Sofa in The Bamana Empire of Segou
The Bamana people inherited much from their close relations, the Mandinka, in civic and military culture. They formed their own empire 1640, which filled the vacuum left by the Mali and Songhai empires. By 1712, the state had crystallized into a formidable state that borrowed much in military structure from the Mali Empire. Sofas were used heavily in its armies as infantry and support troops, which allowed the Bamana to dominate much of modern-day Mali.
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