West Africa, like most places had rises and falls of kingdom, and some of the greatest ones, was the Kingdom of Ghana, which fell to the Kingdom of Mali, and the Kingdom of Songhai, surpassing Mali. Through much strife and success, Sundiata Keita was the founder of the Mali empire.
You would imagine, someone who founded an empire would be a very strong and healthy person. That was Sundiata Keita for you, but he wasn’t always like that. Born around 1217 BC, Sundiata was a sickly boy who was the son of the ruler of the small kingdom of Kangaba. He was also one out of 12 sons of this ruler, all being a heir to the throne of Kangaba. Sumanguru, the ruler of the neighboring state of Kaniga overthrew Sundiata’s kingdom, and not in a peaceful manner at all; He killed all twelve of Sundiata’s brothers, but spared him, because he was a cripple and seemed as though he would die soon anyways. Most of the information we have come from it being orally said and passed down through the generations (Africans did not have written “history”, so all of their history from before the time of writing was passed down through oral tradition. Everything, their history, practices, beliefs, were passed down through oral tradition) However, this does not make him …show more content…
He had two plausible and understandable reasons for this; One, he killed all his brothers, and took over his kingdom! Secondly, it was still his kingdom, and Sundiata intended to save them from this tyrant. He achieved this by banding together a private army, conquering surrounding smaller Susu people provinces. This all lead up to the fateful day for the ruler of Kaniga, the battle of Kirina. Kings way back then, and in that culture were seen as magicians, and more high up with the gods, so, since Sundiata overthrew his nemesis, Sumanguru, he was seen as the greater magician to the people (just a little added
You would imagine, someone who founded an empire would be a very strong and healthy person. That was Sundiata Keita for you, but he wasn’t always like that. Born around 1217 BC, Sundiata was a sickly boy who was the son of the ruler of the small kingdom of Kangaba. He was also one out of 12 sons of this ruler, all being a heir to the throne of Kangaba. Sumanguru, the ruler of the neighboring state of Kaniga overthrew Sundiata’s kingdom, and not in a peaceful manner at all; He killed all twelve of Sundiata’s brothers, but spared him, because he was a cripple and seemed as though he would die soon anyways. Most of the information we have come from it being orally said and passed down through the generations (Africans did not have written “history”, so all of their history from before the time of writing was passed down through oral tradition. Everything, their history, practices, beliefs, were passed down through oral tradition) However, this does not make him …show more content…
He had two plausible and understandable reasons for this; One, he killed all his brothers, and took over his kingdom! Secondly, it was still his kingdom, and Sundiata intended to save them from this tyrant. He achieved this by banding together a private army, conquering surrounding smaller Susu people provinces. This all lead up to the fateful day for the ruler of Kaniga, the battle of Kirina. Kings way back then, and in that culture were seen as magicians, and more high up with the gods, so, since Sundiata overthrew his nemesis, Sumanguru, he was seen as the greater magician to the people (just a little added