Deep in the heart of Black Africa is the Niger Bend of Mali. Here of old were the great Empires of the Niger bend. Perhaps you have heard of them: Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire.
I bet you have never heard of the Bamana Empire.
If you have heard of these Empires at all, I bet you have been told that the Songhai Empire was the last of them.
Nope.
After the fall of the Songhai Empire, after a period of fragmentation when nevertheless the great trade-city of Djenne thrived, came the end of the 17th Century and the rise of the Empire of the Bamana people.
Once again the entire Niger Bend region was united.
Once again great cities and riverboats thrived in the heart of the Niger Bend.
Once again a great Empire protected the roads, trade routes and riverways of the Niger Bend.
This was the Bamana Empire, the fourth great Empire of the western Sudan.
It was not the last great Empire of the western Sudan. In the 19th Century two great Empires rose in the western Sudan, one in the Niger Bend region, in the time of the decline of the Bamana Empire. These were the last great Empires of the western Sudan.
Enjoy the history!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson