128 borders and frontiers: Africa the only major civilizations to establish formal borders in the European sense In most cases the borders and frontiers in the medieval world, even in those instances where they were defined in writing, rarely lasted for long With the fluctuating fortunes of rulers and their armies, the borders of their lands regularly changed The few exceptions were small city-states or states based on islands, with Portugal being one of the few medieval kingdoms that has retained its frontiers for many centuries Below the national level, the county system in Britain also remained largely untouched from medieval times until 1974 The Papal States, in central Italy, also managed to retain their size until 1860 For the most part borders changed as local rulers switched their loyalties or when their lands were invaded and captured Although the medieval world would see some of the greatest empires in history (among them, those of the Mongols and the Arabs), the existence of confederations, especially in the Americas, allowed for the formation of many city-states with their borders often largely defined by the lands needed for the maintenance of the city or other population center Africa by Michael J O’Neal In the modern world the borders that define nation-states are generally (though not always) clear, fixed, and recognized by other nations When travelers pass from one nation to another, they are likely to be greeted by signs, fences, border control posts, and in some cases armed soldiers or police that make it clear that they have left the territory of one country and are entering that of another During the medieval period in Africa territorial borders were not as clearly fixed A community of people that can be identified as forming a “state” or “kingdom” lived and worked around a magnet city that formed the core of that community The city was the site of governmental, administrative, and often religious activities Surrounding the city was countryside peopled by farmers, herders, miners, and others who earned their living from the land Trade took place between the central city and the outlying regions; people living outside the city supplied agricultural products, while city dwellers provided manufactured goods As the distance from the city increased, the kingdom’s hold over the territory was apt to weaken until eventually the territory came under the sway of another kingdom Occupying the border regions were tributary states dominated by the central empire through conquest, payment of tribute, or alliance The kingdom’s borders were defined, in effect, by the extent of the territory it was willing to claim as its own and defend Borders, too, often were defined by geographical features Certainly mountains and rivers presented barriers not easily bridged; in this sense borders in Africa were little different from those in other parts of the world Contributing to this geographical differentiation were climate and resources As it still does, Africa in the medieval period presented its inhabitants with a wide range of climatic conditions that in large part defined the terrain Some Africans inhabited forests where gold could be a primary resource Others lived on savannas, or immense open grasslands, where herders tended animals and miners extracted copper from the earth Still others scratched out livings from the desert, where salt was extracted Because of differences in climate, terrain, and resources, the various kingdoms of medieval Africa were defined in large part by the nature of their trade The kingdoms were linked by networks of trade that tended to run from east to west, although considerable trade to the north took place as well People at the frontiers of a kingdom typically were members of caravans of traders who exchanged the goods of their own kingdom for those of another In medieval Africa, therefore, traders were similar to the frontiersmen of the American West One of the most prominent medieval African kingdom was Mali, which dominated the region of the Upper Niger River in West Africa Beginning in about 1100 Mali replaced Ghana as the major empire in the area Ghana had been an important gold-trading empire, but beginning in the 11th century the mines became depleted Further, the area was raided by Berbers from the north These events led to the breakup of the kingdom of Ghana In the resulting vacuum smaller states in the region vied for dominance Chief among them were the Tekrur and the Soso, the latter under the leadership of Soumaoro Kanté Kanté ruled over a federation of states, but he was challenged by a Mali prince named Sundiata Keita, who led a coalition of forces that defeated Kantéat the battle of Kirina in the 1230s Sundiata thus became head of a federation of states that surrounded the Upper Niger River Under the leadership of Sundiata, his son and successor Ouali I, and eventually Sundiata’s grandnephew Kankan Musa, Mali extended its frontiers by exerting political control over neighboring states By the early 14th century Mali had become a major empire in West Africa, extending its borders primarily through military conquest, revitalizing the gold trade, and becoming immensely wealthy But the kingdom began to weaken in the late 14th century Mali was unable to defend its borders against incursions, notably the Berbers from the north Additionally, a pastoralist society called the Fulani made inroads across Mali’s borders These events, combined with internal strife