the djembe and delune drums of Mali Herald the arrival on a historical stage of the kings and warriors who were to dominate West Africa from the thirteenth century for more than 300 years a roll call of men some military geniuses some great innovators or patrons of scholarship in the fame city of Timbuktu enter the manda Kings Sundiata sunny ali-bear Mansa Musa Abu Bakar II the second and Oscar Mohammed kings of the empires of Mali and Songhai we had Great King the travel a lot we had a great suggestion we have one of the biggest university in the world until it - at a time and formally this very important area these Kings were to become the stuff of legend and their empires admired across the world for their culture and riches story of Africa history from an African perspective hot 9 the empires of Mali and Songhai presented by you question [Music] the great empires of Mali and songhay rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the ruins of the old garner Empire which had dominated the manda area between the fourth and the 11th centuries the Ghana Empire emerged from the mandate speaking areas which today span Mali Mauritania Senegal Guinea Gambia Ivory Coast Burkina Faso Sierra Leone and Liberia it's worth was based mainly on gold : Utz millet sorghum high and slaves they traded with a nomadic Tuareg zuv a sahara desert who crossed the Sahel on camels laden with salt textiles and exotic goods but by the middle of the 11th century this Empire had begun to crumble out of the ruins came new empires which were even bigger and the demise of one and the rise of others has inspired many a griot to put history to verse and recount the turbulent history of this region formerly the kings of Ghana extended the kingdom all over the land inhabited by the black man but the circle has closed and the CCA of wackadoo are nothing more than petty princes in a desolate land today another Kingdom looms of powerful [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] Jonjo in mandingo is a song dedicated to the bravery of warriors and has been saddled to all those devoted to protecting the land and its people since the era of the Empire of Mali according to tradition the Mali Empire began after a battle between two great warriors Samoa the king of so-so was according to legend an evil sorcerer as well as a strong soldier he had conquered Ghana and many surrounding kingdoms around 1220 and extended his hold over many peoples but within a few years he too was forced to yield to the greater military power of a rising Kingdom Mali at the head of this emerging Empire was a young warrior called Sundiata Keita [Music] Sundiata Keita the son of a hunchback woman had been prevented from taking his rightful place on the throne of his father's land of jnana in present-day Guinea at the age of 18 he fled into exile with his mother and siblings professor tabouleh is the director of the National Ministry of Arts and Culture in Bamako Mali as Thais Sundiata played a very important role in the building of the Empire of Mali not every information you know the old from the griot after a series of battles and strategic maneuvers he managed to recover mandate territory from the old Ghana Empire and extend the boundaries of his empire even further by 1240 he had not only returned to me Ani to reclaim his heritage he had also formed alliances to defeat the king of us also be for Shunyata there is just real Kingdom in a Monday from Mali to Guinea to Gambia to Senegal name you hear most I mean either Sanjaya because he was with Bill Doyle vampire of muddy by the time he was 30 many kings depended on Sundiata for their security and indeed their sovereignty they paid him tribute and in a great ceremony in kanga bah a historic State for the Monday near the footage Alan mountains in Ginny's Highlands twelve kings of the Savannah proclaimed their allegiance to Sundiata and he was hailed monster or Emperor under him the Capitol neon II and other cities such as Gen a general entered a new glorious era of peace and prosperity dr. Samuel Sidibe is the director of the National Museum in Bamako important economic aspect of this ah Speer was was given by the trans-sahara and commerce people comes from North Africa for the father and buy the gold buy slaves and could to North Africa with this gold on this claim trade increased through the work of the doulas the merchants who controlled the caravan traded across the Sahara and under sand yatta the foundation was laid for other even greater developments and new changes by the eighth century Islam was growing in importance in the region people still practiced traditional religion and many rituals were still being performed to appease the gods and Sundiata did not encourage his people to behave otherwise the National Museum in Bamako holds a number of terracotta statues which reflected this pre Islamic culture have his knife touches coming from GOG no dating from the 13th century it is touch it linked to animus tradition and we know that at this period Islam were becoming very important progenies you know this touch it has been discovered with the original have disappear maybe just to say we are not now enemies but we broke the head to just say okay this touch is no more useful for us my name kolcaba cara de casa da Jolly manual karate by the time of Sundiata is death islam had spread throughout the Empire of Mali sweeping away many ancient customs such historical events are the raw material for the aerations of the griot such as sorry oh dear but I firmly here she sings in praise of Sundiata is descendant and the next great Marlene Emperor Abubakar II the second Abubakar ii often known as man de bourree was perhaps one of the shortest serving of the Malian rulers who gave up his throne in pursuit of exploration and adventure by setting off across the Atlantic once ever waka the second is the only African who has trade to go to America before Chris of column professor Ali lcd is the chief historian responsible for establishing the city of Timbuktu as a world heritage site so glass in the mandate sing songs about the history of abu bakr ii and expedition he has a guised because he sent his boats from jericho karate is the project coordinator for an organization called the quest for Abu Bakr the second set up to delve into this fascinating but controversial chapter in Mali in history we actually don't want to bring forward the fact that I work at the second was the first to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean we know through evidence that the Vikings from Norway have been there long before and also the Chinese they have been