Mansa Musa's Succession Crisis and the Rise of Mari Djata II

After Mansa Musa's death in 1337, the Mali Empire faced a turbulent succession that nearly unraveled everything he built. This episode follows the brief reign of his son Maghan I, the coup by his uncle Sulayman, and the disastrous rule of Sulayman's son Mari Djata II, whose tyranny and debauchery plunged Mali into chaos. Drawing on the accounts of Ibn Battuta and the oral traditions of the jeliw, we explore how the farba system of provincial governance strained under weak leadership, how the gold-wealth from Bambuk and Bure fueled court intrigue, and how the Mande empire's decline began not with external invasion but with internal rot. We also examine Mari Djata II's death by leprosy in 1373, the succession of his brother Musa II, and the brief restoration under the farba of Niani, N'Djamena? No—Kanku Musa's nephew? Actually, the jeliw recall a regent named Diata? We'll untangle the sources. This is the story of how a golden age ended—not with a bang, but with a court drowning in gold and blood. #MaliEmpire #MansaMusa #MariDjataII #IbnBattuta #WestAfricanHistory #MedievalAfrica #SuccessionCrisis #Farba #Bambuk #Bure #Wangara #Jeliw #SundiataKeita #Mande #Niani #Timbuktu #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo