View source for Mali Empire

{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name = {{native name|bm|Nyeni}}<br><small>after c. 1230:</small><br>{{native name|bm|Manden Kurufaba}}<ref name="Piga, Adriana page 265">Piga, Adriana: "Islam et villes en Afrique au sud du Sahara: Entre soufisme et fondamentalisme", page 265. KARTHALA Editions, 2003</ref>
|conventional_long_name = Mali Empire
|common_name = Manden
|continent = Africa
|region    = Western Africa
|country   = [Mali]
|status    = Empire
|era       = Postclassical Era
|government_type g   = Constitutional monarchy
|year_start  = c. 1230
|year_end    = c. 1600
|event_start = <!-- Deg fault: "Established" -->
|date_start  = 
|event_end   = State collapses and divided among emperor's sons
|date_end    = <!-- Optional: Date of disestablishment -->
|event1      = <!-- Optional: other events between "start" and "end" -->
|date_event1 =
|event2      = Capital moved from Niani to Kangaba
|date_event2 = 1559
|event3      =
|date_event3 =
|event4      =
|date_event4 =
|event_pre   = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before "event_start"-->
|date_pre    =
|event_post  = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place after "event_end"-->
|date_post   =
|<!-- Flag navigation: Preceding and succeeding entities p1 to p5 and s1 to s5 -->
|p1          = Ghana Empire
|flag_p1     = 
|image_p1    = [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Ghana Empire]]
|s1          = Songhai Empire
|image_s1    = [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Songhai Empire]]
|s2          = Jolof Empire
|image_s2    = [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Jolof Empire]]
|s3          = Kaabu Empire
|image_s3    = [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Kaabu Empire]]
|s4          = Empire of Great Fulo
|image_s4    = [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Empire of Great Fulo]]
|
|image_flag   = 
|flag         = <!-- Link target under flag image. Default: Flag of {{{common name}}} -->
|flag_type    = Imperial banner carried with Musa I in 1325 hajj
|
|image_coat   = <!-- Default: Coat of arms of {{{common name}}}.svg -->
|symbol       = <!-- Link target under symbol image. Default: '''Coat of arms of {{{common name}}}ĎĎĎĎed text for link under symbol. Default "Coat of arms" -->
|
|image_map    = MALI_empire_map.PNG
|image_map_caption  = Extent of the Mali Empire (c. 1350)
|
|capital          = Niani; later [[Kangaba|Ka-ba]]
|
|national_motto   =
|national_anthem  =
|common_languages = [[Malinke language|Malinké]], [[Mandinka language|Mandinka]], [[Bambara language|Bambara]], [[Fula language|Fulani]], [[Bozo language|Bozo]]
|religion         = [[African Traditional Religion]], [[Islam]]
|currency         = [[Gold|Gold dust]]<br /><small>([[Salt]], [[copper]] and [[Shell money|cowries]] were also common in the empire)</small>
|leader1      = [[Sundiata Keita|Mari Djata I]] (first)
|leader2      = [[Mahmud IV]] (last)
|year_leader1 = 1235–1255
|year_leader2 = c. 17th century
|title_leader = [[Mansa|Mansa (Emperor)]]
|legislature = Gbara
|stat_year1 = 1250<ref name="Taagepera, page 497">Taagepera, page 497</ref>
|stat_area1 = 100000
|stat_pop1  =
|stat_year2'''ÈıĪ''' = 1450<ref>Walker, Sheila S.: "African roots/American cultures: Africa in the creation of the Americas", page 127. Rowman & Littlefield, 2001</ref>
|stat_area2 =
|stat_pop2  =
|stat_year3 = 1312<ref>Hempstone, page 312</ref>
|stat_area3 = 1294994
|stat_pop3  =
|stat_year4 = 1380<ref name="Taagepera, page 497"/>
|stat_area4 = 1100000
|stat_pop4  =
|stat_year5 = 1500<ref name="Taagepera, page 497"/>
|stat_area5 = 400000
|stat_pop5  =
|today = {{flag|The Gambia}}<br>{{flag|Guinea}}<br>{{flag|Guinea-Bissau}}<br>{{flag|Ivory Coast}}<br>{{flag|Mali}}<br>{{flag|Mauritania}}<br>{{flag|Niger}}<br>{{flag|Senegal}}
|footnotes  = National Symbol: [[Falcon]]<br />Sacred Animal:Falcon and numerous other animals according to each of the governing clans ([[Lion]], [[Boar]], etc.)
}}


The '''Empire of Mali''' dates back from c. 1230 to the 1600s in the area of [[West Africa]] that, at its height, covered portions of the present-day countries of [[Mauritania]], [[Senegal]], [[Gambia]], [[Mali]], [[Niger]], [[Burkina Faso]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[Guinea]], [[Sierra Leone]], and [[Côte d'Ivoire]]. Though the '''kingdom of Mali''' existed for hundreds of years earlier as a state of the [[Ghana Empire|Empire of Ghana]], it only became an empire itself under the leadership of [[King Sundiata]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Introduction to African Civilizations |last=Jackson |first=John G. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2001 |publisher=Kensington Publishing Corp. |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-8065-2189-9 |page=207 |pages= |url= |accessdate=11 May 2011}}</ref> The history of this time has been preserved in the story of [[Sundiata's Epic]].

==References==
<references/>