The Battle of Kirina, also known as the Battle of Krina or Siege of Karina ( c. 1235), was a confrontation between

Sosso The Sosso Empire was a twelfth-century Kaniaga kingdom of West Africa. The Kingdom of Sosso, also written as Soso or Susu, was an ancient kingdom on the coast of west Africa. During its empire, reigned their most famous leader, Sumaoro Kan ...

king Sumanguru Kanté and Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita's forces roundly defeated those of Sumanguru Kanté, guaranteeing the pre-eminence of Keita's new Mali Empire over

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

Prelude

By the late twelfth century, the formerly dominant

Ghana Empire The Ghana Empire, also known as Wagadou ( ar, غانا) or Awkar, was a West African empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali that existed from c. 300 until 1100. The Empire was founded by the Soninke people, an ...

had collapsed, following internal strife and political intervention of the Almoravids in the eleventh century. A number of smaller neighboring states rushed to fill the power void, including the

people of the Kaniaga kingdom, and the Mandinka people of the Upper

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesKoumbi Saleh Koumbi Saleh, sometimes Kumbi Saleh is the site of a ruined medieval town in south east Mauritania that may have been the capital of the Ghana Empire. From the ninth century, Arab authors mention the Ghana Empire in connection with the trans-S ...

, former capital of the Ghana Empire, and expanded outward, conquering the Mandinka among others.

During the Battle

The exiled Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita organized a coalition of smaller kingdoms to oppose the growing power of the Sosso. The opposing armies met in the

Koulikoro Region Koulikoro Region ( Bambara: ߞߎߟߌߞߏߙߏ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Kulikoro Dineja) is a region in western Mali. It is the second administrative area of Mali and covers an area of 90,120 km2. Its capital is the city of Koulikoro. Geography The ...

of what is now

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 ...

in about 1235. Sundiata Keita's forces were victorious, and marched on to raze Sosso. The date is often cited as the beginning of the Mali Empire, which would control most of West Africa for the next two centuries.

Aftermath

The story of the battle is retold in the

Epic of Sundiata ''Sunjata'' [] (also referred to as ''Sundiata'' or ''Son-Jara'') is an epic poem of the Malinke people that tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita (died 1255), the founder of the Mali Empire. The epic is an instance of oral tradition, goin ...

, widely considered Mali's national epic. In it, Sumanguru Kanté is an evil sorcerer-king who oppresses the Mandinka people; however, when Sundiata discovers that his sacred animal is the

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

, he is able to wound Sumanguru Kanté with an arrow tipped by a cock's spur. The Sosso king then flees the field, disappearing into the Koulikoro mountains. A version of this story was recounted by

Maximilien Quenum Maximilien Quenum-Possy-Berry, Légion d'honneur (born December 5, 1911 in Cotonou, Dahomey, now Benin; died October 21, 1988 in Paris) was a politician who served as a Senator of the Fourth Republic, representing Dahomey in the French Senate from ...

in his ''Légendes africaines''.

Notes

References

*Davidson, Basil. ''Africa in History''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

External links