[4] After winning the Battle of Kirina in 1235, Sundiata Keita proclaimed the Manden Charter, also known as the Kouroukan Fouga after the field near Kangaba where it was created, perhaps the oldest constitution in the world.

Ceremonies are still held in the town to honor the ancient traditions and promote a message of peace and fraternity.

[5] The Kamablon (fr) is a sacred circular mudbrick building with a conical roof in the bara, or large public square, at the center of town, built in 1653.

Some sources[7] claim that the town was the boyhood home of Sundiata Keita and the first capital of the Mali Empire.

The Keitas likely, however, only established a base there after the decline of the larger empire, and it thus became associated in popular imagination with the original legend.