Mari Djata II of Mali

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jata
Musa II
  • Maghan II
    • DynastyKeita
    FatherMaghan I
    ReligionIslam

    Mansa Jata, commonly referred to as Mari Jata II, possibly incorrectly,[a], known in oral histories as Konkodugu Kamissa[3] was mansa of Mali from 1360 to 1374. He was an ineffective ruler, and his reign, recorded by the contemporary North African historian Ibn Khaldun, marked the beginning of the decline of the Mali Empire.[4]

    Jata was the son of

    Mansa Suleyman, possibly because Suleyman had seized the throne from Jata's father Maghan by force.[4] Jata then would have conspired with Suleyman's wife Qasa, who may have been his sister, to depose Suleyman.[7]
    However, Qasa was found out and the coup attempt was prevented.

    When Suleyman died, he was succeeded by his son Qanba, who would reign for only nine months. Civil war soon broke out, of which Jata was the victor. He had consolidated power by late 1360. A delegation bearing gifts for the

    Walata.[8] Jata added gifts to the delegation, including a giraffe, and sent the delegation to Fez. The delegation arrived in December 1360 or January 1361,[d] where it was received by Sultan Abu Salim and attracted much interest among the people of Fez.[11]

    Jata was regarded as a tyrannical and wasteful ruler. He was said to have sold one of the national treasures of Mali, a boulder of gold that weighed twenty qintars, for far less than it was worth.[12]

    Jata contracted a sleeping sickness

    Magha, would succeed Musa.[15]

    D. T. Niane identified Jata with Konkodugu Kamissa, a figure in oral tradition of Hamana,[16] but Yves Person disputed Niane's interpretations of traditional genealogies[17] and suggested that there is a gap in oral tradition between the middle of the 14th century and beginning of the 17th,[18] with Sulayman being the last mansa remembered before this gap.[19]

    Footnotes

    1. Sunjata
      .
    2. ^ Spelled either Jāṭil or Jāṭ in different manuscripts.[5]
    3. ^ The identity of Jata and Jatil is supported by similarity of names and their both being male-line relatives of Suleyman who sought to take power by force. Jata was Suleyman's great-nephew, but Ibn Battuta referred to Jatil as Suleyman's paternal cousin (ibn ʾamm). However, Ibn Battuta may have meant that Jatil was a male-line relative of Suleyman, rather than specifically the son of Suleyman's father's brother, so this does not necessarily disprove the two being the same.[6] Complicating matters is the fact that Jata was a common name in the royal family of Mali, also being borne by both Sunjata and the vizier Mari Jata.[5]
    4. ^ The delegation arrived in Safar 762 AH,[9] which lasted from approximately 11 December 1360 to 8 January 1361 in the Julian calendar.[10]
    5. ^ Presumably African trypanosomiasis, of which Jata would be the earliest recorded specific case, though the disease was already well-known in Africa.[13]
    6. ^ Mansa Jata died in 775 AH,[14] which lasted from approximately 23 June 1373 to 11 June 1374 in the Julian calendar.[10]

    References

    1. ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 424.
    2. ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 333, 336, 425.
    3. ISBN 9780691177427
      .
    4. ^ a b Levtzion 1980, p. 68.
    5. ^ a b Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 416.
    6. ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 348.
    7. ^ Ibn Battuta 1356, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 295
    8. ^ Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 341–342
    9. ^ Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 342
    10. ^ a b Beers, T. S. (2018). "Calendar Converter for Near East Historians". Retrieved 2021-10-13.
    11. ^ Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 335–336, 342
    12. ^ Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 335–336
    13. ^ Kwa 2017, p. 149.
    14. ^ a b Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 336
    15. ^ Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 336–337
    16. ^ Niane 1959.
    17. ^ Person 1981, p. 635.
    18. ^ Person 1981, p. 613.
    19. ^ Person 1981, p. 629.

    Works cited

    Preceded by
    Mansa of the Mali Empire

    1360–1374     		Succeeded by
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