The Twelve Doors of Mali
[ Thompson, Robert Farris, ''Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy'', ]Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
(2010), p. 195,
(Retrieved 13 April 2019) were the possessions of the
Mansa (title), Mansa (emperor) of the medieval
Mali Empire which was established in c.. 1235 following
The Battle of Kirina. These lands were either allied to or conquered by
Sundiata Keita (the first Emperor of Imperial Mali)
on his campaign to free the
Mandinka heartland from the
Sosso kingdom of
Kaniaga.
The Twelve Doors
Following his victory at Kirina,
Sundiata Keita united the twelve towns of Mande known as the "twelve doors of Mali." He pacified these twelve towns and went on to bring prosperity to the land
The twelve doors of Mali are listed below:
*Bambougou, conquered by Fakoli Koroma
*The lands of the
Bozo people
The Bozo are a Mande peoples, Mande ethnic group located predominantly along the Niger River in Mali. The name ''Bozo'' is thought to derive from Bambara language, Bambara ''bo-so'' "straw house"; the people accept it as referring to the whole o ...
, allied to
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
*Djedeba, allied to Mali
*Do, from which all future
Keita queens (such as
Sogolon Condé
Sogolon is a town and sub-prefecture in the Télimélé Prefecture in the Kindia Region of western-central Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of ...
, Sundiata's mother
''"Mali's Boy-King: A Thirteenth-Century African Epic Becomes Digital"'', By Ronica Roth (in NEH) : Humanities, July/August 1998, Volume 19/Number 4
/ref>) would come from, allied to Mali
*Jalo, conquered by Fran Kamara
*Kaniaga, conquered by Mari Djata I (commonly known as Sundiata Keita)
*Kri, allied to Mali
*Oualata
, settlement_type = Commune and town
, image_skyline = Oualata 03.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, image_caption = View of the town looking in a southeasterly direction
, image ...
, conquered by Mari Djata I
* Siby, allied to Mali
*Tabon, allied to Mali
*Toron, allied to Mali
*Zaghari, allied to Mali
Historical significance
The twelve doors were the base of the ''Manden Kurufa'' (Manden Federation). With future conquests and re-organization, they would transform into the provinces of the Mali Empire.
Notes
{{Epic of Sundiata
Mali Empire
History of Mali