CNA investigation may one day prove it, but until then, we'll only have oral tradition. The Malian Empire eventually fell to Songhai, which was itself eventually overthrown for being insufficiently Islamic. All of which is to say that like China or India or Europe, West Africa had its own empires that relied upon religion and war and incredibly boring dynastic politics. Man, I hate dynastic politics. If I wanted to live in an ostensibly independent country that can't let go of monarchy, I'd be like Thought Bubble and move to Canada. Oh, come on, Thought Bubble, that's not fair. Shut up and take back Celine Dion!