Introduction
In its peak, the people of Mali occupied land as far west as the
Atlantic Ocean. They also traveled as far east as Gao, the capital of the
Songhai, as far south as the Niger bend, and as far north as the Sahara
desert. They built a great empire between 1240 and 1337 that underwent a
course of slow decline until the seventeenth century.

History
The empire of Mali originated from a small country known as Kangaba.
Its people where known as the Mandingo (they have also been called the
Malinke and the Mandinka). After the breakup of Ghana, the Sosso, who had
caused the breakup, were still in power. Apparently Sundiata, an heir to
the Mandingo throne raised an army and defeated the Sosso in the battle of
Kirina.

Afterward, Sundiata established the empire of Mali. He converted to
Islam for support of the Muslim peoples. When Mansa Musa came into power,
in the early 1300s, the empire reached its height. Mansa Musa traveled
through Cairo on his pilgrimage to Mecca. It is said that he gave away so
much gold that it dropped in value in Cairo for 12 years.

Afterward the empire slowly declined, until, in the 1600s it was no
more than it had been originally when it originated: the small kingdom of
Kangaba.

Government
The government of Mali was a dictatorship. The dictator, who had the
title of Mansa, was the sole secular and religious leader of his people,
though not he did not enjoy the same power as Egyptian Pharaohs did. The
base of government was located in the capital, known as Niani. It was once
written by a traveler that a person ...