Mansa (ruler title)
Mansa (pl. Mansolu ) is a ruler title from medieval Africa . In the Mandinka language, it means king of kings . The title was used by the kings of the Islamic kingdom of Mali , which dominated West Africa from the 13th to the early 15th century .
The first holder of the title was the legendary founder of the kingdom Sundiata Keïta . However, the data are not absolute, as different views prevail in the specialist field. The reigns mentioned in the following list go back to the French orientalist Maurice Delafosse, who calculated the dates a hundred years ago and in some cases proceeded very arbitrarily. His calculations, which are based on the information provided by the North African historian Ibn Chaldūn , have been criticized and also corrected by younger historians.
List of rulers of the Mali Empire
- Sundiata Keïta (1245-1260)
- Mansa Wali Keïta (1260-1270)
- Ouati Keïta (1270-1274)
- Khalifa Keïta (1274-1275)
- Abu Bakr (1275-1285)
- Sakura (1285-1300)
- Qū (1300–1305) - often incorrectly spelled “Gao”
- Mohammed ibn Qu (1305-1310 or 1312)
- Abubakari (Abu Bakr) II. (1310-1312) - probably a fictional person
- Mansa Musa (Kankan Musa I) (1312-1337)
- Maghan (1337-1341)
- Suleyman (1341-1360)
- Cash desk (1360)
- Mari Diata II. (1360-1374)
- Musa II (1374-1387)
- Magha II (1387-1389)
- Sandaki (1389-1390)
- Mahmud (1390-1400)
Remarks
- ^ Arnold Hughes, David Perfect: Historical dictionary of The Gambia (Historical Dictionaries of Africa; Vol. 109) . 4th ed. Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md. 2008, ISBN 978-0-8108-5825-1 .
- ^ Nehemia Levtzion, " The Thirteenth and Fourteenth-Century Kings of Mali, " Journal of African History 4 (1963), 341–353.
- ↑ Gao is a city on the Niger, and it is traditionally the center of the Songhai. Their language is not related to the Mande. I am following the correct spelling as it is customary in works on West African history, e.g. B. Nehemia Levtzion, Ancient Ghana and Mali. London - New York 1973.