Mali, One of the Greatest African Civilizations Mali’s Culture and Government After the kingdom of Ancient Ghana, the next great West African Empire to emerge was the kingdom of Ancient Mali. Ancient Mali and Ghana shared a number of different features, however they also were extremely distinct from each other in many ways as well. For example, unlike Ghana, a great deal more information and written records about the kingdom of Mali still exist. With the resources that have endured a much better understanding of Mali can be established. Like Ghana, however, most of the information that is known about Mali comes from Islamic scholars and