1. The Mali Empire From A.D. 700 to 1600 the ancient empires of Ghana ( ), Mali ( ) and Songhay ( ) controlled vast areas of West Africa (see map and time line). Although each empire rose to assert its power, they coexisted independently for centuries. At its peak ( ), the Mali Empire covered an area that encompasses significant portions of the present-day country of Mali, southern and western Mauritania and Senegal. Note that the old kingdoms of Mali and Ghana are not the present-day countries of Mali and Ghana.

2. Green Mali Empire Red : Songhai Empire Light brown: Ghana Empire

3. The Mali Empire began when a small Malinke kingdom within the Ghana Empire grew ever more powerful. Mali began as a small Malinke kingdom around the upper areas of the Niger River. It became an important empire after 1235 when Sundjata organized Malinke resistance against a branch of the southern Soninke, who made up the center of the older kingdom of Ghana.  The empire developed around its capital of Niani.

4. Ghana Empire
Ghana (Wagadu), the earliest known empire of the western Sudan, first entered the historical consciousness of North Africa near the end of the eighth century but probably originated long before. The king of the Soninke people who founded Ghana never fully embraced Islam, but good relations with Muslim traders were fostered. Ghana's preeminence faded toward the end of the eleventh century, when its power was broken by a long struggle with the Almoravids led by Abdullah ibn Yasin. Ghana subsequently fell to the expanding
The shaded portion indicates the greatest extent of the Ghana empire ca. mid-eleventh century.

5. Songhai Empire
It was from one of Mali's former conquests, the kingdom of Gao, that the last major empire of the western Sudan emerged. Although the city of Gao had been occupied by a Songhai dynasty prior to being conquered by Mansa Musa's forces in 1325, it was not until much later that the Songhai empire emerged. It began to rise in 1464 when Sonni cAli Ber came to power. Sonni cAli conquered much of the weakening Mali empire's territory as well as Timbuktu, famous for its Islamic universities, and the pivotal trading city of Djenne.
The shaded portion indicates the greatest extent of the Songhai empire, ca. sixteenth century.

6. The Empire of Mali eventually dissolved into several smaller Kingdoms:
v     Kaartha
v     Kenedougou
v     Bambara
v     Macina
v     Bobo

7. The fragmentation of the Empires of Mali into multiple small kingdoms favored French invasion. French colonization lasted from 1883 to Mali gained independence 22 September The country was then ruled for 8 years by an elected socialist government. A military coup d’etat brought a dictatorship to power for 23 years which ended in a mainstream revolution in Democracy began in 1992; Malians are now (April 2007) democratically electing their President for the fourth time.