May 1, 2020
What was Mali like in the 13th century? Why do we know so little about it? Who was Abu Bakr II? (Hint: Not real, but you might want to hear about the very real Mansa Muhammad instead)
Tales of trans-oceanic voyages and slave kings color our understanding of this era. Mali started the century as a disunited patchwork of kingdoms, but ended as a highly centralized monarchy. It's our job this episode to find out how that happened.