23 Facts About Sundiata Keita

Sundiata Keita was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire.

Sundiata Keita was the great-uncle of the Malian ruler Mansa Musa, who is usually regarded as the wealthiest person of all time, although there are no reliable ways to accurately calculate his wealth.

The oral traditions relating to Sundiata Keita were passed down generation after generation by the local griots, until eventually their stories were put into writing.

Sundiata Keita was the son of Nare Maghann Konate and Sogolon Conde.

Sundiata Keita was crippled from childhood and his mother was the subject of ridicule among her co-wives.

Sundiata Keita was constantly teased and ridiculed openly for her son's disability.

Sundiata Keita was admired by the King of Mema for his courage and tenacity.

When King Soumaoro Kante of Sosso conquered the Mandinka people, messengers were sent to go and look for Sogolon and her children, as Sundiata Keita was destined to be a great leader according to prophecy.

Sundiata Keita was the first of the Mandinka line of kings to adopt the royal title Mansa.

The proper English spelling of Sundiata Keita's name is Sunjata, pronounced soon-jah-ta, approaching the actual pronunciation in the original Mandinka.

The name Sundiata Keita praises him through his mother which means "the lion of Sogolon" or "Sogolon's lion".

Sundiata Keita's name is thus a derivation of his mother's name Sogolon and Jata.

Some Bambaras and Mandinkas have proposed that the name Keita actually means inheritor in the Mandinka language, and that Sundiata's real surname is Konate or Konateh, variations: Konate, Conateh.

The name Sundiata Keita is a clan name rather than a surname.

The consensus is, in c 1235, Sundiata who had survived one of Soumaoro's earlier raids went to war with the help of his allies against King Soumaoro of Sosso.

Serer oral tradition speaks of a Serer king of Jolof, involved in the occult, who was later defeated by Tiramakhan Traore after Sundiata Keita sent his men to buy horses in Jolof.

Sundiata Keita is regarded as a great hunter and magician whose subjects predominantly adhered to traditional beliefs, as did Sundiata Keita.

However, some of Sundiata's successors were Muslim, with Mansa Musa Keita being one of the most widely known.

Some Muslim griots later added to the epic of Sundiata Keita by claiming that Sundiata Keita has "an ancestral origin among the companions of Muhammad in Mecca" and speaks of himself as a successor to Dhu al-Qarnayn, a conqueror and king mentioned in the Quran, commonly regarded as a reference to Alexander the Great.

Sundiata Keita was responsible for the conquest of Diafunu and Kita.

The generally accepted death year of Mansa Sundiata Keita is c 1255.

However, in a wider perspective of 13th century West African military history, Sundiata Keita stood out as a great leader who was able to command the loyalties of his generals and army.

Sundiata Keita was not merely a conqueror who was able to rule over a large empire with different tribes and languages, but developed Mali's mechanisms for agriculture, and is reported to have introduced cotton and weaving in Mali.