<P> The Sahelian kingdoms were a series of medieval empires centred on the sahel, the area of grasslands south of the Sahara . </P> <Ul> <Li> The first major state to rise in this region was the Ghana Empire (Wagadu). The name Ghana, often used by historians, was the regnal title given to the ruler of the Wagadu empire . Centered in what is today Senegal and Mauritania, it was the first to benefit from the introduction of gold mining . Ghana dominated the region between about 750 and 1078 . Smaller states in the region at this time included Takrur to the west, the Malinke kingdom of Mali to the south, and the Songhai Empire centred on Gao to the east . </Li> <Li> When Ghana collapsed in the face of invasion from the Almoravids, a series of brief kingdoms followed, notably that of the Sosso (Susu); after 1235, the Mali Empire rose to dominate the region . Located on the Niger River to the west of Ghana in what is today Niger and Mali, it reached its peak in the 1350s, but had lost control of a number of vassal states by 1400 . </Li> <Li> The most powerful of these states was the Songhai Empire, which expanded rapidly beginning with king Sonni Ali in the 1460s . By 1500, it had risen to stretch from Cameroon to the Maghreb, the largest state in African history . It too was quite short - lived and collapsed in 1591 as a result of Moroccan musketry . </Li> <Li> Far to the east, on Lake Chad, the state of Kanem - Bornu, founded as Kanem in the 9th century, now rose to greater preeminence in the central Sahel region . To their west, the loosely united Hausa city - states became dominant . These two states coexisted uneasily, but were quite stable . </Li> <Li> In 1810, the Sokoto Caliphate rose and conquered the Hausa, creating a more centralized state . It and Kanem - Bornu would continue to exist until the arrival of Europeans, when both states would fall and the region would be divided between France and Great Britain . </Li> <Li> Jolof Empire (1350--1889) </Li> </Ul> <Li> The first major state to rise in this region was the Ghana Empire (Wagadu). The name Ghana, often used by historians, was the regnal title given to the ruler of the Wagadu empire . Centered in what is today Senegal and Mauritania, it was the first to benefit from the introduction of gold mining . Ghana dominated the region between about 750 and 1078 . Smaller states in the region at this time included Takrur to the west, the Malinke kingdom of Mali to the south, and the Songhai Empire centred on Gao to the east . </Li> <Li> When Ghana collapsed in the face of invasion from the Almoravids, a series of brief kingdoms followed, notably that of the Sosso (Susu); after 1235, the Mali Empire rose to dominate the region . Located on the Niger River to the west of Ghana in what is today Niger and Mali, it reached its peak in the 1350s, but had lost control of a number of vassal states by 1400 . </Li>

An empire in west africa that became a powerful state