Mansa Sundiata Keita of The Mali Empire and Disney’s “The Lion King” Connection: A Stolen Legacy
- calmandstrong
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
Image I (Left): Sundiata Keita, the king of Mali defeated King Sumanguru of ancient Ghana in 1235 AD. Sundiata means “Hungering Lion” or “The Lion King.” He was afflicted as a child, and his indomitable courage to overcome his affliction earned him that name.
“The most important overall outcome was radical changes in the traditional constitution (i.e., the traditional African Constitution and the Fundamental Rights of the African People). To begin with, religion was drawn upon as an indirect means of social control by enhancing the divine role of the king. The traditional role of the king as the Chief Elder and, therefore, the Chief Representative of the people before God was very easily changed now to the conception of the king as the ‘Lieutenant of God on Earth.’ As God’s Lieutenant on Earth, the king could assume powers not recognized by the constitution and go unchallenged.”
– Dr. Chancellor Williams, author of The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.
Image II (Right): The Lion King. Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
The Lion King, a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Buena Vista Pictures distribution under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.
During the 9th century, the origins of the Keita Dynasty began, and in 1224, the Sosso’s King Sumanguru led a raid that devastated the Malian Kingdom. King Sumanguru and his men of ancient Ghana pillaged the kingdom and killed the whole Keita Holy Royal Family, but spared a crippled boy named Sundiata Keita. When Sundiata was born, he had an affliction that made him cripple. As time went on, Sundiata’s parents sent out a call for doctors to try to cure him, but to no avail did that pursuit pay off. After Sundiata was about four or five years of age, he made a vow that he would cure himself. Enduring excruciating pain in his attempt to walk, Sundiata was finally able to walk with a cane. Each day, week and month he became stronger.
A prophesy had it that the king of ancient Ghana would be replaced by a strong young prince. King Sumanguru and his lieutenants fanned out through the countryside, to kill children two years and under. When Sumanguru saw the crippled Sundiata, his heart felt pity for him, and he simply could not conceive how a crippled boy could ever be a threat to him in the future. Ironicly, it was Sundiata’s physical disability that saved his life. Sundiata Keita eventually became an expert swordsman and was known as “The Lion King” and “Hungering Lion.” He received these titles due to his lion-like determination that earned him his metaphor name, “Hungering Lion.”
Sundiata overcame his physical disability at 10-years-old, and years later became emperor of the Malians. He set out on a guerrilla warfare campaign to avenge his family’s death and to destroy the power of the Sosso. Sundiata Keita conquered kingdoms near the Sosso and created an army among the defeated kingdoms. In 1235, Sundiata Keita and his men destroyed and demolished the Sosso’s well-fortified capital. After this successful conquest, Sundiata Keita was able to avenge his family’s death, but after this victory in war, Sundiata Keita never took the battlefield again because he was interested in the economic and social development of his country. It is from the strength, persistence, resilience, and strong leadership abilities of Mansa (i.e., Emperor) Sundiata Keita that laid the foundation that eventually became the Golden Mali Empire, which was one of the world’s richest countries during medieval times.
In Disney’s “The Lion King,” Scar set up a trap for Simba, his nephew, and prince of Pride Rock, and Mufasa, his brother, and king of Pride Rock. Scar lured Simba into a gorge and signaled the hyenas to drive a large herd of wildebeest into a stampede to trample him. Scar alerted Mufasa, who saved Simba, and Mufasa tried to escape from the gorge, but was unsuccessful. Mufasa begged Scar to help him, but Scar let Mufasa fall to his death, and he got trampled upon by the wildebeest. Scar tricked Simba into believing that Mufasa’s death was his fault and told him to leave the kingdom of Pride Rock and never return, even though Simba was the rightful heir to the throne of Pride Rock. When Simba was running away as an exile from Pride Rock, Scar ordered the hyenas to kill Simba, which would ensure Scar’s legitimacy as the king of Pride Rock because Simba, the rightful heir to the throne was in exile, and possibly murdered by the hyenas. Simba eventually escaped from the bone crushing jaws of the hyenas. Unaware of Simba’s survival, Scar tells the rest of the lions of Pride Rock that a stampede killed both Mufasa and Simba, and he stepped forward as the new king of Pride Rock, and he allowed the hyenas into the kingdom.
