There have been many influential people in history, and a lot of them were rulers. Kings, queens, and leaders everywhere have given their country both benefits and drawbacks. One continent that has had a lot of ups and downs in its years is Africa. In the western part of Africa, there was a ruler that stood out from the rest. He’s had many nicknames throughout the years, but most know him as the “Lion Prince”. His name is Sunidata Keita, founder and one of the emperors of the Mali Empire. Sunidata was an influential leader in the building of a socially equal and very wealthy empire, and changed a kingdom into an empire.

One of the many things Sunidata did for his kingdom was abolish slavery and allow people to worship freely. He wanted the intellectual, hard working people on his side, and obviously slavery wasn’t something the intellectual hard working people enjoyed. So in abolishing slavery, he created a stronger trust system that the people had with the government than they had before. However, he mad the slaves work for their freedom. Also, while other countries were pushing certain religions, Sunidata, a muslim, allowed his people to worship freely. He wanted the original customs from ancient Africa, like worshiping many gods, to follow into the empire he was creating.

Sunidata allowed his country to feel protected from things like invaders. He had an army that annihilated any intruders that tried to get into the boundaries of his great empire. Once the Muslim invaders were gone, he opened up the trade routes, allowing the kingdom’s economy to grow. After Sunidata died, these trade routes got put to real use, after a sumptuous court was established and had lots of traders and merchants to make Mali even more money. Sunidata knew that trade was the way to wealth, so after the Ghana war was over, trade flourished. As if that wasn’t enough, he even extended the borders of his empire all the way to the Niger River. So it’s easy to see how this empire got wealthy in such a short period of time.

Another thing that was important to Sunidata was keeping the origins and roots of African culture within his empire. He divided and grouped people by clans, which was a major aspect of ancient Ghana and the savanna life. He got credited for making this social arrangement too, although that was not the case. Another way he allowed the life of ancient Ghana to live on was through free worship. The ancient religion of Africa was still allowed to be practiced by his people.

Sunidata was a great leader, and rulers all over the world should follow his examples. He helped abolish slavery in his empire, because he needed the intellectual and hard working people. He protected his country from invaders, which allowed for the people to feel safe and secure in their own homes. He also helped keep the last kingdom alive before his empire by allowing people to practice their customs. He was the transition from kingdom to empire, and he did many great things for his country. 

:D