The mid-fourteenth century capital of Mali
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8064192 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John O Hunwick (University of Ghana, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1973 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 195-206 |
| Publication date | 1973-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of African History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0021853700012512 |
| OpenAlex | W2168682336 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 20 |
| References cited | 6 |
For over a century scholars have been attempting to locate the area and, if possible, the actual site of the capital of the Mali empire in its period of greatness. Since the 1920S attention has been focused on an area near the Sankararni river, a tributary entering the Niger from the south, upstream from Bamako. Over recent years a Polish-Guinean archaeological expedition has been digging a site there, but with inconclusive results so far. A close reading of the few descriptions we have of the capital of Mali, and in particular of the route taken by Ibn Battūta, who visited the capital in 1352, suggests that the city lay on the left bank of the river Niger somewhere between Segu and Bamako. This is in fact a ‘logical] site for the capital of an empire whose tributaries lay mainly in the savannah and Sahel belts, and in whose armies cavalry played a significant role. For this reason, and a number of others, the recent hypothesis of Claude Meillassoux, suggesting a location for the capital south of the R. Falémé (and perhaps also of the R. Gambia), seems doubtful. The proper name for the capital is also discussed
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Capital (architecture · Cartography · Economic history · Empire · Geography · Greatness · Period (music · Tributary · African Studies and Ethnography · African Studies and Geopolitics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History
The western Maghrib and Sudan
Upper and Lower Guinea
Settlement, Landscape and Narrative
Niani Redux
The imperial capital of Mâli (14th century)
“Bamanaya is so difficult to leave behind”
Wangara, Akan and Portuguese in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I. The matter of Bitu
The ‘Pays Dô’ and the Origins of the Empire of Mali
Mande Kaba,” the Capital of Mali
La Chute De La Dynastie Des Sisse
Perceptions of Bonduku's Contribution to the Western Sudanese Gold Trade
Evidence of an Eleventh-Century AD Cola Nitida Trade into the Middle Niger Region
Sorotomo
A Reconsideration of Wangara/Palolus, Island of Gold
The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali
Great States Revisited
The African Lords of the Intercontinental Gold Trade Before the Black Death
L’introuvable capitale du Mali. La question de la capitale dans l’historiographie du royaume médiéval du Mali
A Town Called Dakajalan
Power and permanence in precolonial Africa
| Unique citing works | 20 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,38 |
| Citation span | 1974 - 2024 (51) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 20 |