Sundiata Keita ( 1210 – c. 1260) was the founder of the Mali Empire. He ruled as emperor ("mansa") from 1235 to 1260. He is celebrated as a hero of the Mandinka people of West Africa in the "Epic of Sundiata". Sundiata changed his father's small kingdom into the core of the Mali Empire. It grew to be one of largest and richest empires of Africa.