The Epic of Old Mali and Sundiata and its Historical Signficance to Western

THE EPIC OF OLD MALI AND SUNDIATA AND ITS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE TO WESTERN AFRICA
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Introduction
Like most of the epic stories of the ancient communities and their ways of life, Western Africa countries also have their share of the infallible men and women that stood for the freedom and recognition of their people without fear. This has been the case with the empires that left their mark in the times of the Roman Empires, which have been highly published and adapted for screenplays. Most of the epic stories that are passed down the generation have the image of certain individuals in the community that rose to the defense of their people and were believed to possess powers no other person in the community would summon2. These epic recollections of the Old Mali Empire are still alive due to the efforts that have been put in by the griots. The griots are people that were entrusted with the passing of the community memories to the rest of the generations to date. They came in many forms, from song writers, singers, story tellers, musicians, poets and historians who kept the tales of the ancient tribes alive1.
In the timeline between the years 500 and 1700 AD, some of the most powerful and rich civilizations spread in the West African region. Among them were Ghana, Mali and the Songhai. At the time, Ghana was commonly known as the land of gold. It was during the same time that the Old Mali Empire was on the rise. For about three hundred years, most of the kings that ruled the small kingdom of Mali came from the Keita clan. Later when Sundiata came to the throne, he built one of the most remarkable empires ever developed on the West coast of Africa. In this age, families lived in clans and most of the time these families had griots to tell them of their history. The griots were also advisors to the kings and would present the history of the empire through song and dance for the king. Further, griots were very important people to the kings at the time, such that, if one of the kings abducted a griot from another king, this would easily escalate into a war.
The Rise of the Mali Empire
Magna Kon Fatta was a father to Sundiata at the time he ruled the city of Niani as a king. It happened that a soothsaying hunter came to the city and foretold that the king would bear one of the most powerful rulers in the land after marrying an ugly woman. Later on, two hunters came bearing a woman that was very ugly and the king thought of this as the foretold event of a great ruler coming from an ugly woman. According to the hunters, they had to defeat a very powerful buffalo which had been terrorizing the residents in a far away land to earn this ugly woman. When the king took the ugly woman to his wife in an attempt to make arrangement to consummate the marriage, the wife refused. Later, there were some magic powers that took away her resistance and she agreed to the union and hence Sundiata was conceived. When Sundiata was born, all was not well as he had been a cripple for more than seven years and the king’s first wife did not like him, so she spread rumors throughout the city about him and the ugly mother, Sogolon3.
When the king finally died, the older step brother to Sundiata was given the mandate by the elders to take the throne, since they do not believe in him. The queen orchestrates exile for Sundiata, his mother and the rest of his family after realizing that his son may lose control of the kingdom to Sundiata. In exile, Sundiata learns a lot about war and becoming a king. As they move from one asylum to the next, he meets one of the kings called Moussa Tounkara who glooms him in an attempt to make him his heir. After learning that a sorcerer king called Soumaoro Kante had taken away his kingdom in Niani, he returns to his home town to build an army. Sundiata realizes that he is winning the battle but cannot kill the sorcerer king due to his magical protection, turning to magic. He is given an arrow that dissolves the powers of the sorcerer king, after which he defeats him by trapping him in a cave. He also dethrones all the kings that were loyal to Kante and builds the Old Mali Empire, where he splits the kingdom into units for all the rulers who vowed to serve him.
Reliability of the Story of Sundiata to the History of the Mali Empire
One of the aspects of the orally passed down stories about any of the great empires that ever existed is that there is an element of change in the content of the material, though the context may not change much. Having been passed through the ages, it is common that some of the aspects of the story are going to be washed off, even though the most crucial details remain. This is mostly the case with reference to the Sundiata case. However, there are elements in the story that can directly be linked to some of the events that took place during the reign of the old Mali Empire. One of the most crucial aspects that relate to the historical significance of the Sundiata tale is that, it brings out the tension that traditional kings had amongst themselves and how Islam developed and built influence as a religion in the region. After the great kingdom of Ghana had collapsed, all the major pillars of the economy were still in play; which included agriculture, trade and technology. What remained open was the person that was going to fill in the position of a courageous and diligent king who would then bring all the elements of good governance into play. At the time, there was the king of Soso called Kante and Sundiata, a chief from the Malinke tribe. Although one may argue that the story is biased due to the fact that it passed down by the winning tribe of the Malinke, it is also an indication of the fact that the Islamic religion was growing rapidly in the region asserting its influence. Partly, there is also the fact that Kante is brought out as having been evil due to relying on witchcraft for his power to rule, while Sundiata relied on the Islamic faith and therefore good.
As mentioned earlier, the stories and the legends of the time during the old Mali Empire were narrated by griots. The griots were the persons that were given the duty of relating the legendary stories of the empire through the ages. They were very crucial to the well being of the community of the Mandinkas, since the ki...