Empires of West Africa
Background
Trans-Saharan trade across the Sahara Desert and between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa existed for thousands of years, but it started to reach its peak during the Middle Ages. At this point, the Empire of Mali rose out of a declining Ghana Empire, which had grown powerful and wealthy from the trade in gold, salt, and slaves across the Sahara. The Empire of Mali would also take advantage of this lucrative trade and gain control of gold and salt mines, but unlike Ghana, Mali was a Muslim kingdom from the start. According to legend, Sundiata Keita rose to power by defeating the king of the Sosso - Soumaoro, known as the Sorcerer King, in 1235. He then brought all the Mandinke clan's rulers (or Mansas) under his leadership, declaring himself overall Mansa. He took Timbuktu from the Tuareg, transforming it into a flourishing city of both trade and scholarship.
Timbuktu
For more than six hundred years, Timbuktu was a significant religious, cultural, and commercial center whose residents traveled throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. Timbuktu was famous for educating important scholars who were well known throughout the Islamic world. Many individuals traveled to the city to acquire knowledge; others came to acquire wealth and political power.
Situated on the edge of the Sahara Desert, Timbuktu was famous among the merchants of the Mediterranean basin as a market for obtaining the goods and products of Africa south of the desert. However, Timbuktu's most famous and long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization is the scholarship practiced there. By at least the fourteenth century, important books were written and copied there, establishing the city as the center of a significant written tradition in Africa. Leo Africanus, a diplomat from Andalusia, described Timbuktu:
"The inhabitants of this area are very rich, so much so that the king has married both of his daughters to two rich merchants. The rich king has many articles of gold and keeps a magnificent and well-furnished court...Here there are many doctors, judges, priests and other educated men that are well maintained at the kings cost. Many manuscripts and books can be bought here and are sold here for more money than any other merchandise."
Recently, a virtual gallery to showcase Mali's cultural history has been launched, featuring over 40,000 of Timbuktu's ancient manuscripts. The manuscripts were smuggled to safety from Timbuktu after Islamist militant groups took control of the city in northern Mali in 2012. They contain centuries of African knowledge and scholarship on topics ranging from religion to math, astrological charts, music, and biology. Use the image carousel to see some of the manuscripts.
The Great Mosque of Djenne
The Djinguereber Mosque
The Mali State
Sundiata created a government with the mansa at the top and an assembly of elders and local chiefs as well as department ministers to help him oversee things like the treasury and the army. The Mandinka Constitution, the Kouroukan Fouga, established the Great Assembly, a deliberative body made up of 32 clan leaders from throughout the empire. They were divided into four voting blocs for military, political, religious and economic issues.
The Mandinka Constitution contained sections outlining social organization, nature preservation, property rights, and personal responsibilities of subjects (such as respecting one's family and community). At its peak, the Mali Empire extended across West Africa to the Atlantic Ocean and incorporated an estimated 40 to 50 million people. The administration of such an enormous territory relied on the establishment of a government that could accommodate the diversity of the land, population and cultures and accepting of the indigenous rulers and their customs. The mansa had a monopoly on key trade goods like gold and acquired tribute from conquered chiefdoms, whose rulers could continue to rule alongside a Mali appointed governor. Newly conquered territories often became indirectly administered vassal states (a state in which a ruler owes allegiance to a more powerful state), leaving friendly rulers in place to fulfill the wishes of the mansa. The mansas of Mali also did not force conversion to Islam. These strategies—allowing conquered regions to retain their rulers and religions—helped prevent rebellion and resistance in gold producing regions. Under Mansa Musa (1312-1337), the empire expanded further, and he divided his empire into provinces with each one ruled by a governor (farba) appointed personally by him and responsible for local taxes, justice, and settling tribal disputes.
Revenue from trade and taxation promoted the development of public works, including the building of social and religious structures. The imperial rulers ordered mosques constructed and palaces converted into mosques. Mosques were often identified with the cities where they were built and the rulers who commissioned their construction.
Mansa Musa's Mali
The Mali Empire prospered thanks to trade and its prime location. The Niger River provided ready access to Africa's interior and Atlantic coast, while the Berber-controlled camel caravans that crossed the Sahara desert ensured valuable commodities came from the north. The Mali rulers had a triple income: they taxed the passage of trade goods, bought goods and sold them on at much higher prices, and had access to their own valuable natural resources. One of the main trade exchanges was gold dust for salt from the Sahara. Gold was in particular demand from European powers like Castile in Spain and Venice and Genoa in Italy, where coinage was now being minted in the precious metal.
One of the greatest displays of Mali's wealth occurred under Mansa Musa (1312-1337). In 1324, he set off on a pilgrimage to Mecca. According to the historian al-Maqurizi: "It is said that he brought with him 14,000 slave girls for his personal service. The members of his entourage proceeded to buy Turkish and Ethiopia slave girls, singing girls and garments, so that the rate of the gold dinar fell by six dirhams. Having presented his gift he set off with the caravan."