West Africa Continued
Sundiata
African Odyssey
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Samanguru was a warrior that managed to conquer a great deal of West Africa once Ghana was weakened. Samanguru was hostile to the Mandinka people who lived in the region. His taxes were high, he felt it was his privilege to carry off Mandinka women, and he failed to maintain law and order along the trade routes. The griots of West Africa still speak of the story of the sickly young boy who grew up to become a great warrior. Sundiata was one of twelve brothers who were the children of a Mandinka warrior. Samanguru killed the twelve brothers, but spared Sundiata because he believed the boy would die anyway. That was a mistake that would lead to Samanguru�s downfall, because the sickly boy recovered eventually assembled an army to confront Samanguru. Sundiata�s forces killed Samanguru and destroyed his forces in the Battle of Kirina in 1235. Sundiata then became mansa, or king of a new empire which we know today as Mali, or �where the king resides.� Sundiata proved himself a great warrior, but he was only interested in removing Samanguru and once again making West Africa a safe place to travel and trade. He converted to Islam, but only as a gesture of goodwill to the merchants and traders. To his own people, Sundiata presented himself as a champion of traditional West African religion.
