An outline, era by era

Ghana Empire, Mali Empire (Mansa Musa), Songhai Empire

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

Ghana, Mali and Songhai were three successive powers of the West African Sahel and savanna. Ghana, known to its people as Wagadu, was a kingdom that flourished by about 800 CE and was described by Arabic writers as a land of gold. Mali rose in the thirteenth century under Sundiata Keita and reached its height in the fourteenth, most famously under Mansa Musa. Songhai, centred on Gao and the Niger bend, expanded in the late fifteenth century and fell in 1591.

All three grew rich from the trans-Saharan trade, which carried West African gold and enslaved people north in exchange for salt, cloth, copper and horses. Their rulers adopted Islam to varying degrees, and cities such as Timbuktu, Djenné and Gao became centres of commerce and Islamic learning. Much of what we know comes from Arabic travellers and chroniclers, later African chronicles written in Timbuktu, and oral tradition kept by griots.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Al-Bakri describes the kingdom of Ghana

    Event

    What happened

    In 1068 the Andalusian scholar al-Bakri, writing in Córdoba from earlier travellers' reports, describes Ghana as a powerful kingdom. He says its king rules from a town of two parts, one for Muslims with mosques and one for the royal court. He says the king taxes goods entering and leaving his land, including salt and gold.

    The rest is history

    Al-Bakri never visited Ghana, but his account is the fullest early description and shows the kingdom was already known across the Islamic world. It confirms that rulers controlled access to gold and taxed the Saharan trade. Archaeologists have excavated Koumbi Saleh in southern Mauritania, often identified as the capital, though the identification is debated. Al-Bakri's book is a main source for Ghana at its height in the eleventh century.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAl-Bakri. Kitab al-Masalik wa'l-Mamalik (Book of Routes and Realms). Arabic geography, 1068. Translated in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.Contains the description of Ghana and its king.
    2. BookLevtzion, Nehemia, and J. F. P. Hopkins, eds. Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
    3. BookLevtzion, Nehemia. Ancient Ghana and Mali. London: Methuen, 1973.

  2. The Almoravid movement and the decline of Ghana

    Event

    What happened

    In the mid eleventh century the Almoravids, a Berber Muslim movement from the western Sahara, build a powerful state and conquer Morocco. Al-Bakri records that they were active against Ghana's northern allies and that Awdaghust, a trading town under Ghana's influence, was taken in 1054 or 1055. Ghana's power over the trade routes weakens over the following generations.

    The rest is history

    Older histories claimed the Almoravids conquered Ghana outright and forced its conversion in 1076. Most modern historians doubt this and see the decline as slower, shaped by shifting trade routes, new gold fields farther south and rivalry among regional states. By the early thirteenth century Ghana was overshadowed by the Sosso kingdom under Sumanguru. The debate over the causes shows how thin the surviving evidence is.

    Sources

    1. BookConrad, David C., and Humphrey J. Fisher. "The Conquest That Never Was: Ghana and the Almoravids, 1076." The International Journal of African Historical Studies 12, no. 1 (1979): 1-52.
    2. BookLevtzion, Nehemia. Ancient Ghana and Mali. London: Methuen, 1973.

  3. Sundiata and the founding of Mali

    Event

    What happened

    Around 1235 Sundiata Keita, a Mandinka leader, defeats the Sosso ruler Sumanguru at the battle of Kirina. He then brings the Mandinka clans and neighbouring peoples together under one rule, with its centre on the upper Niger. The new state grows into the Mali Empire.

    The rest is history

    Kirina is remembered mainly through oral tradition, so details and the exact date are uncertain, though the broad outline is accepted by historians. Mali took over the gold-producing regions and trade routes once tied to Ghana. Ibn Khaldun, writing in the fourteenth century, records Mali's early kings and their conquests. Sundiata's descendants ruled a large empire stretching from the Atlantic coast toward the Niger bend.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryIbn Khaldun. Kitab al-Ibar (Book of Lessons). Arabic history, late 14th century. Translated in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.Gives the lineage and early history of Mali's kings.
    2. BookNiane, Djibril Tamsir. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. London: Longman, 1965.
    3. BookLevtzion, Nehemia. Ancient Ghana and Mali. London: Methuen, 1973.