Simba’s story is like Malian Emperor Mansa Sundiata Keita, because when the Sosso’s Sumanguru led a raid that devastated the Malian Kingdom, the royal Keita family was killed, but spared Sundiata Keita because he didn’t believe a crippled boy would be a threat for him in the future. Like Scar, who killed Mufasa (Simba’s father), and he didn’t think Simba, who was just a cub, would be a threat for him in the future. Due to the violent deaths of the Keita Holy Royal Family, Sundiata Keita could be considered to have lived as an exile, just like Simba, who also lived in exile after he was manipulated by his uncle and believed the death of his father was his fault. The guilt Simba carried in his heart forced him to take his uncle’s advice and leave Pride Rock and live in exile. While Simba was away in exile, he met new friends named Timon and Pumbaa.
Years later as an adult, Simba rescues Timon and Pumbaa from a hungry lioness, who happened to be his childhood friend Nala. Simba and Nala fell in love, and she urged him to return to Pride Rock, telling him that the kingdom had become drought-stricken under the reign of Scar as king. Still guilty over his father’s death, Simba refused to return to the place of his birth. When Simba encounters Rafiki, he tells Simba that his father’s spirit lives inside him. Simba was then visited by Mufasa’s spirit in the night sky, and Mufasa told his son he must take his rightful place as king of Pride Rock. After Rafiki advised Simba to learn from his past instead of running from it, he decided it was time to return to Pride Rock and challenge Scar for the throne.
Simba eventually returned to the home of his ancestors with the mission to avenge his father’s death, and challenge Scar for the throne of Pride Rock, of which, Simba was the rightful heir. When Sundiata Keita overcame his physical disability, and years later become emperor of Mali, he was also on a mission the avenge his family’s death by conquering neighboring kingdoms near the Sosso so he could build a powerful Malian army and defeat the Sosso’s in war once and for all. Sundiata Keita eventually defeated the Sosso’s Sumanguru in war, he was able to avenge the deaths of the Keita Holy Royal Family, he forced the Sosso’s out of the Malian Kingdom and became known as emperor and “The Lion King” of Mali. Like Simba, who also defeated Scar in war, avenged his father’s death, forced the hyenas out of the Pride Rock Kingdom, and he became “The Lion King” of Pride Rock.
Disney’s “The Lion King” is a medieval story that was lifted from the life story of Mansa Sundiata Keita of the Mali Empire in West Africa. One could wonder, how many stories from the homeland of where most of the ancestors of African Americans came from in West Africa has Hollywood in the United States of America refurbished and presented to the world as original and new?
The “Real” Lion King is from the Golden Mali Empire (Medieval West Africa)
The Mali Empire consisted of four present-day West African countries, and they are Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, and Niger. According to British Journalist and Historian Dr. Basil Davidson, the rulers of Mali were “rumored to have been the wealthiest m[e]n on the face of the earth.”
Image I (Left): Mansa Sundiata Keita of the Mali Empire. Sundiata Keita did much to heal the old wounds by laying the proper spiritual foundation of his country of Mali. He also believed in the kinship ties of all African people as being “one” people, just like the great Lunda people of the Lunda Empire in Southwest and Central Africa.
“After Sundiata’s rule, his successors proceeded to establish one of the greatest states that Africa had ever known. The rulers took the proud title of Mansa—which means emperor or sultan.” - Dr. Calvin R. Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson and Redman Battle, authors of The Journey of the Songhai People
Image II (Right): The Mali Empire (West Africa) at its height during the 14th century was the second largest country in the world and was comparable in size to all Western Europe combined. The BBC also described the Mali Empire as the richest state during the 14th century.
