Mali Empire

Mali Empire Nyeni  (Bambara) after c. 1230: Manden Kurufaba  (Bambara)
← c. 1230–c. 1600 →   →   →   →
Location of Manden Extent of the Mali Empire (c. 1350)
Capital	Niani; later Ka-ba
Language(s)	Malinké, Mandinka, Bambara, Fulani, Bozo
Religion	African Traditional Religion, Islam
Political structure	Empire
Mansa (Emperor)
- 1235–1255	Mari Djata I (first)
- c. 17th century	Mahmud IV (last)
Legislature	Gbara
Historical era	Postclassical Era
- Established	c. 1230
- Capital moved from Niani to Kangaba	1559
- State collapses and divided among emperor's sons	c. 1600
Area
- 1250	100,000 km2 (38,610 sq mi)
- 1312	1,294,994 km2 (500,000 sq mi)
- 1380	1,100,000 km2 (424,712 sq mi)
- 1500	400,000 km2 (154,441 sq mi)
Currency	Gold dust (Salt, copper and cowries were also common in the empire)
Today part of	The Gambia Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast Mali Mauritania Niger Senegal
National Symbol: Falcon 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 Empire of Ghana, it only became an empire itself under the leadership of King Sundiata. The history of this time has been preserved in the story of Sundiata's Epic.