The Rise and Fall of the Mali Empire

did you know that at the time the Marley Empire was the largest Empire Africa had seen hello and welcome to world history encyclopedia my name is Kelly and today's episode is all about the incredibly wealthy West African Marley Empire world history encyclopedia is a nonprofit organization and you can find us on patreon a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return your support helps us create videos twice a week so make sure to check it out at worldhistory do.org patreon or via the patreon link down below founded by sundata in 1240 the Mari Empire became the wealthiest Kingdom of West Africa and was Africa's largest Empire up to that time the Mari Empire flourished under its first king as a centralized government diplomatic ties with other principalities and a well-trained army were established and even greater Heights of wealth and expansion of territory were gained under King mansam Musa I first who reigned in the early 14th century the wealth of the Mali Empire developed through control of the regional trade routes as they served as a middle Trader between North Africa and the Niger River in the South Muslim merchants were drawn to the commercial activity and with them came Islam which spread to such noted cities as Timbuktu even though much of the rural population of Mali clung to their traditional animistic beliefs the Empire flourished until its collapse in the 1460s caused by Civil Wars and internal struggles for the throne the rise of rival Empires and the opening of new trade routes not under their control the Marley Empire developed in the Sudan region of West Africa an area that had been occupied since the Neolithic period fertile land irrigated by the regularly flooding Niger River allowed for the development of Agriculture around 3,500 years ago and rice Millet pulses tubers root crops fiber plants and fruits were all cultivated alongside the hering of cattle and fishing prior to the establishment of the Mary Empire in the region the earlier political power was the Ghana Empire that ruled from the 6th Century to the 13th the Ghana Empire which had no relation to modern day Ghana flourished through wealth gained from trade and was supported by the military even so it was in decline by the 12th century when it was taken over by the kingdom of Soso and its king Su Guru who reigned from Circa 1200 in response to the kingdom of Soso establishing trade restrictions in the region The Mink or Mandingo Prince sundia waged War beginning in the 1230s the prince Allied himself with other disgruntled Chiefs who were tired of suong guru's harsh Rule and eventually defeated the Sao in the battle at krina in 1235 in 1240 sundata captured the old Ghana capital and was declared the Supreme Monarch by the centralized government of tribal leaders giving him the honorary title of Mari diata or Lord lion sundata named his Empire Marley mean meaning the place where the king lives and he also decreed that all future kings would hail from the ker Clan though they didn't necessarily have to be the eldest son of the king this would become a problem for the stability of the empire in later years the Manser or King was the Supreme source of justice but he was assisted by an assembly of Elders local Chiefs and legal advisers during his rule he would hold audiences in the Royal Palace or under a large tree and establish various positions such as chief of the army Master of Ceremonies and master of the granaries which later became Master of the treasury the Manser monopolized key trading routes which led to the fabulous wealth of the royal treasury especially since only the King was able to possess gold nuggets and Traders had to make do with Gold Dust the king presented himself as a mystical being of immense power and instituted policies to encourage this image slaves were loyal only to the king no one was able to be in the king's presence while he ate and visitors were to approach him Barefoot humbled and pouring dust on their heads King sundata amassed great wealth and continued to expand his territorial borders which came to include the old kingdoms of Ghana waata tmea and sonai and the City of Miana which no longer exists today was chosen to be the Empire's Capital as a city in advantageous position protected by mountains and close to key trading good sources forests and waterways Chiefs of acquired territories could continue to rule their own people although with a Mary appointed governor and they had to give tribute to the Mali King when foreigners visited the Mali territories they regularly noted the high degree of justice as well as the people's Prosperity evidenced by Abundant Food suppliers and the confidence of safety the populace felt in traveling from place to place the Kingdom's prime location and lucrative trade Monopoly allowed the Marley Empire to prosper the River played an important role in the access to Africa's interior and camel Caravans controlled by the berbers brought goods from across the Sahara desert with the taxation of goods passing through their territories the