Kaladian Coulibaly was a
West African ruler who founded one of the first large
Bambara kingdoms, centered on
Ségou in what is now
Mali. Around 1650, Coulibaly's kingdom was one of the dominant forces in the region. Though it lacked a systematic framework and thus failed to outlast his death (c. 1680), his great-grandson
Bitòn Coulibaly would found a more stable
Bambara Empire fifty years later on the same spot.