  4. Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca

    Event

    What happened

    In 1324 Mansa Musa of Mali sets out on the hajj with a large retinue, travelling through Walata and across the Sahara to Cairo. He spends and gives away so much gold in Cairo that, according to al-Umari, who visited a dozen years later, the price of gold there fell for years. He returns with scholars and an architect, and Mali becomes known beyond Africa.

    The rest is history

    The journey made Mali famous in Egypt, the Mediterranean and Europe. The Catalan Atlas of about 1375 shows a crowned figure holding a gold nugget, labelled as the ruler of Mali. Musa's reign saw building at Timbuktu and Gao, including the Djinguereber mosque at Timbuktu, though the attribution of particular buildings is debated. Mali remained strong for several decades after his death around 1337.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAl-Umari. Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar. Arabic encyclopedia, c. 1337-1349. Translated in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.Reports what Cairo officials remembered of Musa's visit.
    2. PrimaryCatalan Atlas. Map attributed to Abraham Cresques, Majorca, c. 1375. Bibliothèque nationale de France.Shows the ruler of Mali with a gold nugget.
    3. BookLevtzion, Nehemia. Ancient Ghana and Mali. London: Methuen, 1973.

  5. Ibn Battuta visits Mali

    Event

    What happened

    In 1352 and 1353 the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta crosses the Sahara and spends several months in the Mali Empire under Mansa Sulayman. He describes a well-governed land with safe roads, and a royal court with ceremony, but also criticises the king's stinginess and some local customs. He dictates his account after returning to Morocco.

    The rest is history

    His Rihla is the only eyewitness description of the Mali Empire at its height. He praises the people's justice and their devotion to prayer and Qur'an study. He also describes the journey to Mali through Taghaza and Walata, giving a picture of trade routes. His account was written in 1355 with the writer Ibn Juzayy, and forms a main source for Mali's court and society.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryIbn Battuta. Rihla (Travels). Arabic travel account, dictated 1355. Translated by H. A. R. Gibb, The Travels of Ibn Battuta, vol. 4. Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1994.The chapters on Mali.
    2. BookDunn, Ross E. The Adventures of Ibn Battuta. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.

  6. Sunni Ali and the rise of Songhai

    Event

    What happened

    Sunni Ali, ruler of Songhai from about 1464 to 1492, builds a strong army with cavalry and river boats on the Niger. He captures Timbuktu in 1468 and Djenné after a long siege around 1473. He drowns in 1492 on his way home from a campaign.

    The rest is history

    These conquests made Songhai the dominant power of the Niger bend, replacing a weakened Mali. Later Timbuktu chronicles, written by Muslim scholars, portray him as harsh to the scholars of Timbuktu. Historians note the chroniclers' bias, since they favoured his successors. His conquests gave Songhai the main trading cities of the region.

    Sources

    1. Primaryal-Sa'di, Abd al-Rahman. Tarikh al-Sudan. Arabic chronicle, Timbuktu, c. 1655. Translated by John Hunwick, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Leiden: Brill, 1999.Account of Sunni Ali's conquests.
    2. BookHunwick, John O. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Leiden: Brill, 1999.

  7. Askia Muhammad and the pilgrimage

    Event

    What happened

    In 1493 Muhammad Ture, a general, seizes power from Sunni Ali's son and takes the title Askia. Around 1496 to 1497 he makes the pilgrimage to Mecca and is said to have received recognition as caliph of the Sudan. He reorganises the government, appoints provincial governors and expands Songhai's borders.

    The rest is history

    Under Askia Muhammad, Songhai became the largest of the West African empires, and Timbuktu flourished as a centre of scholarship. Leo Africanus, who visited the region in the early sixteenth century, wrote about its wealth and learning. Askia was deposed by his son in 1528. The empire remained strong for decades afterwards.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLeo Africanus. Description of Africa. Italian geography, 1550. Translated by Robert Brown, The History and Description of Africa. London: Hakluyt Society, 1896.Describes Timbuktu and Gao in the early sixteenth century.
    2. BookHunwick, John O. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Leiden: Brill, 1999.

  8. The Moroccan invasion and the battle of Tondibi

    Event

    What happened

    In 1591 a Moroccan army sent by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur crosses the Sahara under Judar Pasha. It meets the Songhai army at Tondibi, near Gao, and defeats it, using firearms. The Moroccans occupy Gao, Timbuktu and Djenné.

