Mande Bori
Mande Bori,also known asMande Bakari[a]and known in Arabic asAbu Bakr,[1]is a heroic figure inMandeoral tradition who was involved in the founding of theMali Empire.He was the brother and right-hand man ofSunjata,the founder of the empire,[2]and served as the empire's kankoro-sigui,[3]an office that has been translated as "viceroy"[3]or "lieutenant-general".[4]Though Mande Bori never himself reigned as mansa, his grandsonsMusaandSuleymanruled the Mali Empire at the apex of its power and prestige, and he is often erroneously cited as Mansa Abu Bakr II.[5]
Mande Bori is regarded as the progenitor of the branches of theKeitaclan who live in the vicinity ofKouroussa,inHamanaand Kolonkana.[6]His is regarded as having been hot-headed,[7]and oral tradition claims he was cursed by his sister Sogolon Kolonkan for insulting her.[8]The story of this curse, said to prevent his descendants from ever leading an army, is used as an explanation for the relationship between and relative status of Hamana, whose residents trace their lineage to Mande Bori, andKangaba,whose residents trace their lineage to Sunjata.[9]
In addition to his role in the Sunjata epic, Mande Bori is also a hero of hunters, and a legend claims he was born after his mother made a pact with a hunter spirit.[10]
Lineage
[edit]Mande Bori was the brother ofSunjata,the founder of the Mali Empire. Mande Bori and Sunjata shared a father, Maghan Kon Fatta, but whether they were full brothers or half brothers is unclear: some traditions regard Mande Bori as a son of Sunjata's mother Sogolon, whereas others regard him as the son of another of Maghan Kon Fatta's wives, Namandjé.[9][2]It is also unclear whether he was the older or younger brother.[9]
Mande Bori had at least one son, Faga Leye, who was the father ofMansa Musa.[11]Under the Arabic form of his name Abu Bakr, Mande Bori is briefly mentioned by the 14th-century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun as Musa's ancestor.[12]
Footnotes
[edit]- ^Variously spelled: Manding/Manden/Mande, Bory/Bori, Bakari/Bakary/Boukary/Bugari/Bakari.
References
[edit]- ^Gomez 2018,p. 98.
- ^abGomez 2018,p. 78.
- ^abNiane 2006,p. 81.
- ^Niane 1984,p. 152.
- ^Levtzion 1963,p. 347.
- ^Jansen 1996,p. 95.
- ^Conrad 1992,p. 195.
- ^Jansen 2017,pp. 100–102.
- ^abcJansen 1996,pp. 95–96.
- ^Leach 2000,p. 584.
- ^Niane 1959.
- ^Levtzion 1963,p. 346.
Works cited
[edit]- Conrad, David C. (1992)."Searching for History in The Sunjata Epic: The Case of Fakoli".History in Africa.19:147–200.doi:10.2307/3171998.ISSN0361-5413.JSTOR3171998.S2CID161404193.
- Gomez, Michael A. (2018).African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa.Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-19682-4.
- Jansen, Jan (2017).Sunjata: roem duurt langer dan een leven: het verhaal over koning Sunjata zoals verteld door die familie Diabate uit Kela (Mali).ISBN978-90-5448-164-5.
- Jansen, Jan (1996)."The representation of status in Mande: did the Mali Empire still exist in the Nineteenth Century?".History in Africa.23:87–109.doi:10.2307/3171935.hdl:1887/2775.ISSN0361-5413.JSTOR3171935.S2CID53133772.
- Leach, Melissa (2000)."New shapes to shift: war, parks and the hunting person in modern West Africa".Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.6(4): 577–595.doi:10.1111/1467-9655.00034.ISSN1359-0987.
- Levtzion, N. (1963). "The thirteenth- and fourteenth-century kings of Mali".The Journal of African History.4(3): 341–353.doi:10.1017/S002185370000428X.JSTOR180027.S2CID162413528.
- Niane, Djibril Tamsir (1959)."Recherches sur l'Empire du Mali au Moyen Age".Recherches Africaines(in French). Archived fromthe originalon 2007-05-19.
- Niane, D. T. (2006) [1960].Sundiata: an epic of Old Mali.G. D. Pickett (trans.) (Revised ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson Longman.ISBN978-1-4058-4942-5.
- Niane, D. T., ed. (1984).General History of Africa IV: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century.ISBN92-3-101-710-1.