State · 1235 – 1670

Mali Empire

A state of 1235 – 1670 — 435 years in sub-Saharan Africa. It replaced Baté Empire. The atlas records 12 things within it — people 12. Its line of rulers holds 23 people, 5 with dated terms.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 435 years; 1235 – 1670
Rulers: 23; the Mansa
Most ground: 1.12 million km²; in 1415
Within it: 12; recorded rows

Map: Mali Empire in 1415, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Mali Empire in 1415, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 1.12 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Mali Empire in 1415, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Mali Empire in 1595, last mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Baté Empire · replaces

Rulers

The line of Mansa.

died in officeleft alive by a regular roadending not on recorda second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Sundiata Keita	1235 – 1255	20 years	died by accidentWikidata's manner of death
Mansa Musa	1312 – 1337	25 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone
Maghan I	1332 – 1336	4 years	left office aliveread off the dates alone	child
Sulayman of Mali	1341 – 1360	19 years	ending not on record
Mahmud IV	1590 – 1600	10 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone

23 rulers, 5 with terms dated as terms, covering 1235 – 1600. Median reign 19 years. 1 of 4 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

976,800 km² in 1260, 129,000 km² in 1610; at its largest 1.12 million km² in 1435. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1200 – 12996 rows

Mansa Musa · ruler · 1280 – 1337
Mansa Sakura · ruler · 1201 – 1300
Mansa Qu · ruler · 1201 – 1305
Maghan I · ruler · 1234 – 1341
Mansa Muhammad · ruler · 1201 – 1310
Abu Bakr · ruler · 1228 – 1285

1300 – 13992 rows

Abu Bakr II · ruler · 1300 – 1400
Sulayman of Mali · ruler · 1301 – 1360

1400 – 14993 rows

Askia Muhammad I · ruler · 1443 – 1538
Mahmud III · ruler · 1450 – 1600
Mahmud IV · ruler · 1450 – 1599

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood435 years
stood longer than 83% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held1,117,900 km²
held more ground at its peak than 85% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median19 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 59% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record23
has more rulers on record than 93% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 1 cause the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1191 – 1714, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1415, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q184536 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.