Though he made many successful conquests of neighboring tribes and kingdoms, he failed to set up a significant administrative framework, and the new empire disintegrated following his death (c. 1660).

Mamari soon reorganized the tòn as a personal army supplemented with runaway slaves, assumed the title of bitòn, and set about overthrowing the traditional political order.

Fortifying the capital with Songhai techniques, Bitòn Kulubali built a large army of conscripts known as the ton djon and a navy of war canoes to patrol the Niger.

[3]: 333  He then proceeded to launch successful assaults against his neighbors, the Fulani, the Soninke, and the Mossi, conquering Macina, Beledougou, Djenne, Bamako and Tomboctou, though he held the latter city only briefly.

[1]: 412 In 1766, a former slave and leader of the ton djon named Ngolo Diarra seized the throne and re-established stability, reigning for nearly forty years of prosperity.

[2][5] During this period the Faama ruled from a massive palace in Segou and commanded a well-organized cavalry army, often used for raising tribute and taxes in the form of cowries.

After 1839 the faamaw succeeded each other in rapid fashion as the tonjon leaders grew increasingly powerful, independent, and prone to intervene in succession disputes.

[6]: 412  When El Hadj Umar Tall, a Toucouleur religious leader, declared a jihad against the empire in 1859, this balkanization prevented 'faama' Ali from mounting an effective defense.

The kòmò often consulted religious sculptures in their decisions, particularly the four state boliw, large altars designed to aid the acquisition of political power.

[1]: 415 Mungo Park, passing through the Bambara capital of Ségou in 1797 recorded a testament to the Empire's prosperity: The view of this extensive city, the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding countryside, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence that I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa.