Mansa Musa

Musa I
Depiction of Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century, from the 1375 Catalan Atlas. The label reads: This Black Lord is called Musse Melly and is the sovereign of the land of the black people of Gineva (Ghana). This king is the richest and noblest of all these lands due to the abundance of gold that is extracted from his lands.[1]
Mansa of Mali
Reignc. 1312 – c. 1337 (approx. 25 years)
PredecessorMuhammad[2]
SuccessorMagha
BornLate 13th century
Mali Empire
Diedc. 1337
Mali Empire
SpouseInari Konte[3]
HouseKeita dynasty
ReligionIslam Maliki

Mansa Musa[a] (reigned c. 1312 – c. 1337[b]) was the ninth[5] Mansa of the Mali Empire, which reached its territorial peak during his reign. Musa's reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali's power and prestige, although he features comparatively less in Mandinka oral traditions than his predecessors.

Often described as the richest person in history,[6] he is known to have been enormously wealthy, described as being inconceivably rich by contemporaries; Time magazine reported: "There's really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth."[7] It is known from local manuscripts and travellers' accounts that Mansa Musa's wealth came principally from the Mali Empire controlling and taxing the trade in salt from northern regions and especially from gold panned and mined in Bambuk and Bure to the south. Over a very long period Mali had created a large reserve of gold. Mali is also suspected to have been involved in the trade in many goods such as ivory, slaves, spices, silks, and ceramics. However presently little is known about the extent or mechanics of these trades.[8][9] At the time of Musa's ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which Mali had conquered. The Mali Empire consisted of land that is now part of Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and the modern state of Mali.

Musa went on Hajj to Mecca in 1324, traveling with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. En route, he spent time in Cairo, where his lavish gift-giving is said to have noticeably affected the value of gold in Egypt and garnered the attention of the wider Muslim world. Musa expanded the borders of the Mali Empire, in particular incorporating the cities of Gao and Timbuktu into its territory. He sought closer ties with the rest of the Muslim world, particularly the Mamluk and Marinid Sultanates. He recruited scholars from the wider Muslim world to travel to Mali, such as the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, and helped establish Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning. His reign is associated with numerous construction projects, including a portion of Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu.

  1. ^ "The Cresques Project - Panel III". cresquesproject.net. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  2. ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 346
  3. ^ Bühnen 1994, p. 12.
  4. ^ Levtzion 1963, pp. 349–350.
  5. ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 353
  6. ^ Thad Morgan, "This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History", History.com, March 19, 2018
  7. ^ Davidson, Jacob (30 July 2015). "The 10 Richest People of All Time". Time. Archived from the original on 24 August 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali)". National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  9. ^ Rodriguez, Junius P. (1997). The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery. ABC-CLIO. p. 449. ISBN 978-0-87436-885-7. Retrieved 3 May 2023.


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