Mansa Musa Thesis

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Mansa Musa, the 10th ruler of Mali Empire, is known as the worlds’ richest person of all time. Mali Empire was originally a Mandinka kingdom that had prospered in West Africa during the 14th century. In ancient African Empire, the word “Mansa” means king or ruler. Mansa Musa was a Muslim traditionalist in the same way as other Malian kings. His incredibly astounding pilgrimage to the land known as Mecca, the holiest city in the Islamic world, is one of the most legendary stories in African history that has been told. By the end of his journey, he had left a great impact on the whole European Muslims and became the most well known African king; not only within his lands but to the world outside. Historians believed Mali Empire met the golden …show more content…

By the time he arrived in Cairo, he freely gave away incredible amount of gold as a gift to the people. After he left, there was a glut of gold on Egyptian gold market due to Mansa Musa and his suites were lavish in gold, the value of gold dropped significantly. Gold price in Egypt went down for 25%, and it required more than 10 years to recover gold price in Egypt. The inflation continued until twelve years after Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage, when an Arab historian, al-Umari visited Cairo. He described: Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year. The mithqal did not go below 25 dirhams and was generally above, but from that time its value fell and it cheapened in price and has remained cheap till now. The mithqal does not exceed 22 dirhams or less. This has been the state of affairs for about twelve years until this day by reason of the large amount of gold which they brought into Egypt and spent there. …(269-273) Mansa Musa’s immense wealth and his generosity left a good impression on people in Egypt. In short period, his legendary pilgrimage stories have spread throughout Europe, and awakened the entire world to the spectacular wealth of Mali Empire. However, after his lavish expenditure during his journey, he eventually ran out of money and ended up borrowing money from Egyptian merchant with heavy interest in order to return

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