Formation of an Empire (ca. 1230-1300)
Introduction
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Key Themes
Regional Histories
Self Tests
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Credits
Soon after his victory, Sundiata instituted sweeping changes in the organization of Malinke government and society, at least as the epics tell it. His "division of the world" assigned specific occupations--warrior, ironsmith, djeli, and so on--to designated kin groups, reserving the office of mansa for Sundiata's own dynasty, that of the Keita. Sundiata also set up an administrative system based on provinces, which accommodated regional desires for a degree of self-government while allowing the mansa to retain ultimate control over what was fast becoming the empire of Mali.4
Mali's political control over its neighbors continued to spread
during the reign of Sundiata's son and successor mansa Uli (ca. 1250-1270).5 A short period of instability was overcome by the usurper Sakura,
a military leader under Sundiata and according to some sources
a former slave.6 After Sakura's death in 1299 on the journey home from a pilgrimage
to Mecca, the title of mansa returned to the Keita family, passing in 1307 to Kankan Musa,
a son of Sundiata's brother Manding Bory.
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