Manden Kurufa
The Mali Empire was the second in a wave of successive states forged in the Sahel characterized by stronger and stronger centralization. Whereas the Ghana Empire had very little centralization outside of the edicts of its emperor, the Mali Empire would emerge as West Africa’s first federalized state with sweeping laws that were more or less uniform over an area roughly the size of Western Europe. This trend of centralization would be adopted and further developed by the Songhai during Mali’s decline as well as Bamana, Wolof and Fula states thereafter.
Read more about this topic: Pre-Imperial Mali