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.

Mali Empire at its greatest extent

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.

During the 13th century, when the gold mines in modern day Mali started to dry up, Bonoman and later other Akan states began to rise to promince as the major players in the Gold trade.

* 1960 – The Mali Federation gains independence from France ( it later splits into Mali and Senegal ).

Within the colonial administration, borders were frequently changed, with Niger colony once possessing large portions of what is now Burkina Faso and Mali, as well as much of northern Chad, later associated with French Equatorial Africa.

Originating in the Mandinka invasion, Mali continued to expand, encompassing first eastern Senegal, and later almost all the present territory.

A reduced kingdom continued to exist after Almoravid rule ended, and the Kingdom was later incorporated into subsequent Sahelian empires, such as the Mali Empire several centuries later.

The Algerian army has also, especially in later years, been highly active along the country's border with northern Mali, where various insurgent movements are based.

He earned fame for his heroic performance in the border war with Mali, but years later would renounce the war as " useless and unjust ", a reflection of his growing political consciousness.

So while the Mandinka people generally referred to their land and capital province as Manden, its semi-nomadic Fula subjects residing on the heartland's western ( Tekrur ), southern ( Fouta Djallon ) and eastern borders ( Macina ) popularized the name Mali for this kingdom and later empire of the Middle Ages.

Umar Tal later became the commander of the Toucouleur in what is now Guinea, Senegal, and Mali.

Senegal and former French Sudan became the Mali Federation ( 1960 – 61 ), while Côte d ' Ivoire, Niger, Upper Volta and Dahomey subsequently formed the short-lived Sahel-Benin Union, later the Conseil de l ' Entente.

Takrur was later conquered by Mali, it was also conquered by Jolof in the 15th century.

His missions included a 1974 U. S. State Department drought relief effort in Mali, Mauritania and Chad, and two years later, earthquake relief in Guatemala.

FC Pyunik was not satisfied with what it already had, and improved the team more by bringing some foreign managers and players from Mali, Cameroon, Argentina and later from Romania.

Around 1050, Ghana captured Aoudaghost, but new goldmines around Bure reduced trade through the city, instead benefiting the Sosso, who later founded the Mali Empire.

The island later became part of the Ghana Empire, then the Mali Empire, and was finally conquered by the French.

Sy was appointed as an expert adviser to the United Nations Development Programme and later headed the Commission for Decentralization and Institutional Reform in Mali.

At the age of thirteen she won " Les écoles du désert ", a contest sponsored by the Cora supermarket chain, which allowed her to travel with a humanitarian mission from Gao to Timbuktu, Mali ; she later claimed this had a profound influence on her.

From 1959 to 1964 the most significant of these trips included investigations of the musics across the length and breadth of Egypt and Ethiopia, with later fieldwork being conducted in Mali, Senegal, Niger, Guinea, Zaire, Brazil, and several other nations.

In later years, Baja Mali Knindža turned more toward funnier songs, with witty lyrics, mostly about alcoholism and lacking of money.

Forging a coalition of neighboring small kingdoms, Sundiata waged a war against the Sosso, finally Sundiata was later crowned with the title " Mansa ," or " king of kings ", as the first ruler of the Mali Empire.

The territory of the Kénédougou Kingdom was soon assimilated into the colony of French Sudan, and later into the country of Mali.