This is the Epic of Sundiata, the founding story of the Mali Empire. It is a legend, not a record. West African storytellers called griots carried it by memory from one generation to the next, and it begins with a prophecy. A hunter-diviner told a king, Naré Maghann Konaté, that he must marry an ugly woman. Their son, the diviner said, would become a legendary king. Two hunters came to the court. They had killed a shapeshifting buffalo that was terrorizing a distant land, and as their reward they had received a woman. Her name was Sogolon Kondé, and she was hunchbacked. The hunters presented her to the king. The prophecy said the son of this Buffalo Woman would be the greatest of all African rulers. The king married her, and a son was born. But the boy could not walk. How could such a child fulfil the prophecy?
Sundiata: The Lion King of Mali
A boy who could not walk until age seven became the founder of the Mali Empire, according to the Epic of Sundiata.
The Buffalo Woman
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Epic of Sundiata and who preserved it?
The Epic of Sundiata is the founding story of the Mali Empire. It was carried by memory and recited by griots, also called jeliw, who are hereditary West African storytellers. It mixes history with legend, so its miracles are part of the tradition rather than established fact.
Why was Sundiata called the Lion?
He was born Mari Djata, but he became known as Sundiata. That name is a contraction of Sogolon Djata, which means Sogolon's Lion, after his mother Sogolon Kondé.
What was the Manden Charter?
The Manden Charter was an oral constitution of 44 laws, proclaimed by Sundiata at Kurukan Fuga before an assembly of 12 kings. It covered social peace, the sanctity of human life, education and the abolition of slavery by raiding. UNESCO inscribed it on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
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