purchase and resale of goods at higher prices and access to their own natural resources the Marley rulers had a triple income whilst also being in control of various gold Rich regions gold dust and salt were often traded pound-for-pound and the precious material became more and more in demand with European powers who were minting coins from it in Circ 1100 the city of timbak 2 was founded by the nomadic twar people in an advantageous position on the Niger River Bend and also at the starting position for the trans Saharan Caravans the Mari Kings took over the city and made it into one of the most vital Trade Centers in Africa where important goods like Ivory textiles horses weapons sugar and slaves were bought and sold transactions for goods were made either through barter or using an agreed upon commodity for payment like copper or gold ingots with this trade in commodities of course came the transmission of ideas and with Arab Merchants figuring largely in transactions it is no surprise that Islam was introduced to the region and became a prominent religion of West Africa reports by noted Muslim Travelers ibben batuta and iban calden claim that even the first Mari ruler sundata converted to Islam but the mink oral Traditions reject this and maintain sundata kept the ancient animistic religion Islam was firmly established and widespread however from the reign of manam Musa who famously went to Mecca and brought back with him Muslim Scholars Architects and books mosques were built and quranic schools and universities were established with educational programs including the wider topics of history geography astronomy and medicine as well as religion many of the Great libraries that were built at this time holding 10 of thousands of manuscripts and books still survive today after sundata the Mali Empire seems to have been ruled by a string of lackluster rulers until its second golden age during the first half of the 13th century under manam Musa the manam Musa spent his Reign not only maintaining the borders of the Empire but also expanding them with his army of 100,000 men until his Empire encompassed numerous religions ethnic and linguistic groups recognizing this diversity manam Musa divided his empire into provinces each with their own ruling governor who was in charge of local taxes Justice and settling disputes this improved governmental Administration with better recordkeeping in the provinces as well as at the centralized offices at Nani manam Musa and the elite became exceedingly rich with the increase in exploitation of natural resources and the new trade routes under his control when the Mali King visited Cairo in 1324 his incredible wealth and generosity encouraged the ruler that the marlei kingdom was paved with gold a cira 1375 map made by a Spanish map maker the first detailed map of West Africa includes an image of manam Musa wearing a gold crown and holding a lump of gold in his hand the next 5 centuries saw European explorers continually trying to find the source of the Empire's gold and the fabled Trade Center of timbuk 2 even so by the time of the 15th century the Mary Empire was in Decline a primary cause for its fall was the rules for succession with no clear-cut royal succession since the ruler didn't have to be the eldest son of the reigning King only a member of his clan Civil Wars would erupt in Fierce battles fought between brothers and uncles for the throne in addition to the internal struggles for power there was also the issue of lucrative trade routes opening up elsewhere the Swift movement of European ships of trade down the west coast and the growth of rival kingdoms namely the sonai by the time the king of the sonai Empire Sunni Ali conquered the Mali Empire in around 1468 it had been reduced to a small Western pocket of what was once a great and Wealthy Kingdom by the 17th century what was left of the Mali Empire was absorbed into the Moroccan Empire how could the problems caused by the Mari Empire's rules of succession being prevented let us know what you think in the comments below if you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new uploads published every single week this video was brought to you by world history encyclopedia for more great articles and interactive content head to our website via the link below if you like my shirt you can find this design and a bunch more in our shop at worldhistory dosto or you can find a link for it down below thank you so much for watching and we will see you soon with another video [Music]

Channel: World History Encyclopedia

Views: 2,387

Keywords: ancient history, mali empire, mali, african history, mansa musa, world history, africa, timbuktu, empire of mali, history of mali, malian empire, mecca, mosque, history of africa, african kingdoms, west africa, empires, mansu musa, religion in mali, islam in mali, islam in africa, caravan, islam, muslim, history of the mali empire, rise and fall of the mali empire, ghana empire, empire of ghana, Sundiata Keita, songhai empire

Id: HkPTXorLj0Y

Length: 11min 38sec (698 seconds)

Published: Tue May 14 2024