Political Unification of the Malian Empire under Sundiata

The Epic of Sundiata is an oral tradition that outlines the historical origins of the Malian Empire under the rule of Mali’s first mansa, Sundiata.  This oral tradition provides the story for how the Malian Empire was originally created from a military standpoint, but the reader is never explicitly told about the political unification process under Sundiata.  Prior to the rule of Sundiata, the region that would become the Malian Empire was characterized by small, autonomous kingdoms that shared many cultural and political similarities.  These kingdoms formed relationships with each other, but retained their individual autonomy.  This specific political structure functioned well, but Sundiata was able to construct a system in which all of these kingdoms relinquished some of their sovereignty under Sundiata.  Pieces of evidence from the epic suggest that Soumaoro’s military campaigns posed such a significant threat to these kingdoms that they were willing to forgo absolute autonomy in order to prevent Soumaoro’s complete conquest of the region.  The epic and the political context of the time allows for a greater understanding of political unification under Sundiata, but it does not provide any information on the nature of political unification or the manner in which unification was achieved in other regions that were later incorporated into the Malian Empire.

In order to best understand how a military campaign led by an individual resulted in the great Malian Empire, we need to understand the political context during the life of Sundiata in the region that would later become the Malian Empire.  The Epic of Sundiata does not explicitly state the political context of the time, but there are pieces of evidence throughout the epic that depict a network of autonomous kingdoms with shared cultures in the region.  This can be seen in the moment Sundiata decides to leave Mema and wage war against Soumaoro.  Sundiata is given an army by the king of Mema with others who “came forward of their own free will.”  A military alliance of this scale likely implies a previous relationship between the kingdoms, and a shared belief in the importance of autonomy when faced with an external threat.  The king of Wagadou immediately provided military assistance to Sundiata, as did other kings as Sundiata traveled back to Mali to fight Soumaoro.  Military cooperation between the forces of all of the different kingdoms and the willingness to support Sundiata all suggest that these kingdoms had close political relationships before Sundiata.  Finally, previous research from Michael Gomez shows that all of these kingdoms were Mande-speaking kingdoms, adding another dimension of cultural similarity between all of these autonomous kingdoms.1

While these various kingdoms may have formed strong relationships in the past, a specific context was necessary for these kingdoms to politically unify under one authority.  In the case of the Malian Empire, it was the military confrontation between Sundiata and Soumaoro that allowed for the creation of an empire.  As the setting of the conflict is outlined through the epic, it is revealed that Soumaoro has already militarily conquered nine kingdoms.  This means that Soumaoro himself is responsible for the creation of the Malian Empire as those nine kingdoms were forcefully unified through conquest initially.  Soumaoro’s description in the epic also reveals much about the process through which the various kingdoms came to agreement on the threat he posed.  Soumaoro is described as a ruthless king that commits atrocities whenever he attacks a kingdom, including the beheading of the king he has defeated, and is even called “an evil demon” in the epic.  This specific portrayal of Soumaoro is evidence that supports two assertions.  First, the manner in which Soumaoro is depicted as an entirely immoral and violent character reveals that Malians were not supportive of Soumaoro.  Second, the various kings of Mali were likely fearful of Soumaoro as they were his explicit targets.  It was this fear over loss of autonomy that everyone in Mali feared most about Soumaoro, and it was precisely this mechanism that created broad support for Sundiata’s military force that was challenging Soumaoro.

There are some limitations to the extent to which we can understand political unification under Sundiata from the epic alone, as the purpose of the epic is entirely different.  First, while it is clear that many kings voluntarily supported Sundiata as mansa, it is unclear how many of the kingdoms that would eventually be incorporated into Mali joined willingly and how many were forcefully subjugated through conquest.  At the first meeting of the kings, the epic refers to “conquered people” from beyond the geographic scope of the epic itself, meaning there were populations living under the rule of Sundiata that never agreed to be politically incorporated into the Malian Empire.  Additionally, it is never made clear whether the kings who originally provided military support, namely the kings of Mema and Wagadou, were in favor of political unification itself.  The epic seems to portray military assistance as a symbol for political unity, but it is not entirely clear if this was the case in practice.  A second limitation to our understanding is the Kouroukan Fouga.  This charter “intended to regulate relations between groups,” and provided a judicial code for various aspects of political and social life.2  While this suggests a significant degree of political unity among the various kingdoms, it is unclear whether this charter was effectively enforced or supported by individual kings.  Finally, the epic suggests that this unification was primarily based on security rather than a desire for judicial unity.  The celebration after Soumaoro’s defeat is still characterized by military ceremonies, once again suggesting that the alliance between the various groups was intended to be a military alliance rather than a full-fledged political alliance.

The Epic of Sundiata, while not written for academia, is an incredibly useful source for understanding a great deal about the Malian Empire beyond its origin story.  The assertions that can be made about political unification under Sundiata and the structure of the empire’s government allow for scholars to engage with other debates on Mali.  The specific structure of the empire’s government is a direct result of Sundiata’s military victory, and that historical understanding can help scholars explore Mali’s durability as an empire, or the process through which the empire eventually collapsed.  The specific context in which the empire originated will also be useful to scholars studying other West African empires, such as Ghana or Songhay.  These empires share many cultural and political similarities with the Malian Empire, and analyzing the process of political unification in Mali may result in answering questions on the political unification in these other empires as well.  Finally, understanding the political transformations that occurred during the time of Sundiata allows scholars to refute claims that the empire was created solely due to external stimuli such as Trans-Saharan trade and demand for gold in Europe.