Epic of Sundiata

The Epic of Sundiata is an epic poem of the Malinke people of West Africa recounting the life of Sundiata Keita, who founded the Mali Empire and ruled it from around 1235 to 1255. Transmitted orally across generations by griots, professional Mande storytellers and historians, the epic follows Sundiata's rise from a difficult childhood to his eventual triumph through alliance building and personal resolve, structured as a classic hero's journey. It remains foundational to Mande culture and exists in multiple oral variants, though its core episodes, including exile, destiny and eventual kingship, stay consistent across versions. The most widely known modern version derives from the griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate's oral account, translated into French by Djibril Tamsir Niane in 1960. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/