Kouroukan Fouga, or Kurukan Fuga, was the constitution of the Mali Empire created after the Battle of Krina (1235) by an assembly of nobles to create a government for the newly established empire, according to the Epic of Sundiata.[1] According to oral tradition of the griot poets of Mali and Guinea, the Kouroukan Fouga established the federation of Mandinka clans under one government, outlined how it would operate and established the laws by which the people would live. The name Kurukan Fuga is a toponym, translating to "clearing on granite/lateritic rock",[2] referring to the plain near where the narrative has Sundiata Keita present the charter. This is often claimed to have been near the town of Ka-ba (present day Kangaba), following the interpretation of Djibril Tamsir Niane, but other scholars have argued that oral histories more commonly place the event at nearby Dakajalan.[3]
^Djibril Tamsir Niane, Soundjata ou l'Epoupée Mandingue (Paris, 1960). English translation by G. D. Pickett as Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (London, 1965) and subsequent reprinted editions. Youssef Cissé and W Kamisoko, eds.and transl, Soundiata, la gloire du Mali. La grande geste du Mali (2 vols., Paris, 1991).[page needed]. Ralph Austin, ed. In search of Sunjata: the Mande oral epic as history, literature and performance (Bloomington, 1999).[page needed]
^clairière au sol granitique: Diango Cissé, Structures des Malinké de Kita (contribution à une anthropologie sociale et politique du Mali), Collection "Hier", Éditions populaires, 1970, p. 19; clairière latérique sur roche: Projet Boucle du Niger, Actes du colloque: histoire et tradition orale : 1ère année, l'Empire du Mali : premier colloque international de Bamako, 27 janvier - 1er février 1975 Author, p. 100.
^Manden Charter, proclaimed in Kurukan Fuga, Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee (4.COM) – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 28 September to 2 October 2009, Decision 4.COM 13.59: "The Manden Charter, recognized by its community members as an essential part of their heritage, is customary law on the basis of which they regulate their social life while respecting nature and the changing environment; it is passed on orally from generation to generation and provides a sense of belonging, identity and continuity to its community"