    The rest is history

    The defeat ended Songhai as a great empire, and it broke into smaller successor states. The Moroccans did not hold the region together, and their rule soon became a local garrison state, the Arma. Trans-Saharan trade shifted as Atlantic trade grew. The Tarikh al-Sudan and Tarikh al-Fattash record the invasion and its effects.

    Sources

    1. Primaryal-Sa'di, Abd al-Rahman. Tarikh al-Sudan. Arabic chronicle, Timbuktu, c. 1655. Translated by John Hunwick, Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Leiden: Brill, 1999.Account of the Moroccan invasion.
    2. BookHunwick, John O. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Leiden: Brill, 1999.

  9. Sundiata, the lion king of Mali

    Heroic tale

    The legend

    Sundiata is born to a hunchbacked, disabled mother and cannot walk until he is a child, when he suddenly rises with an iron rod and stands. Exiled by a jealous rival, he grows into a great warrior, returns to defeat the sorcerer-king Sumanguru and founds the Mali Empire. His griot Balla Fasséké sings his deeds.

    The rest is history

    The epic is told by griots in the Mande world, and versions differ. Djibril Tamsir Niane published a version from the griot Mamadou Kouyaté in 1960. Historians accept that Sundiata was a real ruler, and that Kirina was fought around 1235, but the miraculous parts are literary. The epic preserves a core of political memory, and the Mande Charter attributed to Kouroukan Fouga is also linked to him. UNESCO listed it as intangible cultural heritage in 2009.

    Sources

    1. BookNiane, Djibril Tamsir. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. London: Longman, 1965.
    2. BookJohnson, John William. The Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986.

  10. Mansa Musa, the richest man who ever lived

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Mansa Musa is often said to be the richest person in all history, with a fortune beyond counting. Popular articles claim he owned most of the world's gold, and that his wealth was worth hundreds of billions of dollars today.

    The rest is history

    Medieval writers did describe Musa's wealth as astonishing, and Mali was a leading source of gold. But there is no way to turn his wealth into modern money, since no records of Mali's treasury survive. The claim of the richest man ever is a modern ranking, not a medieval source. What is documented is the impact of his 1324 pilgrimage, recorded by al-Umari. Historians see the title as a loose way of saying that he was very wealthy.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryAl-Umari. Masalik al-absar fi mamalik al-amsar. Arabic encyclopedia, c. 1337-1349. Translated in Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History.Reports Musa's gold in Cairo.
    2. BookLevtzion, Nehemia. Ancient Ghana and Mali. London: Methuen, 1973.

  11. The Bida serpent of Wagadu

    Origin story

    The legend

    In the Soninke tradition of Wagadu, a great serpent named Bida lives in a well and gives the land its prosperity. Each year the people give it a young woman, until one year a young man saves the chosen girl by killing the serpent. From the severed head, gold is said to have stopped coming, and drought followed.

    The rest is history

    This story is told in Soninke oral tradition, and a version was recorded by Europeans in the twentieth century, such as Maurice Delafosse's work on the Soninke. It is not a historical record. It reflects the link between gold, ritual and the decline of Ghana in popular memory. The real history of Ghana comes from Arabic sources and archaeology at sites like Koumbi Saleh and Tegdaoust.

    Sources

    1. BookDelafosse, Maurice. Haut-Sénégal-Niger. Paris: Émile Larose, 1912.
    2. BookLevtzion, Nehemia. Ancient Ghana and Mali. London: Methuen, 1973.

  12. Timbuktu, the city of gold

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Timbuktu is often imagined as a fabulous city paved with gold, a place so remote that its name means the end of the earth. Stories in Europe held that its streets and houses were rich beyond measure.

    The rest is history

    Timbuktu was a real and wealthy trading city and a centre of learning, with mosques and thousands of manuscripts. Its wealth came from trade rather than from gold in the streets. European fascination grew after Leo Africanus's account in the sixteenth century, and later explorers such as René Caillié, who reached it in 1828, found it more modest. Tens of thousands of manuscripts survive in Timbuktu's libraries.

    Sources

    1. BookHunwick, John O. Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
    2. BookSaad, Elias N. Social History of Timbuktu. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

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