Mali Profile

The territory known as Mali can be traced back to the fourth century of the Common Era when south west Mali was part of the Empire Of Ghana. By the thirteenth century the Ghana empire was in rapid decline and the Mali Empire was born from an area within the Ghana Empire known as Manden which had been ruled in Ghana's name. This came about as the Sosso people under their King Soumaoro Kante, who had leapt to fill the void of the collapsed Ghana Empire, conquered the Mandinka kingdoms of what is now Mali. The Mali warlords then formed a pact and turned to one Sundiata Keita, born 1217CE, to liberate the Mandinkas and their homeland. Over the ensuing centuries various groups ruled over the area which changed in shape and size until Mali came under French colonial rule in 1892 as part of the Scramble for Africa.