Kingdom1235 CE – 1600 CEAfrica

Kingdom of Mali

The Mali Empire was one of the largest and wealthiest empires in West African history, famed for Mansa Musa, whose 1324 hajj to Mecca distributed so much gold that it reportedly depressed gold prices across the Mediterranean for years.

Key Figures

Sundiata Keita Mansa Musa Ibn Battuta

Historical Consequences

Timbuktu and Djenné became major centers of Islamic scholarship and trans-Saharan trade. Mansa Musa's gold disrupted Mediterranean economies. The Mandinka trading diaspora (Dyula/Wangara) spread Islam and commerce across West Africa.

Kingdom1464 CE

Kingdom of Songhai

The Songhai Empire succeeded Mali as the largest empire in West African history, controlling trans-Saharan trade routes and making Timbuktu's Sankore University a renowned center of Islamic scholarship.

Cause-Effect Graph

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