HIST 3370- Precolonial African History : Mali Empire, Sundiata and Origins of

The late Guinean historian Souleyman Kanté (1922-1987), writing in the Maninka script known as N'ko, which he invented, shared the belief of many that the Mali Empire dates from the first half of the thirteenth century, possibly about 1235-1236. Basing his dates on oral tradition and Arabic sources, Kanté estimated that Sundiata was born about 1205, ruled Mali for about twenty years, and died about 1255. More than a century after the time of Sundiata, he was known to the eminent Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), who refers to him by one of several names that are still heard in recitations by the Maninka bards of northeastern Guinea: “Their greatest king, he who overcame the Susu, conquered their country, and seized the power from their hands, was named Mari Jata.” Khaldun's sources claimed that Sundiata ruled for twenty-five years.