Sundiata

Credit: Daniel Wisniewski
Jacket cover from Sundiata: Lion King of Mali
© 1992 David Wisniewski; used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, all rights reserved

The Manding Diarra, the Lion of Mali, he brought his people justice, peace, and prosperity.

Sundiata Keita
c. 1217–1255, b. Niani, Guinea
Reigned c. 1230–55 over Mali Empire from Niani

I will return. Do you hear me?
—Sundiata Keita, in Djibril Tamsir Niane et al, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali

• According to Mande oral traditions, Sundiata, who was born with a disability, learned to walk with the help of his mother, Sogolon, and a blacksmith.
• Mocked and forced into exile due to his disability, Sundiata nevertheless returned to unite the Mande-speaking clans to overthrow Sumanguru Kante, the wicked ruler of Sosso who took over the remnants of the Ghana Empire and used dark magic to subject his people.
• Sundiata built a centralized monarchy—the Mali Empire—which, through its control of trans-Saharan trade and gold fields, became one of the wealthiest states of the Muslim world.