Mansa Mahmud II, also known as Mamadou, was mansa ("king of kings") of the

Mali Empire The Mali Empire (Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl� ...

from 1481 to 1496. Mansa Mahmud II's rule was characterized by more losses to Mali's old possessions and increased contact between Mali and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

explorers along the coast. In 1477, the

Yatenga Yatenga is one of the provinces of Burkina Faso, located in the Nord Region of the country. In modern Yatenga, the most prominent city is Ouahigouya (also known as Waiguya). This city served as the capital of the kingdom of Yatenga, a powerful ki ...

emperor Nasséré makes yet another Mossi raid into Macina, this time conquering it and the old province of BaGhana (Wagadou). In 1481, Fula raids against Mali's Tekrur provinces begin. The growing trade in Mali's western provinces with Portugal witnessed the exchange of envoys between the two nations. Mansa Mahmud II received the Portuguese envoy

Pedro da Évora Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meani ...

in 1484.Niane, D.T.: "Recherches sur l'Empire du Mali au Moyen âge". Presence Africaine. Paris, 1975 In the letter he sent back to King

John II of Portugal John II ( pt, João II; ; 3 March 1455 – 25 October 1495), called the Perfect Prince ( pt, o Príncipe Perfeito, link=no), was King of Portugal from 1481 until his death in 1495, and also for a brief time in 1477. He is known for re-establishi ...

, Mahmud claimed to be exceeded in power by only the sultans of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo met ...

and

Takrur Takrur, Tekrur or Tekrour ( 800 – c. 1285) was an ancient state of West Africa, which flourished roughly parallel to the Ghana Empire. Origin Takrur was the capital of the state which flourished on the lower Senegal River. Takruri was ...

.M. Ly-Tall
"The Decline of the Mali Empire"
in D. T. Niane (ed.), ''General History of Africa, IV: Africa from theTwelfth to the Sixteenth Century'' (UNESCO, 1984), pp. 182–83. Mali lost control of

Jalu Jalu, Jallow, or Gialo ( ar, جالو) is a town in the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya in the Jalo oasis. An oasis, a city, and it is the main center of the oasis region in eastern Libya. It is located at the confluence of longitude an ...

during this period. Meanwhile, Songhai seizes the salt mines of

Taghazza , nickname = , settlement_type = , total_type = , motto = , translit_lang1 = , translit_lang1_ , translit_lang1_info2 = , ...

in 1493. That same year, Mahmud II sent another envoy to the Portuguese proposing alliance against the Fulas. The Portuguese decide to stay out of the conflict and the talks conclude by 1495 without an alliance.

References

Year of birth missing Year of death missing Mansas of Mali 15th-century monarchs in Africa Keita family {{Africa-royal-stub

See also

References