1. Arab & Berber Aggression: Continuous raids by Semitic nomads of the desert, mostly Berbers and Arabs. These generally included Black Africans, Afro-Berbers and Afro-Arabs who had converted to Islam.
2. Dissatisfaction with the Government: Dissatisfaction with the central government that tended progressively to undermine the traditional constitutions of both the parent-nuclear state and the formerly independent states which now made up the empire.
3. Disunity: The desire for independence on the part of member states, or more security in an alliance with some other seemingly rising power, such as Mali.
4. Hard Times: Drought leading to famine was becoming more frequent, almost permanent condition. Farming, the occupation of the masses, was becoming too difficult to support life.
5. Decline of Trade: Stepped-up Arab-Berber raids on caravan trails, the life-line of the empire, lead to a decline in trade.
6. The Gold Mines: Failure to capture the Wangara gold mines, leaving the state in a precarious position of a dependent middleman.
7. Civil strife over succession: The ruling class had become Muslims, introducing revolutionary changes in traditional constitutional practices
8. Weak leaders on both local and national levels.
9. Religious Conflicts: The African Muslim ruling class forcing Islam on the African masses lead to conflicts and people fleeing the country.
10. Nature: The increasing deforestation, erosion, reduced rainfall and uninhibited southward movement of the Sahara lead to the death of the soil.