Mansa Musa Influence

Mansa Musa lived from 1280 - 1337 A.D. and ruled the West African Mali Empire from 1312-1337 for a total of 25 years. He redeemed the monarchy in the Mali Empire in the fourteenth century. The title “mansa” means king or lord. Not much is known about him before he gained the throne. His most notable achievement was his famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 that brought great wealth to the Mali Empire. He extended the Mali Empire to make it so big that it was said to take a whole year to travel across. Mansa Musa was responsible for the expansion of the empire which is illustrated by his conquest of the Ghana empire. The Mali Empire reached half a million square miles. From east to west the empire extended from the Atlantic ocean to the bend in

the Niger River. From north to south it covered from south of the Sahara to equatorial Africa where there were tropical forests. Mansa Abu Bakar II ruled the Mali Empire before Musa did. Mansa Abu Bakar II was interested in how far the Atlantic ocean extended. So Abu Bakar decided to set out on a journey to explore the boundaries of the Atlantic ocean. He decided to select Musa as the deputy to his heir meaning that if we did not return then Musa would become the ruler. Abu Bakar never returned so that is how Mansa Musa came to the throne of the Mali Empire.
When Mansa Musa acquired the throne he obtained a few different titles. Mansa Musa was known as the King of Kings, Lion of Mali, and most importantly Lord of the Mines. According to the National Geographic Video (Source 4) a survey put Mansa Musa as the richest man of all time. His fortune was estimated to have been 400 billion dollars. To put this in comparison Bill Gates has a quarter of his wealth. The Mali Empire had the largest resources of gold in the known world. Since Mansa Musa ruled the kingdom of Mali he controlled all the gold. There was so much gold that he did not know what to do with it at first until he took his pilgrimage. That is why he is known as the Lord of the Mines because he controlled all the gold mines and everybody who worked in them. The power that Mansa Musa had is hard to picture in our society. It is hard to picture because he had the power of life and death over everyone in his empire. Mansa Musa was tested at the beginning of his reign before his famous pilgrimage that gave him his reputation. He had acquired so many riches that in the early years of his reign bandits and rebels would threaten his great wealth. According to the National Geographic Video (Source 4) The way that Mansa Musa would deal with this is he would “rule by the sword” meaning he would kill them.
Mansa Musa in his 17th year of his reign in approximately 1324 he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. It took several months to prepare for this 3000 mile adventure. “Mansa Musa brought Mali to the notice of the rest of the Muslim world with his famous pilgrimage to Mecca” (Textbook). The pilgrimage ultimately resulted in the great wealth of the Mali Empire. Mansa Musa set out from the capital of Niani to Cairo. The caravan went along the Niger River to Mema then to Walata then through Taghaza and Tuat. Lastly it went eastward across the Sahara Desert. The travels took approximately three months. Mansa Musa had met many other rulers during his journey. He created lasting ties with rulers who he had met.
On his journey, the emperor traveled on a horse and traveled with a caravan that was was rather impressive. He set off from Niani with 500 slaves leading the way each bearing a gold staff. The caravan consisted of different animals such horses, camels, cows, and goats. 300 pounds of gold was carried by 100 camels. There were 60,000 people who traveled with Mansa Musa on his hajj. There were 12,000 of the kings personal slaves. King seniors wife brought 500 maids. Many soldiers, doctors, teachers, and griots accompanied the ruler on his journey to give him assistance and document the trip (Source 5). After about eight months of traveling the caravan had reached the city of Cairo. Mansa Musa was heard coming by the citizens of Cairo long before he arrived. “Mansa Musa’s prodigious generosity and piety, as well as the fine clothes and exemplary behaviour of his followers, did not fail to create a most favorable impression” (Source 2). Everybody who he met on his pilgrimage were overwhelmed with his charitableness and prosperity. He spent so much money and gave away so many gold gifts. The Sultan of Egypt recognized him as a fellow Muslim and gave him much appreciation.
Mansa Musa’s generosity did not always have a positive result. “So much gold suddenly floated Cairo that the value of metal collapsed. Prices on good and wares super inflated in an attempt to adjust to the amount of gold spreading through local populations. It would take 20 years for the price of gold to recover” (Source 3). Cairo’s economy was not ready for the sudden surplus of gold. Although Mansa Musa’s intentions were good it took a major toll on the city. After spending so much money on his journey the emperor did not have anything left for his return home. So to make up for the negative impact on Cairo’s economy he had, he borrowed money from lenders in Cairo at a high interest rate. This helped but not as much as it needed to since it took 20 years for the city to recover. Mali and Egypt’s trade was better off because of his visit to Cairo.
The pilgrimage that Mansa Musa took resulted in an advancement of architecture throughout the Mali empire.

