The Mali Empire's Golden Age
Founded by Sundiata Keita and expanded under rulers like Mansa Musa, the Mali Empire became one of the largest and wealthiest empires in world history, built on gold, salt, and Saharan trade.
After Sundiata Keita's victory at the Battle of Kirina around 1235, the Mali Empire grew to control a vast territory across West Africa, spanning parts of what are today Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, and Niger.
Its wealth came largely from controlling trans-Saharan trade routes carrying gold and salt — Mali produced roughly half the world's gold supply during parts of this period. Cities along these routes, especially Timbuktu, Gao, and Djenné, grew into major centers of commerce and Islamic scholarship.
The empire's governance included the Kurukan Fuga, an oral constitution attributed to Sundiata's reign, which organized clans, land rights, and legal principles well before it was ever written down.
Heroes from this history
Sundiata Keita
The Lion Prince who founded the Mali Empire
Exiled as a sickly child and mocked by rivals, Sundiata Keita returned to unite the Mandinka kingdoms and found the empire that would make Mansa Musa's wealth possible.
Read the story →Mansa Musa
Emperor of Mali whose wealth reshaped world maps
The tenth mansa of the Mali Empire is remembered as one of the richest individuals in recorded history, and his 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca made the world take notice of West Africa.
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