This work is the second volume of La grande gesture du Mali. It is, for the most part, devoted to the long reign - 45 years - of the founder of the empire of Mali, Maghan Konâté, known as Soundjata the sphinx or Mari Djata among Arab authors; in short, the Mandingo hero par excellence, against whom spells and plots could do nothing and who tirelessly worked for the prosperity and greatness of his homeland. Wâ Kamissoko sums up the work of Soundjata as follows: "It is Maghan who ennobles the Manden, cradle of the Mali Empire. It is he, in fact, who abolishes slavery as well as the sale of men. He established the country on solid foundations and opened it up to progress and to the world. "For having rid it of the hordes of Sosso, who set it on fire nine times, Maghan Soundjata remains for the Malinké the most celebrated hero du Manden. Soundjata also worked to unify the Manden to make it a credible state. He rapidly extended his influence through military conquest and political and diplomatic propaganda. The culmination of this policy was the proclamation of the charter of the Grand Manden, that is to say the empire of Mali. Mali, the name that the Peuls and the Arabs gave to Manden in the Middle Ages, also owes the discovery of the rich gold mines of Bouren to the relentlessness of Soundjata who then constituted, like the emperors of Wagadou, a real reserve-gold. For centuries, this gold will make the reputation of his country, which will become a place of trade and meetings between peoples. This book is the culmination of a long investigation led by Youssouf Tata Cissé with Wâ Kamissoko, his griot, and several Malinké notables. It provides invaluable data both on the Manden clans and lineages and the genesis of the Mali empire as well as on the military and political genius of Soundjata Keïta.