History, Oral Transmission and Structure in Ibn Khaldun’s Chronology of Mali Rulers

The early history of the Mali empire is known from two sources: Mande oral literature recorded over the last 100 years and Ibn Khaldun’s ‘Kitab al-‘Ibar’ (Book of Exemplars) written in the late 14th century. The list of Mali kings presented by Ibn Khaldun is precise, detailed, and recorded not too long after the events it purports to describe. There is, however, reason to question the historical reliability of Ibn Khaldun’s account, precisely on the grounds of its narrative richness. When read in relation to the general model of political development which Ibn Khaldun worked out in the more theoretical ‘Muqaddimah’ (Prolegomena) of ‘Kitab al-‘Ibar’, as well as the larger context of the work in which it is embedded, the Mali kinglist takes on some characteristics of an instructive illustration rather than a fully empirical account of the past. Notes, ref.