Plausibility Check: Mali as a Modern Major Power

dead_wolf

Banned
Without rewriting a lot of history and butterfly gore, potentially not. A rising power in the same sense as India or Brazil? Yes. But a great power in the same sense as China, or even Canada? Not really no.
 
Maybe French West Africa is let go as a single country, and attracts much more initial attention and investment and proves more stable? A sort of Super Nigeria of sorts?
 
Without rewriting a lot of history and butterfly gore, potentially not. A rising power in the same sense as India or Brazil? Yes. But a great power in the same sense as China, or even Canada? Not really no.

I think that Ultimate Paragon talks about Medieval Mali. And for me it is possible. But I don't know how.
 
Mali would have to avoid the rise of Songhai and prevent the break up of its territory. It would really help if it maintained its coastal territory so it can keep building up a navy and trading vessels to trade between North Africa and Sub-Sahelian Africa. With the coming of the Portuguese, trade shifted from the Sahara to the seas. Since the trans-Saharan trade was what built up the wealth of the Sahel states, this was pretty much a death blow to large scale states.

Adopting gunpowder would also help them a lot. They wouldn't be a superpower but they'd probably be a hegemon in West Africa.
 

Deleted member 67076

Keeping Morocco weak or busy would do wonders for keeping Mali strong.

Mali would have to avoid the rise of Songhai and prevent the break up of its territory. It would really help if it maintained its coastal territory so it can keep building up a navy and trading vessels to trade between North Africa and Sub-Sahelian Africa. With the coming of the Portuguese, trade shifted from the Sahara to the seas. Since the trans-Saharan trade was what built up the wealth of the Sahel states, this was pretty much a death blow to large scale states.

Adopting gunpowder would also help them a lot. They wouldn't be a superpower but they'd probably be a hegemon in West Africa.
Why not have Mali push out the Portuguese from the West African trade?
 
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