Mali Empire

The rise on the Mali empire and the Mongol empire both had large effects on their regions where they were located. While the rising of both empires resulted from their enforcement of religious tolerance, Islam was the main religion in Mali, while in the Mongol empire, complete religious tolerance existed with no predominant religion exerting itself. Also, while the Mongols brutally attacked already established states, Mali arose by much more peaceful methods, even though warfare did happen, and it arose from regional kingdoms. The Mali empire and the Mongol empire rose in different regions and with different methods with violence, but also shared some key aspects as well.

The Mongol empire rose by the conquests of other established states and empires. Under the rule of Genghis Khan, other civilizations experienced massacre and destruction. These places include Russia, China, and the Abbasid Caliphate in the Islamic world. Many people were brutally killed with no mercy shown by the military might of the mongols. The Mali empire arose through relatively peaceful methods. Another difference was that the Mongol military was a much stronger force and was much more important in establishing the Mongol empire than Mali's was for its own empire. This ties into the differing of violence in establishing respective empires. A similarity however, was the practice of religious tolerance within both empires. Although the Mali king was Muslim and although Islam had a huge influence in Mali, original religions and traditions of the African people living there was also allowed. In the Mongol empire, many religions that had previously conflicted with one another, like Islam and Christianity, were allowed to practice freely. This shared method was really helpful, since it prevented a lot of religious hatred and oppression experienced in other empires. The reason why the Mongols allowed for this is because they were mainly interested in gaining territory and the only way to do this was to allow people to practice their own religions freely in order to prevent revolt. Also, both Mali and the Mongols did not put importance on religious oppression like other empires (like Rome) did, because they did not see other religions as a threat to their ability to rule effectively.

A difference between the two, however, was that Mali was influenced by Islam, while the Mongols did not experience massive influence from a single religion. This was