Fourteenth-century Maghrebi traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the empire was called Mali.Niane, Djibril (1965). Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. One Mandinka tradition tells that the legendary first emperor Sundiata Keita changed himself into a hippopotamus upon his death in the Sankarani River and that it was possible to find villages in the area of this river called "old Mali". A study of Malian proverbs noted that in old Mali, there is a village called Malikoma, which means "New Mali", and that Mali could have formerly been the name of a city.
Fourteenth-century Maghrebi traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the empire was called Mali.Niane, Djibril (1965). Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. One Mandinka tradition tells that the legendary first emperor Sundiata Keita changed himself into a hippopotamus upon his death in the Sankarani River and that it. was possible to find villages in the area of this river called "old Mali". A study of Malian proverbs noted that in old Mali, there is a village called Malikoma, which means "New Mali", and that Mali could have formerly been the name of a city.