Malitimeline

1 million years ago
Homo erectus, early man, develops in sub-Saharan Africa.

40,000 B.C.
Homo sapiens found throughout the habitable parts of Africa, Asia, and Europe.

8000 B.C.
Ancestors of the West Africans appear in the Niger River area.

2750 B.C.
During the Old and Middle Stone Ages, West Africans gather food, hunt, fish, and dig for roots in what is called the Sahel.

2000 B.C.
The Joliba and the Quorra rivers join to form the Niger River in West Africa.

500 B.C.
Iron in general use in West Africa.

146 B.C. to 31 B.C.
Roman conquest of North Africa; Berbers’ southern migration begins.

200 A.D.
About 1 million people live in the Sahel.

300-500
Rise of Ghana due to trade; fall of Rome (A.D. 410); early Christian era.

610-700
Muhammad has first revelation; Qur’an written; spread of Islam, often through violent conflict. Arabian conquest of North Africa and Spain.

700
Ghana under the rule of Sisse clan. Europe in “Dark Ages.” Islam reaches the Sudan through trade and scholarship.

700-1000
Ghana dominant power in Western Sudan.

800
Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III

900-1000
Arab scholars write about Sudan.

1000
Al-Bakri writes history of Old Kingdom of Ghana based on reports from travelers, merchants, traders, etc.

1050
Almoravid invasion of Ghana; wide disruption of trade.

1087
Death of Abu Bakr, leader of Almoravids; movement declines; Muslim impact is widespread in the Western Sudan among kings but not in rural villages where traditional religions are practiced.

1095
Pope Urban II decrees the first of eight “Crusades,” a series of military campaigns to expand Christianity eastward. They are a failure, but lead to a cultural awakening in Europe.

1100
City of Tombouctou founded as a small trading center along the Niger River.

1150
Susu clan dominates old Ghana.

1230
Sundiata, a Mandinka prince, defeats the Susu and founds the kingdom of Mali.

1255
Sundiata dies but leaves Mali securely in control of West-African gold and salt trade.

1307
Reign of Mansa Musa begins.

1320
Mansa Musa captures Tombouctou as part of Mali Empire, becomes center for scholarship, trade.

1324
Mansa Musa’s hajj (pilgrimage) to Egypt and Mecca. Al-Umari (1301-1349) records Mansa Musa’s visit in the Masalik al-Ahsad.

1325
Mali captures Gao.

1332
Mansa Musa dies.

1353
Ibn Battuta visits Mali, first person to write a first hand account of his travels in West Africa.

1359
Mali divided by civil war.

1433
Timbuktu captured and controlled by Berbers.

1450
Mali absorbed by Songhay; beginning of Renaissance in Europe.

1464
Reign of Sunni Ali Ber begins.

1468
Sunni Ali takes Timbuktu; sacks the city.

1473
Djenne surrenders after seven-year siege by Mali.

1492
Sunni Ali Ber dies; Columbus begins voyage to Americas; Edict of Expulsion forces thousands of Muslims and Jews to flee Spain.

1492-1495
Songhay taken over by military leader named Askia Muhammad Toure. He makes hajj to Mecca in 1495.

1512
Leo Africanus, who visits Songhay in 1512, is first to write an account of sub-Saharan Africa (1562) that is translated into a language other than Arabic. Michelangelo completes his painting in the Sistine Chapel.

1518
Africans imported to Hispaniola by Spain to replace Native American laborers who ran off, committed suicide, or died rather than be enslaved.

1590-1591
Mahmud al-Kati, Soninke writer, begins writing history of Sudan. No document survives, but his work is incorporated into the work Tarikh al-fettash, by Ibn Mukhtar. Leonardo da Vinci dies; Cortez enters Tenochtitlan, capital of Mexico, and meets the Aztec ruler Montezuma.

1528
Askia Muhammad exiled by son; dies in 1538.

1582
Songhay kingdom ruled by Askia Daoud.

1591
Songhay empire attacked by Morocco.

1618
Moroccan occupation of Songhay ends. Decline of Songhay complete by end of 17th century.

1619
Africans are sold from a Dutch warship to merchants of Virginia Company in Jamestown, Virginia.

1670
Tuareg Berbers capture Gao.

1841(?)
Al-Siddiq, after spending thirty years as a slave in Jamaica, returns to his home in West Africa.

1865
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution ends slavery in the United States

1884
At Berlin Conference, Africa is divided by European countries, and the period of African colonization begins.

1889
French invasion and take over of Mali, the French Sudan becomes part of the Federation of French West Africa.

1958
French constitutional referendum, French Sudan voted to the French Community as the autonomous Sudanese republic.

1960
Sudanese Republic loses Senegal and becomes the fully independent Republic of Mali.

1968
Mousssa Traoré elected president (reelected in 1979)

1979
New constitution contained provision for elections to be held, democratic measures were implemented in spite of an unstable political climate.

1991
President Traoré is overthrown and the military takes control.

1992
Constitution approves multi-party democracy and Alpha Konaré is elected in the first democratic presidential election.

1997
President Konaré reelected

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