there around year 1000 but a workers crossing was around the 14th century 13 and 12 this was some 150 years for Columbus Arab historians were certainly keen to relate the story of this fantastic voyage Alomari wrote about this expedition has told to him by abu bakar successor Mansa Musa in 1325 I our source and Musa how the kingdom fell to him and he said we belong to a house which hands on the kingship by inheritance the king who was my predecessor did not believe it was impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and wish vehemently to do so so he quipped 200 ships filled with men and the same number equipped with gold water and provisions enough to last them for years and said to the man depleted to lead them do not return until you reach the end of it alas one ship did return the captain on board reported that he turned back when he'd seen a mighty current in the open sea swallowing the other ships in a mighty wave but the sultan disbelieved him then the swords and got ready two thousand ships one thousand for himself and the men whom he took with him and one thousand for water and provisions he left me to deputize for him and embarked on the Atlantic Ocean with his men that was the last we saw of him and all those who were with him and so I became king in my own right it has been said in some books that when Christopher Columbus went back to Spain he went along with some spares lances on tip of Homer there were some gold they were made a lab analysis of those gold and it revealed that this coal have the same consistency as gold found in Monday area and also Columbus confessed that he met there some black traders who are doing some commercial negotiations with Indians these statements bring me to say that either black people have reached the American continent or somehow the Indians came to Africa if Abu Bakar II ii did succeed in reaching America it raises the tantalizing prospect that Africans and Indians had developed trading links 600 years ago more than a century before European explorers claimed to have discovered the Americas yet as exciting as the story is the custodians of oral history in Mali have been silent about an African landing in America before Columbus the griots didn't see weather up worker ii did as a deserving act for most of them they just feel as if I work at the second was just a traitor because he left his kingdom and he trusted someone with the ruling and went across the sea what for they said it's an act of betrayal yet if not for the abdication of Abu Bakar II the second the Monday would not have reaped the benefits of his successor Mansa Musa or conquer Moosa as is known by some has been described as one of the most colorful personalities in West African history he embraced Islam wholeheartedly and Islam came to dominate many facets of society during his reign this is how al omari recalled Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325 he left his country with hundred loads of gold which he spent during his pilgrimage he forwarded to the royal treasure in Egypt many Lords of unworked native gold and other valuables this man flooded Cairo with his benefactions merchants of misery and Cairo have told me of the profits they made from the Africans Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came but from that time its value fell and he cheapened in price and has remained cheap reason of the large amount of gold which they brought into Egypt and spent there however Mansa Musa earned a reputation both home and abroad for more than lavish spending and the ability to cause rampant inflation in the remote city of Timbuktu in northern Mali nestling amidst the Saharan desert sands monuments to the architectural legacy that man samosa introduced still stand today proud and tall among the sand dunes are many mosques and other buildings in the so called Sudanese style that the king promoted we had a big mosque called ginger a bear that was built and it was financed by the king haku Musa Musa Musa when he went to the coordinates to Mecca in 1325 when coming to break from that privilege he's troubled by Cairo where he met an architect from Andalusia a wood is hack si Lee he gave him 40 thousand mythical of gold to Butte this mosque so he brought a lifestyle from Saudi Arabia and from Egypt building in the Mali Empire was never the same again now structures in yani Timbuktu and Gow were to be razed built out of mud and a stone called Jennifer II such architecture drew the praises of many travelers from near and far but this was not the only legacy he left behind because of Mansa Musa the Amba of Mali was known overseas and the AMPA Mahdi had a diplomatic relation with some European countries you know like a span and you know previant probably France so this is another big legacy don't people don't see in 1375 shall five only one of his maps Timbuktu was located and there was on the same map a picture of Cancun Elsa holding a piece of gold on that map this ancient map commissioned by the king of Spain can still be seen today in the National Library in Paris is housed and certainly though he reigned for just over 25 years within this time Mansa Musa managed to transform Molly from a prosperous Kingdom reliant on strong trading links with the Berbers and other merchants to a spectacular Empire which was the rival of others in the world in the 14th century under Mansa Musa it could be said that the Marleen Empire consolidated its glory and power and reached its zenith it was through him that faith in one God took precedence and Islam became the religion of state across the whole land even though it was largely confined to the elite and not practiced by the masses the Islamic character and structure of the Empire nevertheless took shape laying the foundation for the others who were to follow [Music] under Mansa Musa Timbuktu became one of the major centers of Islamic scholarship under a group of people who for centuries had been persecuted for their pursuit of knowledge by the end of the 11th century according to some historians the former city of wall after which does exist nowadays in Mauritania was called view by the end of the 11th century the scholars of Bureau were cited by the Americans by the Berber people and the key means symbol to to get refuge so they found their own sector called Bianchi Kunda and that sector was a part of some query which was also the quarter and the mosque by 1332 Mansa Musa was dead his death was the beginning of the end of the mauryan empire a series of dynastic struggles for the throne occurred against a background of economic decline as miley weakened Tuareg sand Saharan