Sundiata Keita

Disabled and exiled in childhood, as an adult he defeated the Sosso king and founded the Mali Empire.

Life

Disabled Prince

Sundiata came from the royal family of a small Mandinka state in West Africa. According to the epic tradition, he was crippled in the legs as a child and could barely walk, was for a time shunned at court, and went into exile with his mother, living for many years in neighboring kingdoms. The Mandinka oral epic embellishes this exile into a coming-of-age story full of hardship and divine revelation.

Battle of Kirina

At the time, Sumanguru, king of the powerful neighboring Sosso kingdom in West Africa, was campaigning in all directions and had annexed several small Mandinka states, including Sundiata's homeland. As an adult, Sundiata returned home, mustered the various Mandinka forces into an alliance, and around 1235 defeated Sumanguru at the Battle of Kirina. He then founded the Mali Empire, based on agriculture and the gold and salt trade, with its capital at Niani; Mansa Musa was later one of this empire's successor rulers.

Hero of the Epic

Sundiata's deeds have come down mainly through the oral epics of West African griots (hereditary bardic historians) and were only written down in modern times, so the real history is hard to fully separate from legendary embellishment. Episodes such as his mother being described as an ugly woman who was half human and half beast, or his walking as mightily as a "lion" in his youth, bear obvious marks of epic exaggeration, and historians usually need to check them against scattered records by Arab geographers.

Legacy

Sundiata was the founder of the Mali Empire. The state he built rested on the gold and salt trade and reached its zenith under his successor Mansa Musa. The Epic of Sundiata, passed down by griots from generation to generation, is one of the most important works of oral literature in West Africa and has shaped the historical identity of the Mandinka people. Because no contemporary written records survive, his deeds can only be pieced together from oral tradition and scattered accounts by Arab scholars such as Ibn Khaldun.

Major works & achievements

• United the Mandinka clans to defeat the Sosso king
• Founded the Mali Empire
• Said to have proclaimed the Kouroukan Fouga Charter

Key dates

• 1217Born into the royal family of a small Mandinka state
• 1224Exiled due to his disability
• 1230The Sosso king annexed the Mandinka states
• 1235Defeated the Sosso king at the Battle of Kirina
• 1240Founds the Mali Empire with its capital at Niani
• 1255Died