THe FAll of the Ghana Empire
Ghana's neighboring empires became jealous of its power and wealthy. This made them want to attack, and finally they did. At first, their attacks were weak and meaningless, but by the 11th century, a group of muslims called the "Almoravids" attacked the capital at Koumbi Saleh. Ghana, however, was able to recover and the Almoravids were forced to retreat.
200 years later, Ghana finally fell. After the Almoravids, Ghana was attacked relentlessly, and cut-off from international trade. By 1240, Ghana was weak and unable to stop attacks. The kingdom was conquered by the nation of Mali.
Fall of the Mali Empire
After Mansa Musa died, Mali was never the same. Ruling families began to fight over who would truly rule Mali. This weakend Mali's government and its network of states. In 1430, a group of Berbers took over many of Mali's states including the important trade city, Timbuktu. The gold that Mali got rich on was slowly moving east, where even more mines were being found. Mali was slowly being pushed out of the gold trade and losing its wealth. Soon, like Ghana, it was conquered by another kingdom called the "Songhai" and made theirs.