Kuma Malinke Historiography: Sundiata Keita to Almamy Samori Toure

Founded in the early thirteenth century, the Mali Empire stretched from the Atlantic coast of West Africa across the savannah lands to Timbuktu and Gao. Comprised of multiple ethnics groups—the Soninke, the Mandenka, Fula, Sosso, Tuareg, Sonrai, Almoravids—Mali was politically dominated by the Mandenka people who developed a comprehensive, eloquent, and ennobling historical tradition that has garnered international recognition and praise. Combining music, poetry, drama, storytelling, geneal...