Skip to content
Conflict Africa

Wars of the Mali Empire

1235 CE – 1599 CE · 364 years

Sundiata Keita defeated the Sosso at Kirina and founded the Mali Empire, which became the wealthiest state in the medieval world under Mansa Musa. At its peak it controlled the trans-Saharan gold and salt trade across West Africa.

See it on the timeline

Belligerents

The main peoples, kingdoms and states involved.

  • Mali Empire (Sundiata, Mansa Musa)
  • Sosso Kingdom, rival Sahelian states

Key moments

Defining events in the Wars of the Mali Empire.

  1. 1235 Battle of Kirina
  2. Sundiata's unification campaigns
  3. 15th century Decline under Songhai pressure

Elsewhere in Africa at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · Africa

Royal Hill of Ambohimanga

1500 CE – still standing

Polity · Africa

Khoiasan

Attested 1500 BCE – 1500 CE

Conflict · Africa

Almohad Conquests

1121 CE – 1269 CE

Trade route · Africa

East African Coastal Trade

900 CE – 1505 CE

Landmark · Africa

Djenné-Djenno

250 BCE – 1400 CE

Polity · Africa

Ethiopia

Attested 1279 CE – 2026 CE

Conflict · Africa

Wars of the Kingdom of Kongo

1390 CE – 1709 CE

Landmark · Africa

Sijilmasa

757 CE – 1393 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 1235 CE and 1599 CE.

1235 CE Mali Empire Conquests 1240 CE Great Mosque of Djenné 1250 CE Thulamela 1390 CE Wars of the Kingdom of Kongo 1421 CE Larabanga Mosque

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Machu Picchu Landmark · Americas 1450 CE – still standing Ottoman Empire Polity · Europe 1299 CE – 1922 CE Mesoamerican Trade Network Trade route · Americas 1200 BCE – 1521 CE Sengoku Period (Japanese Warring States) Conflict · East Asia 1467 CE – 1615 CE Sundiata Figure · West Africa 1217 CE – 1255 CE Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Landmark · Europe 350 BCE – 1404 CE
Image credits3 pictures from Wikimedia Commons