Mali Empire
west Africa's gold, salt, and Mansa Musa
The Sahel and Its Predecessors
geography, the Niger River, the Ghana Empire, and the world Sundiata inherited
Pre-1235 CE
Sundiata and the Founding
the Lion King, the Battle of Kirina, and an oral constitution older than Magna Carta is written
1235–1255 CE
The Mansas Consolidate
Niger flood agriculture, the cavalry-horse system, the jeli institution, and the early successors
1250–1310 CE
Mansa Musa
the most famous African ruler in pre-modern history and the gold-crash that put Mali on European maps
1312–1337 CE
Timbuktu and Sankoré
three mosques, hundreds of thousands of manuscripts, and what Timbuktu actually was
1330–1500 CE
Songhai Begins to Eat Mali
Sonni Ali, Askia Muhammad, and the Mande core that survived the eclipse
1430–1530 CE
The Saadian Strike
Morocco's matchlock musketeers cross the Sahara and finish the great Sahelian empires
1578–1612 CE
The Long Mali Tail
Kangaba, the Kamabolon ceremony, the manuscript rescue, and what the empire became
1600–present