A Crippled Black Child Becomes the “Lion King” of Mali
After Mansa Sundiata Keita overcame his physical disabilities with the help of medieval Black doctors from West Africa and avenged the deaths of the Mali Holy Royal Family (i.e., the Keita Dynasty of Mali), he established the Golden Mali Empire. He also founded a new capital of the Mali Empire, Niani. Mansa Sundiata decided to never again step on the battlefield, because he devoted his time and energy to the economic and social development of his empire, because he turned his armies into farmers and encouraged a programme of agricultural expansion. The soldiers of Mali grew cotton, peanuts and grains, and were encouraged to raise poultry and cattle. Mali’s agricultural industry fully developed, because Mansa Sundiata understood no empire could be powerful if it couldn’t feed its people. The Mali Empire became one of the richest farming regions in all West Africa, and Mansa Sundiata directed Mali towards the road to power and prosperity.
There were military actions by Mali to expand the nation, but they were led by Mansa Sundiata’s generals. The Mali army marched as far west to the Atlantic Ocean, seized lands to the east, subjugated the southern forest belt, and overpowered the desert regions of the north. It was these military actions by the Mali military that led the Mali Empire to control the profitable goldfields of Wangara, and restoration of the salt trade. Trade routes were created from Wangara to Niani to ensure Mali’s wealth.
During the 14th century was the height of the Golden Mali Empire, and this African country was comparable in size to all Western Europe combined. Mali, the second great empire of West Africa occupied about the same territory as ancient Ghana (when Mali was a kingdom, it was a client or tributary state of ancient Ghana), but much larger. The BBC described the Mali Empire as the richest state in the 14th century world.
Not only was Mali rich, but the Malian people were firm and strong believers in administering justice. Ibn Battuta, the famous Muslim traveler of the Middle Ages had these favorable words to say about the Malian people of West Africa:
“The [N]egros … are seldom unjust, and have a greater abhorrence of injustice than any other people. Their sultan shows no mercy to anyone who is guilty of the least act of it. There is complete security in their country. Neither traveller nor inhabitant in it has anything to fear from robbers or men of violence.”
The Mali Empire is in the Western Sudan, which is where 93% of the ancestors of the present-day African Americans came from before the Transatlantic slave trade era. After the fall of the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire followed as the strongest state in West Africa during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Songhai Kingdom was a client or tributary state of Mali, but when Songhai became a powerful empire, it dwarfed the Mali Empire in size, strength, and power, because the Songhai Empire was the same size as all of Europe combined by the 16th century.
Image I (Left): Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk
Image II (Right): Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Negro
“Of all this West African cultural development our knowledge is fragmentary and incomplete, jumbled up with the African slave trade … Nearly all this disappeared in the frantic effort to paint Negroes as apes fit only for slavery and then forget the whole discreditable episode, wipe it out of history, and emphasize the glory and philanthropy of Europe … Yet on the West Coast was perhaps the greatest attempt in human history before the twentieth century to build a culture based on peace and beauty, to establish a communism of industry and of distribution of goods and services according to human need. It was crucified by greed, and its very memory blasphemed by the modern historical method. There can be no doubt but that the level of culture among the masses of Negroes in West Africa in the fifteenth century was higher than that of northern Europe, by any standard of measurement – homes, clothes, artistic creation and appreciation, political organization and religious consistency.” - Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois
Sources:
Battle, R., Robinson, C., Robinson, E. The Journey of the Songhai People. Pan African Federation Organization; 2nd edition. (June 1, 1992). Nov. 18, 2025. p. 91-93.
Du Bois, W. The Negro. A Public Domain Book. (May 17, 2012). Nov. 18, 2025. p. Cover.
Du Bois, W. The Souls of Black Folk. G&D Media; Original Classic Edition. (Nov. 12, 2019). Nov. 18, 2025. p. Cover.
Walker, R. When We Ruled: The Ancient and Mediaeval History of Black Civilizations. Black Classic Press. (May 1, 2011). Nov. 18, 2025. p. 353, 372-373, 378, 383-384.
Wikimedia Commons. File:MALI empire map. PNG. Wikimedia Commons. Nov. 18, 2025. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MALI_empire_map.PNG
Wikipedia. The Lion King. Nov. 18, 2025. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King
Williams, C. The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Third World Press; 3rd Revised ed. edition. (Feb. 1, 1992). Nov. 18, 2025. p. 217, 250.
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