“Mansa Musa brought back with him an Arabic library, religious scholars, and most importantly the Muslim architect Al-Sahili who introduced into Mali a new development in architecture, especially in the buildings of mosques and palaces” (Source 3). The new style that became known throughout the empire was burnt bricks, flat roofs, and pyramidal minaret. All of Mansa Musa’s architectural design and advancement can be contributed to Al-Sahili. Al-Sahili’s most notable work was the Chamber at Niani. He redesigned the mosque at Gao which today still lies the foundation. He built the Jingaray Bar or the Fridays Prayers Mosque for 200 kg of gold from the king. Mansa Musa built many mosques during his regime. A notable mosque that he was responsible for was the Great Mosque, in Timbuktu. It is made of stone rubble with clay rendering and round, dried, mud

bricks.
Mansa Musa was always passionate about promoting education and Islam in the Mali Empire. “In the early years of his reign Musa had sent Sudanese scholars to the Moroccan ‘university’ of Fes. By the end of his reign Sudanese scholars were setting up their own centres of learning and Quranic study, particularly at Timbuktu” (Textbook). Mansa Musa encouraged the spread of Islam and the advancement of learning. He founded the University of Sankore in Timbuktu. Mansa Musa made Islam the official religion of the empire. There were many of the ruler’s people who practiced traditional African religions. Mansa Musa never forced them to convert to Islam and he respected the people. Mansa Musa broke the empire up into provinces and within the provinces there lay towns. The provinces were managed by a governor and the towns were managed by a mayor.
Mansa Musa not wanted to only preserve the gold trade but to increase it.

He succeeded in increasing the gold trade. The reason that he succeeded was because he strengthened trade with the Muslim world. There were several ways in which he was able to strengthen the trade with the Muslim world. One being Mansa Musa made Islam the official religion of the Mali empire. Another way was his pilgrimage to Mecca. “He started new trade routes and encouraged trade with Muslim traders by bringing back four sharifs (descendents of Muhammad) to live in Mali” (Source 5). By making Islam the official religion and bringing back four sharifs he really turned the Mali empire into an Muslim empire. Since he turned it into an Muslim empire more Muslim countries were open to trade with them. Since the Mali empire was made so big by Mansa Musa himself, there were many trade routes throughout the empire. Mansa Musa had to keep the trade routes safe so as a result he sent his army to protect the trade routes and keep them flowing

smoothly.
Timbuktu started off as a small nomadic village. Mansa Musa made Timbuktu an extremely wealthy city. His incredible gold gifts to Cairo during his pilgrimage to Mecca resulted in Timbuktu becoming a city of great wealth. The city was so rich that even the slaves wore gold. He opened up the University of Sankore in Timbuktu. Sankore University was home to many Muslims from far away countries who came to Timbuktu to receive an education. Timbuktu was known as a center of learning in Africa during this time period. Mansa Musa was responsible for the building of the Great Mosque in Timbuktu. His pilgrimage had many positive effects on the city of Timbuktu. It became a key spot in the trans-saharan trade route. One of the reasons it became a key spot in the trans-saharan trade route was because it was located on the Nile river. The Nile river was one of the trans-saharan trade routes biggest asset so Mansa Musa was smart to make Timbuktu a key spot. It was as well as a place of Islamic scholarship. Books were a key part of education in Timbuktu so they were written, imported, and copied there. The city housed a local book copying industry so copying books. The city contained many resources for education as a result of all the books circulating throughout the city. The source of scholarly works for those receiving an education was uncomparable in the universities and libraries that Mansa Musa was responsible for. Overall the city of Timbuktu became the center for the meeting of the best Quranic theologians, poets, scholars, and artists. The amount of people and the economic activity in Timbuktu at its peak competed with cities such as Venice, Paris, and Milan.
All in all, Mansa Musa led to the prosperity of the Mali Empire. Mansa Musa controlled everything in the Mali Empire. He had a major influence on trade, education, religion, and architecture throughout the empire. All of the impacts that he had were positive for the Mali Empire as it saw its peak during his reign. His famous pilgrimage resulted in everything he had a major influence because it bettered trade, architecture, religion, and education. He built up the city of Timbuktu to make it a major source of the empire. Mansa Musa was well respected throughout the Muslim world and North Africa because of his generosity and prosperity that he exhibited during his pilgrimage.