Mali Empire

By aztline
  • 1230

    Establishment of the Mali empire

    The Mali empire sprouted from the city of Mali in the downfall of the Ghanaian empire due to internal and external disputes. Sundiata is the official founder and first ruler of the Mali empire
  • 1235

    Construction of the Mali Wall

    Sundiata (Lion King) unified Malinke speaking peoples and led the newly founded Mali Empire to greatness, partially by building the wall. This created jobs, because there wasn't a system of peasantry or slavery officially in place. The empire soon gained control of important trade routes.
  • 1235

    Battle of Kirina

    The king of Mali, Sundiata, defeated Sumanguru at the battle of Kirina. From then on Mali replaced Ghana as the major power in West Africa. Sundiata established his capital at Niana on the upper Niger.
  • 1307

    Mansa Musa

    Mansa Musa, Mali’s greatest ruler, succeeded to the throne after Mansa Mali. Mansa Musa was the Grandson to Sundiata, and he commissioned grand mosques.
  • Period: 1324 to 1325

    Mansa Musa Travel to Mecca

    Mansa Musa (Kankan Moussa), king of Mali, made the 3,500-mile pilgrimage to Mecca with gold valued at $115 million in 1999 prices. He traveled with a very large retinue that included 80 camels and 500 slaves. An Arab chronicler said he was surrounded by over 10,000 of his subjects. He had so much money, he gave away gold to other empires and countries, to the point that they had so much money and gold that it no longer held worth, and therefore ruined economies, leaving them malfunctional.
  • 1332

    Death of Mansa Musa and Fall of Mali empire

    Mansa Musa, King of Mali, died. His successors were not able to protect Mali’s vast territory and Berber nomads began attacking caravan routes in the desert and threatened to take Timbuktu. People from the southern rain forests attacked the southern boundary and to the west the Songhai of the middle Niger River began to revolt.
  • 1400

    Progressive fall

    Mali was under attack from all four sides and gradually weakened in power.
  • Period: 1400 to

    Fall of Malian Empire

    The empire slowly broke into many smaller areas until it had completley fallen in the 1600s