merchants were beginning to rebel against paying tribute to the inefficient and weak Malian Kings [Applause] this is juju singing praises to the king and brave fighters of songhai the Empire which by the middle of the 15th century eclipsed smiley someone bye-bye even much bigger than the unbirth Molly so was really huge you know territories Grimm probably you know from an idea almost two of the Atlantic questions and was probably one of the most elaborated political power in West Africa one of the first prominent songhai Kings were Sonny Ali bear his reign was short but significant unusually for a West African ruler during this period he was a non Muslim who continued to practice traditional religion leading a powerful army and navy he earned the reputation as a ruthless commander yet he retained control over a vast and powerful empire and the loyalty of millions of subjects within the numerous kingdoms they dominated I think people just in pure coconuts you know V domination of this song we're on fire and then they will pay the taxes prove Empire mr. lawyer because you can fund pitifully you can create easily so they did they recognize the Salama as a central power people they protect them although maintaining their own cultural identity and paying allegiance to this growing songhai empire not everyone was happy the capital city was located in Gow about 350 miles east of Timbuktu Timbuktu was a learning center and let me tell you that there was a kind of opposition which won the population Timbuktu and Sonny Olivia because most of a population here were Muslims and Sunni Arab air was in an enemies but in the month ality of local people he was a magician he was a criminal in 1468 he has occupied Timbuktu all the scholars who were against his entrance in Timbuktu were either arrested deported or killed many scholars fled Timbuktu to avoid death Sonny Ali band's reputation as a tyrannical leader who rejected Islam and persecuted Muslims marred the more positive aspects of his legacy so Oliver is having his own cultural identity he has African values but the first thing he did is the political organization the land was well organized he came up with a panel project that was linking Timbuktu for example to a part of Mauritania he can also heat another project close to Timbuktu for the farmers though his canal project remained a pipe dream his plans for building dikes to irrigate the land for farmers within parts of the Empire were successful they said song I on a path of economic expansion that was developed by his successors it's not clear who directly succeeded Sonny ali-bear but by the late 15th century the Empire was being led by Oscar Mohammed a man who wrought changes most notably in the development of universities and centres of learning and establishing Islam as the religion of state to be practiced not just by the elite but by the masses [Music] he develops collages because Oscar get along very well you know this intellectual Sunday which was team up to let you kind of think about already University has a similar campus you know like we see today you can have several Learning Center in a town and each Willie my each scholar has a lot of kids coming to him and learning from him Sankara mosque in Timbuktu also served as the University the students were grouped in four different sets of different levels and each set would study for an hour to time while the other students took classes in the Quranic schools we had 180 Quranic schools in Timbuktu by that time and each corner schools is counting an average of 75 or 80 students students came from everywhere the University of Timbuktu was having relationship with Toledo in Grenada in Andalusia Spain with kill one in Tunisia the university of al-azhar in Egypt and other universities in Saudi Arabia Zaria in Nigeria and color book writing and book binding were lucrative businesses and Oscar Mohammed encouraged the production of printed material the Sankore mosque where such books were read still stands and there were no longer houses books it's still a center for worship I'm gonna give you a small idea about the Sun color mosque the architectural style is a Sudanese one they use mark okay if you see where we have 25,000 students in the past the egg of the UH Trish was eliminated the mosque and its guiding people from the desert from the city they they have a special lamp they put it inside okay to show to people the city itself this is this is pathetic sometimes the megaphone is dating from 1998 this one being the FAL this this mosque was dating from the 14th century nowadays people use speakers to let more people hurry about the appeal for the player Abdul Qader mama owned some of the books and manuscripts rescued from the old library in University in Timbuktu his family has owned a private library of ancient manuscripts dating back to the 13th century and hundreds of the delicate leather-bound illuminated tomes are now housed in rows and rows of dusty iron chests in a storeroom in his house one cut the man's physical body first gate to encourage a tone Cathy you're gonna get on Karuma you wanna buddy take a hit from a young age I've been really interested in the old manuscripts I am very proud that I am protecting them and looking for a way to save all these manuscripts sometimes people look at me like I'm a foolish guy because I'm interested in these old manuscripts they'd said to me don't you have anything to do but this but probably they don't know the importance of heritage as you can see our mayor kill Monica Lee the song way tamasha tell all the manuscripts are Arabic manuscripts but we have some manuscripts translated into some Roy Thomas check Fulani pearl these are dealing with social sciences Quranic studies astronomy a jibra and so on and I've learned especially from those dealing with traditional medicine professor Ali lcd is in no doubt as to the greatness of the man who promoted such religious teaching and scholarship Oscar Mohammed he has proved that somewhere in Africa is possible not only to come up with Empire but also to have their own political system their own society but also to create and to rewrite also their own history the Songhai Empire lasted till around 1590 when it finally succumbed to invasion at the hands of the moroccan army seeking to expand their own empire but while it lasted songhay at its height had won respect for its social cohesion political and economic stability and scholarly achievement as empires in the west of the continent were rising and falling people in other parts of Africa were going through their own exciting and turbulent cycle [Music] [Music]