200 B.C.E. to 1400
Mali Recovers an Ancient History
“The pillage and illicit traffic of cultural property constitutes a serious menace to an understanding of the history of Mali.”
On the fertile banks of the Niger River, Africans built some of this region’s oldest cities. Archeological finds in present-day Mali reveal two millennia of human occupation—but looting plagues many sites, limiting knowledge of the past.
By the dawn of the first millennium, towns such as Jenne-jeno had risen on the river’s banks. Between the 9th and 15th centuries, they formed the economic backbone of three successive empires with far-flung trade networks: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.
History Matters
Although it is illegal in Mali to export archeological objects, criminal activity continues. To stem the tide, in 1993 the United States enacted a law that bans the import of Malian objects lacking legal certification.