This may be a legendary reflection of the way in which the extension of Mali sovereignty in the region overcame disorder caused by endemic raiding and a changing climate.
[5] Oral histories hold that around 1235 CE Sundiata Keita sent an expedition to the Jolof Empire to buy horses, but all their members were killed except one who was sent back to Mali with an insulting message.
Traore had already been planning to move west into the sparsely inhabited but fertile lands ruled by the Bainuk people, so Sundiata sent him to avenge this insult.
[6] He led a group of 75,000 people, including 40,000 free men and woman as well as 35,000 slaves and numerous artisans, west from the traditional Manding lands.
The column moved slowly, taking a year to reach Wuli in what is now the eastern end of The Gambia, growing crops along the way.