Sundiata Keita

Sundiata Keita or Sunjata Keyita (c. 1190 - c. 1255) was the founder of the Mali Empire and celebrated as a hero of the Mandinka people of West Africa the in the semi-historical Epic of Sundiata.

Sunjata is also known by the name Sogolon Djata. The name Sogolon is taken from his mother, the buffalo woman (so called because of her ugliness), and Djata. In the rapidly spoken language of the Mandinka, the two names were merged to become Sondjata of Sundjata or Sundiata. The last name Keita is a clan name more than a surname.

The story of Sundiata is primarily known through oral tradition, transmitted by generations of traditional Mandinka griots.

The Epic of Sundiata

In the Epic of Sundiata (also spelled Son-Jara), Naré Maghann Konaté (also called Maghan Kon Fatta or Maghan the Handsome) was a Mandinka king who one day received a divine hunter at his court. The hunter predicted that if Konaté married an ugly woman, she would give him a son who would one day be a mighty king. Naré Maghann Konaté was already married to Sassouma Berté and had a son by her, Dankaran Toumani Keïta. However, when two Traoré hunters from the Do kingdom presented him an ugly, hunchbacked woman named Sogolon, he remembered the prophecy and married her. She soon gave birth to a son, Sundiata Keita, who was unable to walk throughout his childhood.

With the death of Naré Maghann Konaté (c. 1218), his first son, Dankaran Tuman, assumed the throne despite Konaté's wishes that the prophecy be respected. Sunjata and his mother, who now had given birth to two daughters and adopted a second son from Konaté's third wife Namandjé, suffered the scorn of the new king and his mother. After an insult against Sogolon, Sundiata requested an iron rod from the blacksmith Nounfari, which he used to pull himself upright and walk for the first time. Nonetheless, the hatred of Sassouma Berté and Dankaran Toumani Keita soon drove Sundiata, his mother, and his two sisters into exile in the Mena kingdom.

Meanwhile, Soumaoro Kanté, cruel sorceror king of Sosso, attacks the Mandinka kingdom, causing Dankaran Toumani Keita to take flight in fear. The oppressed Mandinka people now send for the exiled Sundiata. Forging a coalition of neighboring small kingdoms, Sundiata wages war against the Sosso, finally defeating Soumaoro Kanté at the Battle of Kirina (c. 1240). Soumaoro Kanté disappears in the Koulikoro mountains, and Sundiata assumes the title "Mansa," "king of kings," as the first ruler of the Mali Empire.

Mansa

Sundiata Keita established his capital at his home village of Niani, Mali, near the present-day Malian border with Guinea. Though he converted to Islam, Sundiata also exploited local religion, building a reputation as a man of powerful magic.

Sundiata was not an absolute monarch, despite what the title implies. Though he probably wielded popular authority, the Mali Empire was reportedly run like a federation, with each tribe having a chief representative at the court. The first tribes were Mandinka clans of Traore, Kamara, Koroma, Konde, and of course Keita. The tribal council was in charge of checking the Mansa's power, enforcing his edicts among their people, and selecting the successor (usually the Mansa's brother or sister's son).

Sundiata Keita died in 1255, probably of drowning. Tradition holds that he died while crossing the Sankarini river, where a shrine remains today. He had three sons who succeeded him to the throne of the Mali Empire: Mansa Wali Keita, Ouati Keita and Khalifa Keita. The famous West African ruler Mansa Musa is his grandnephew.

Sundiata is possibly identical with Marijata, also celebrated as founder of Mali empire in one or more pieces of oral history recorded by the Arab historian Ibn Khaldun in the late 14th century.

External links

*PDF: Guide to Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali from the Boston University's African Studies Center
*Sundiata and Mansa Musa on the Web web directory
*Outline of the Sundiata epic by Janice Siegel

References

* Davidson, Basil. Africa in History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
* McKissack, Patricia and Fredrick. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa. Sagebrush: 1995.
* Well known translations of the epic include D.T. Niane's prose version, Sundiata : An Epic of Old Mali (Harlow : Longman, 1994, c1965) and Fa-Digi Sisoko's oral version, Son-Jara : The Mande Epic (Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, 2003).