The Kouroukan Fouga or Kurukan Fuga is purported to be the constitution of the Mali Empire (mid-thirteenth century to c. 1645), created after the Battle of Krina by an assembly of notables to create a government for the newly established empire. It was first alluded to in print in Djibril Tamsir Niane's book, Soundjata, ou l'Epopée Mandingue. Subsequently versions of it were published in Mandinka and translated by Youssouf Cissé into French in 1991, and finally, a version of compiled in 1998 by a group of traditional historians as well as modern linguists.

According to these texts, the Kouroukan Fouga established the federation of Mandinka clans under one government, outlined how it would operate and established the laws by which the people would live. Mansa (Emperor) Sundiata Keita presented the document at a plain near the town of Ka-ba (present day Kangaba), and it has survived through oral tradition passed down by generations of djeli or griots. The djeli have preserved much of the history of the Mali Empire including its kings, battles and system of government.

Soulemayne Kante or Solomana Kante (1922-1987) was an African writer and inventor of the N'Ko alphabet for the Mande languages of West Africa. N'Ko means 'I say' in all Manding languages.

Kante created N'Ko in 1949 after a night of deep meditation, in response to what he felt were beliefs that Africans were a "cultureless people", and since there was, prior to this time, no indigenous African writing system for his language. N'ko came first into use in Kankan, Guinea as a Maninka alphabet and was disseminated from there into other Mande-speaking parts of West Africa.