Editing Mali Empire (section)

===Strength===
[[File:Djenne Terracotta Archer (13th-15th cent).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Terracotta archer figure from Mali (13th to 15th centuries)]]

The Mali Empire maintained a semi-professional, full-time army in order to defend its borders. The entire nation was mobilised, with each clan obligated to provide a quota of fighting-age men.<ref name=recherches/> These men had to be of the ''horon'' ([[Freedman|freemen]]) [[caste]] and appear with their own arms. Historians who lived during the height and decline of the Mali Empire consistently record its standing army peaking at 100,000, with 10,000 of that number being made up of cavalry.<ref name=recherches/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Willard|first=Alice|date=1993-04-01|title=Gold, Islam and Camels: The Transformative Effects of Trade and Ideology|url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol28/iss28/6|journal=Comparative Civilizations Review|volume=28|issue=28|pages=88|issn=0733-4540}}</ref> With the help of the river clans, this army could be deployed throughout the realm on short notice.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.histoire-afrique.org/article73.html%3Fartsuite%3D4&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dmalimassa%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D |title=Google Translate |access-date=2009-09-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sarr |first1=Mamadou |title=L'empire du Mali |date=1991 |page=92 |url=http://www.histoire-afrique.org/article73.html?artsuite=4 |access-date=9 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406152125/http://www.histoire-afrique.org/article73.html?artsuite=4 |archive-date=6 April 2008 }}</ref> Numerous sources attest that the inland waterways of West Africa saw extensive use of war canoes and vessels used for war transport where permitted by the environment. Most West African canoes were of single-log construction, carved and dug out from one massive tree trunk.<ref>Robert Smith, "The Canoe in West African History", ''The Journal of African History'', Vol. 11, No. 4 (1970), pp. 515–533.</ref>