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60 CHAPTER 1with only the most substantial elements of Malian national identity. In 1960 notonly the Malian national idea still had to be created. In part, the state had to becreated too. This was done in full continuity with the colonial period. Howevermuch fanfare was blown at independence, in practice much stayed the same,while changing at the same time. As has been extensively argued elsewhere, thecontinuities of rule over the caesura of independence are more profound thanthe rhetorics of independence try to make us believe. 97Nation buildingThe land and peoples occupying the present day Republic of Mali have a richand largely documented history, either through oral traditions or through Arabicdocuments written by local Muslim scholars. Some of the oldest cities of WestAfrica, such as Djenné, Timbuktu and Gao, are found here, and since medievaltimes, great empires and powerful kingdoms have succeeded each other onMalian ground. This is the stuff par excellence on which to build a nationalhistorical myth: antecedent states, which can be connected, without too muchinterruption, to a dignified present and a glorious future. To begin with, thebest-known medieval African empire, the Mali Empire founded by SunjataKeita, was largely situated within the borders of its present day homonym. TheMali Empire was followed and conquered by the Songhay Empire with itscapital Gao. The decline of this empire was followed by a period of anarchy and‘foreign rule’ – the capture of Timbuktu and Gao by the Moroccan Sultanate in1591 – after which followed a series of kingdoms in the Mande and Bambaraheartland of Mali and in the Niger Bend. These were the kingdoms of Kangaba,Kaarta and Segu, which were, in turn, conquered or reformed by Fulbe Muslimrulers from the Maacina (Cheick Ahmed Lobbo) and the Futa Toro (ElhajjUmar Tall) in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. This is, in short, how Mali’s nationalhistory is presented to young Malians in the national educational history curriculum.98 But even those who have not had formal education know this history.It can be said that in Malian societies, history forms the basis of social andcultural relations. The history of the founding of the Mali Empire by SunjataKeita forms the explanatory basis and justification of Mande social, cultural andpolitical organisation. The Sunjata epic serves to explain the relation betweenvarious Mande family groups (jamuw), villages and social strata. Withoutknowledge of this epic, a Mande simply cannot function socially or culturally. 99The same can be said about the Songhay and their empire, the Fulbe and their979899Mann, G. & B. Lecocq, eds., 2003.Guilhem, M. & S. Toe 1963.Jansen, J. 1995.