Precursors to the Mali Empire (1170s)

Name: Precursors to the Mali Empire (1170s)
Start: 1170
End: 1179

Type Event Region Africa Time 1170–1179

In the 1170s, the political landscape of the upper Niger River in West Africa was shifting: the Mandinka Keita clan rose alongside the Sosso kingdom …

Timeline

1170–1179Kangaba (traditional origin) · MaliThe Mandinka Keita clan built power in the Niger bend region based on farming and herding, iron smelting, and local trade, gradually forming political ambitions to unite the Mandinka peoples.
1175–1178Kirina (near the legendary battlefield) · MaliAfter Ghana's decline, the Sosso kingdom controlled parts of the upper region and faced off against the Keita clan; border frictions intensified in the 1170s, setting conditions for the decisive war of the early 13th century.

Sources

Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali — D. T. Niane (1965)
The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 3 — J. D. Fage (1977)