Sundiata Keita of Mali Part 1: The Real Lion King | 61

Even The Royals

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.4 • 844 Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Centuries before Pumbaa and Timon taught Simba the meaning of hakuna matata in The Lion King, a real-life lion king founded the Mali Empire in the 13th-century. Sundiata Keita was destined to be a great ruler from birth – a prophecy even promised he’d be the next Alexander the Great. But after his father dies, his scheming stepmother steals his throne for her own son, and banishes Sundiata. So Sundiata heads out on an epic quest to reclaim his kingdom, and prove that his reign truly is written in the stars.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can listen to Even the Royals early and ad-free right now.
0:04.1	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:07.8	A quick note about our show.
0:09.8	We do a lot of research for our stories, but we also aren't your high school history class.
0:14.1	So some details and scenes are dramatized.
0:17.2	And today's episode contains language that could scare off a wicked stepmother.
0:21.8	Please be advised.
0:28.1	So, Brooke, I feel like the Lion King has come up on this show a few times.
0:32.6	I mean, it is one of those classic.
0:34.8	Isn't it like a Shakespeare thing?
0:37.1	Yes.
0:39.4	And it's insane you say that because I did trivia last night with some people and Macbeth came up and I was like, oh yeah, that's what Lion King is
0:45.5	based on. But it's not. It's Hamlet. I know. I do that all the time with those two. I mix up those
0:50.2	yeah. And I mean, there are just so many royals themes in it. There's family betrayals, power struggles, a succession crisis, a battle for the throne, a talking red billed hornbill, you name it.
1:02.5	All the same.
1:04.0	All classic royal stuff.
1:05.4	But did you know there actually was a real life Lion King whose story shares a lot of similarities with Simba's?
1:14.7	No, I did not.
1:16.1	Disney truly has nothing on the real thing. So today we're talking about Sunjata Keita,
1:22.3	whose name, fun fact, literally means lion prince.
1:26.5	Wow. So Sunjata was a 13th century ruler who founded
1:30.8	the Mali Empire in West Africa. And at its peak around the 14th century, Mali was one of the
	...

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