There have been Muslims in West Africa since the XIth century, if not earlier. The region that is now Mali was the center of several famous Islamic empires, notably the Ghana Empire (VIIIth-XIthcentury) (Dieterlen & Sylla, 1992) the Songhai Empire (1464-1591) (Cissoko, 1996), and states established by a succession of jihads led by various Muslim armies.