According to Arab tradition, the ensuing war pushed Ghana over the edge, ending the kingdom's position as a commercial and military power by 1100, as it collapsed into tribal groups and chieftaincies, some of which later assimilated into the Almoravids while others founded the Mali Empire.

In 1236, Sundiata Keita presented an oral constitution federating the Mali Empire, called the Kouroukan Fouga.

The Kouroukan Fouga divided the Mali Empire into ruling clans ( lineages ) that were represented at a great assembly called the Gbara.

Elsewhere during the Middle Ages, Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate established across the Middle East, extending from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Indus in the east and to the Almoravid Dynasty and Mali Empire in the south.

The Sosso kingdom ( 12th to 13th centuries ) briefly flourished in the void but the Islamic Mandinka Mali Empire came to prominence when Soundiata Kéïta defeated the Sosso ruler, Soumangourou Kanté at the semi-historical Battle of Kirina in c. 1235.

The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa ( Emperors ), the most famous being Kankou Moussa, who made a famous hajj to Mecca in 1324.

Shortly after his reign the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century.

The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire, expanding its power from about 1460, and eventually surpassing the Mali Empire in both territory and wealth.

Ever since Mansa Musa, king of the Mali Empire, made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325, with 500 slaves and 100 camels ( each carrying gold ) the region had become synonymous with such wealth.

Some notable pre-colonial states and societies in Africa include the Nok culture, Mali Empire, Ashanti Empire, Kingdom of Mapungubwe, Kingdom of Sine, Kingdom of Saloum, Kingdom of Baol, Kingdom of Zimbabwe, Kingdom of Kongo, Ancient Carthage, Numidia, Mauretania, the Aksumite Empire, the Ajuuraan State and the Adal Sultanate.

The Mali Empire began in the 13th century CE, when a Mande ( Mandingo ) leader, Sundiata ( Lord Lion ) of the Keita clan, defeated Soumaoro Kanté, king of the Sosso or southern Soninke, at the Battle of Kirina in c. 1235.

Although the salt and gold trade continued to be important to the Mali Empire, agriculture and pastoralism was also critical.

The Mali Empire saw an expansion of learning and literacy.

Oualata was the southern terminus of the trans-Saharan trade route and had recently become part of the Mali Empire.

From there, Ibn Battuta travelled southwest along a river he believed to be the Nile ( it was actually the river Niger ), until he reached the capital of the Mali Empire.

Mali Empire and West Africa

During most of his journey in the Mali Empire, Ibn Battuta travelled with a retinue that included slaves, most of whom carried goods for trade but would also be traded as slaves.

** Emperors of Mali, see Mali Empire

Present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire ( from which Mali is named ), and the Songhai Empire.

* Northern-most point – the point at which the border with Mali enters the Bagoé river, Savanes Region, the Sahel.

During the 16th century, they established themselves at Macina in southern Mali.

Separate smaller Hausa dialects are spoken by an unknown number of Hausa further west in parts of Burkina Faso, and in the Haoussa Foulane, Badji Haoussa, Guezou Haoussa, and Ansongo districts of northeastern Mali ( where it is designated as a minority language by the Malian government ), but there are very little linguistic resources and research done on these particular dialects at this time.

The Bambara Empire existed as a centralized state from 1712 to 1861, was based at Ségou ( also seen as Segu ), and ruled parts of central and southern Mali.

A pirogue carrying two passengers on the river Niger at Gao in Mali

This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Mali at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of CFA Francs.

Mali is one of four Saharan states which has created a Joint Military Staff Committee, to be based at Tamanrasset in southern Algeria.

Mali established its embassy in Canada in 1978 at 50 avenue Golburn in Ottawa, with its 1st appointed ambassador Zana Ousmane Dao, while Canada's embassy in Mali has been open since 1995.

This is followed by Chad to the east ( 1 175 km ), Algeria to the northnorthwest ( 956 km ), and Mali at 821 km.

The irrigation potential was estimated at 1. 68m ha in Nigeria 0. 56m ha in Mali, and the actual irrigated area was 0. 67m ha and 0. 19m ha.

As for Sub-Saharan Africa, in 2007, Swiss archeologists discovered pieces of the oldest pottery in Africa in Central Mali, dating back to at least 9, 500 BCE.

It is known by historians that at its height the Mali Empire built a large naval fleet under Emperor Mansa Musa in the late 13th and early 14th century.

Extension of the Mali Empire at its height

The Islamic governments of the pre-colonial sub-Saharan empires of Mali and Songhai appear to have had a similar relationship with these territories, which were at once the home of undisciplined raiding tribes and the main trade route for the Saharan caravan trade.

* 1462: Sonni Ali Ber, the ruler of the Songhai ( or Songhay ) Empire, along the Niger River, conquers Mali in the central Sudan by defeating the Tuareg contingent at Tombouctou ( or Timbuktu ) and capturing the city.

* March 13 – Battle of Tondibi: In Mali, Moroccan forces of the Saadi Dynasty led by Judar Pasha defeat the Songhai Empire, despite being outnumbered by at least five to one.

* Prince Sogolon Djata leads the Mandinka to victory at the Battle of Kirina against the Susu marking the birth of the Mali Empire.

July 6 saw the Methodist Relief and Development Fund ( MRDF ) aid experts say that more than 1, 500, 000 Nigerians were at risk of famine due to a month long heat wave that was hovering over Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Morocco.

Mali needs to build capacity at these levels, especially to mobilize and manage financial resources.

Mali extends over two main geological structures, the West African craton in the west and the Tuareg shield in the southeast, which came together at the end of the Precambrian era between 600 and 550 million years ago.

Mali reached the peak of its power and extent in the 14th century, when Mansa Musa ( 1312 – 1337 ) made his famous hajj to Mecca with 500 slaves, each holding a bar of gold worth 500 mitqals.

After the reign of Mansa Suleyman ( 1341 – 1360 ), Mali began its spiral downward.

Mali consists of eight regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara, while the country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Sénégal rivers.

In early 1959, French Sudan ( which changed its name to the Sudanese Republic ) and Senegal united to become the Mali Federation.

From its capital in Kumbi Saleh on the edge of the desert, the empire expanded throughout southeastern Mauritania, southwestern Mali, and northern Senegal.

On 20 June 1960 the Federation of Mali became an independent country and Modibo Keïta became its first President.

Mali is a member of the United Nations ( and many of its specialized agencies ), the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ), the World Bank, the International Labour Organization ( ILO ), the International Telecommunication Union ( ITU ), the Universal Postal Union ( UPU ) and the International Criminal Court ( ICC ).

Britain has closed its embassy ; ECOWAS has declared an embargo against Mali, aiming to squeeze out Malinese oil supplies ; closed Mali's assets in the ECOWAS regional bank and has prepared a potential intervention force of 3, 000 troops.

Mali has a longstanding relationship with France, its former colonial ruler, but relations have been described as ambivalent rather than close.

Mali currently is a small market for U. S. trade and investment, but there is potential for considerable growth as its economy expands.

Niger has close relations with its neighbour Mali, with large scale trade links and sizable population movement between the two nations.

Spread along the Niger River in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, throughout the historic Songhai Empire, including its former capital Gao and the well-known city of Timbuktu.

Two other major political entities were formed and grew during the 13th and 14th century: the Mali Empire and the Jolof Empire which become the vassal of the first in its heyday.

* August 20 – Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.

* September 22 – Mali, the sole remaining member of the " Mali Federation " following the withdrawal of Senegal one month earlier, declares its full independence as the Republic of Mali.