Mali Empire under Mansa Sulayman (1340s)

Timeline

1. 1341Mali · Mali EmpireMagha I, son of Mansa Musa, reigned about four years before being overthrown by his uncle Sulayman, Musa's brother. Sulayman quickly established control over the imperial core and vassal states, marking the start of a new consolidation of power after Musa's era.
2. 1342–1348Timbuktu-Gao trade corridor · SahelUnder Sulayman, the Mali Empire continued to control trade routes and the transport networks of salt and gold mines around Timbuktu and Gao, collecting tribute from vassal states. Compared with Musa's reign, fiscal spending was more restrained to offset the treasury drain from the hajj to Mecca, yet the empire's territory and trade system remained largely intact in the 1340s.
3. 1345–1350Fez-Cairo · MaghrebMali maintained envoy and pilgrimage ties with the Marinids and Mamluk Egypt. Sulayman himself had completed the hajj, and in the later 1340s still exchanged information with the Islamic world of North Africa through embassies. When Ibn Battuta arrived in Mali in 1352, the court etiquette, qadi judiciary, and absolute obedience to the mansa he witnessed reflected the continuity of imperial governance in this period.