesthey failed.
Under MansaMusa,Mali ruled
Gao and most of the Songhaikingdom for about 50 years.However.
when he died, the Songhaistopped
taxesto Mali. In lzl35.a
non-Muslir.n.
took ovcr the throne.
payin€l
'l
princcnantedSunniAli
he ncw ruler wasintoicrantof
Songhai
Muslims.so manyMuslimsjoined
declaredCiiio\ independcnce.
lilrcesto overthrorvhim.'fhe MusAidcdby the Songhaiwarriors,
foughtoff Mali's
limswanteda rulerwho shared
he successfulll'
theirbeliefs.The rulertheysupattemptst0 rcgaintl.)ccilv.
tlnder attackon all sidesaftcr
ported was Askia Muhammad.In
graduallv
rvea
k ened.
Mali
1.100,
the 1.190s,
Askia overthreu,
AIi\
Mali'srulcrsu crc unahlctr)drive
son and declaredlslam the state
Berbcrslook ovcr religion.
off the invaders.
thetradeancllearningcenters()f
Askia'sarmiesexpandedthe
'fimbuktuanclWalalain the midhordersof St>nghai
and encouraged
1400s.
In 146-1,
untlcrthe guidance many non-Nluslinsto convert.The
of SunniAli. the Sonqhaibegan
new king invitedMuslim scholars
conqueringtheirneighbors
ancl
to hisempire.and its citiesbecame
qreatcentersol cultureand learnexpanding
their kinsdom.
A nervSoughaicnr;rirethus
ing onceaeain.AI the heightof its
grewout ol a regionthat had once
powerin the late 1-5(X)s,
the Songbeenparl of Mali.just asNlalihad
hai empirewaslargerandrvealthgrownuut ot r stalcin lhc ,.mpire
ier thanMali hadcverbeen.Irr
of Ghana.(iao becanieSonghai's timc,astl.lenumberof Muslims
capitaland SunniAli its king.
and lVluslinrt radersincreased.
SunniAli wasa Muslim,but
Songhaiwouldbecomcthe grcatest
he wasnot a devotcd
tradecmpireol WestAfrica. t
believcr.Alter hc
died.hisson.a
L Compare the growtlr
of ancient Gharu, ll:lali,
and Songhai. Note thal
olthough a prestnt-day
Ghana und Ltuli exist,
there is rc longer a
S<tnglni.
I llott' did Askiu
ll rtltrrrtuttutl'.s
\tr()n! ru|(
I tcI lt,\rtnghai bt <ontt
\uLh dgrcul lrrtd(
f Untter the teatlership
o.f Askia Muhammad,
Tinbuktu Jloutish? , stI r acl irtg sclto llt rs, tradcrs,
ortd craftspeoplefrom all
over the Mtulim world.
SonghaiCollapses
I Tinl>ukttt's locttti,trt
at the clge ol tltc,S,tharu
Dt'st rt untl only ti.qht ,
nilcs Irotn tht Niger
Rir ':r lttl to tlt< pt'puhr
saritrg oJ tlrt: tltl "Titnbuktu, ttrt,,:ringp,tinr ol
tht utnttl und cunrtr:."
| \\'ltr' ,litl thr nr[, t ttl
Alorrrr o ligltt lln Ltrttol
him
Askia'shcirssucceeded
to tho throno.Over tinie, howcver.
theserulcrscreateda sniallbut
yrorverlulIslamicgroup at 1he1op
of the ruling society.This group
distanccditself fmrn people\i'ho
\\ crr llol Muslirr..As a rusult.
certilinstatesblrke arvavfrom
thc empire,reserrlfulof the Muslim kings.
But the major thrL'atto Sol.rghai canrr:fronr Mt.>r
occoin North
Africa.In 15f15.
Morocco'sruler
capturedSonghais saltminesrn
Taghaza.-I'heMoroccanruler also
wantedto control Songhai'ssource
of gold in Wcst Africa. Owncrship
of h o th lh c s t t wo i1 1 p n y 1 2r.
n1
sourceswould ensurca control
of lracle.The rulcr of Morocco
decidedthat this was worth fighting for.
In I590. he sent4,000 soldiels
underMuslim SpaniardJudar
Pashato conquerSonghai.After a
five-month-longjourney acrossthe
Sahara.Pashaarrivedin Songhai
with only I ,000 men. But his sol
dierscarriedsomethingnew to
the region,sonrethingthey had acquired in the Middle East-guns.
Songhai'ssr>ldiers
outnunrberedPasha'sby at least25.000
nlen.But swortlsand arrowswere
no matchfor guns.Gao f'ell,and
thenTimbuktu.and finally rnost
of Songhai.
Pashrr
destruyed
thegoldproducingsystem.Graduallythe
North Africanslost interestin
makingSonghaia cokrny,although
they stayedthereanother150
years.What had once beena
peaceful.well-organizedempire
becamea seriesof military camps.
Songhaiwas the last greattrading enrpireof WestAfrica. No other
WestAfrican kingdomever rivaled
its poweror stronghold on trade.
In the towns and villages,however,
peoplewent on paying taxes,prot,idingIabor,and showingup ftrr
military service.The Songhaimonarchsstill ruled.but now only irra
few of their fornier lands.I
W
1. Focus
ledt0 thedevel0pment
whatevents
ofthe
greattradeempires
of MaliandSonghai?
2. coNNEcr
Whataresome
of thethings
theemprres
of
hadincommon?
Ghana,
Mali,andSonghai
3. ECONoMTC
GE0GRAPflV
why doyousuppose
all the
great
the
West
African
trade
capjtals
0f
empires
werelocated
ontheNigerRiver?
ln whatwayswereMansaMusa
cRrTtcAr
TfltNKtNG
andAskia
Muhammad
Inwhatwayswere
alike?
theydifferent?
CRITICAI
THINKING
HOwmightthewarwjth l\,4orocco
gold-producing
havedestroyed
Songhai's
system?
6. WRITING
ACTIVITY
victoryoverSumanguru
Sundiata's
isthestorythatTheLionKingisbased
upon.
Write
yourownversrOn
01lhrstale.YOucansetit rnanytrme
orplace.