Khalifa Keita

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Khalifa Keita was the fourth mansa of the Mali Empire. He ruled the empire for only a year from 1274 to his assassination in 1275.

Khalifa or Khalifah was an adopted son of the legendary founder Sundiata Keita. Like Mansa Wati before him, Khalifa was actually the son of an imperial general for Sundiata. Khalifa was raised at court and fought in a destructive war with Wati after Mansa Wali's death in 1270.

Khalifa was defeated and forced into exile while Mansa Wati ruled incompetently for four years. After Wati's death, Khalifa seized the office. His rule is remembered as the worse of all the emperors. Legend holds that Khalifa climbed on the roof of his palace to fire arrows at passerby for sport.

His intolerable behavior was ended by the imperial G'bara or Great Assembly. Mansa Khalifa was assassinated and replaced with Sundjata's aging brother, Manding Bory alias Abubakari I.

Preceded by Ouati Keita

Mansa of the Mali Empire 1274–1275

Succeeded by Abu Bakr

[edit] Sources

• Research on the Mali Empire in the Golden Age

[edit] External links

• Early Malian biographies
• L'empire du Mali (French language)