Mansa Musa Thesis

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

age during the reign of Mansa Musa.

Mali Empire: Location and history background
The Mali Empire was located in the south of the Sahara desert. In modern day, it has covered regions surrounding Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chat and The Gambia. In the14th century, Mali was one of the largest and richest empire the world has ever known. Mali Empire’s great wealth is due to the result of its geographical location; the region around the upper reaches of Niger River was known to have famous gold mines and flourished with agriculturally rich floodplain.

Mali Empire: Brief history
Long before the European trespasser had arrived in West Africa; there were three kingdoms that had prospered in the western Sudan region one after another. The first great African empire launched in West Sudan during 7th century. It was situated across the upstream area of the Senegal and of the Niger River. This kingdom was known to be the Ghana Empire, the predecessor state of Mali Empire. In the ancient Africa, gold was one of the most essential resources for supporting the financial aspects and wealth of the kingdom. The Ghana Empire had vast reserves of gold and salt, in which gradually allowed the kingdom to grow very rich. An Iranian scholar by the name Ibn al-Faquh al Hamadhani, had admired the great abundance and obscure amount of gold that the Ghana Empire had, and in his expression he wrote “In the country of Ghana gold grows in the sand as carrots do, and is plucked at sunrise.”
Ghana Empire had plenty of gold resources but was short of salt. On the contrary, western countries needed the supplies of gold, but they were able to supply adequate amounts of salt. This balance of the amount of resources they had lead to an equal interest for one another which would then eventually result into the salt and gold trade; gradually the kingdom grew very rich, and it had also promoted Islamization through Muslim traders.
However, the kingdom fell into a decline due to the invasion and conquest by the almoravids around 1076. Along with the demise of Ghana Kingdom, a number of small kingdoms appeared to control over the western Sudan region. In 1235, the king of Kangaba, Sundiata Keita, defeated the neighboring kingdom of Susu that led by Sumanguru. After the battle of Kirina, Sundiata established Mali as an empire and became the first emperor.

Date of birth and death of Mansa Musa
Mansa Musa’s was known as either the grand son or the grandnephew of the founder of Mali Empire; Sundiata. His father, Faga Laye, was a price who has no importance in Mali history. The date of birth of Mansa Musa has been a frequently discussed by historians. However, Mansa Musa’s date of birth and the date of death are not known. According to a historian, Levtzion Nehemia’s comparison between his son’s and his older brother’s reign, it can calculate that he died approximately in 1332. It is because his son, Mansa Maghan ascended to the throne after Mansa Musa passed away and there was a record that he ruled Mali from 1332 to 1336.

How Mansa Musa ascended to the throne
At the time, there was a practice that when the king goes on his pilgrimage to mecca, they appointed a deputy to ascend the throne, later on the deputy can heir the title of Mansa. In 1307, Mansa Musa succeeded to the throne due to the ruler before him, Abubakari Keita II’s journey. Mansa Abubakari wanted to look for the end of the Atlantic Ocean; he sent out 200 boats to explore, and ordered captain not to return until they found the other end of the ocean. However, only one ship came back and told him that all the other boats were destroyed and lost. He refused to believe this; decided to go on an expedition to find out by himself, and he appointed Mansa Musa as his regent for the period of his absence, but never returned.

Period of reign of Mansa Musa
Empire Mali reached the acme of its prosperity in the age of Mansa Musa. During his twenty-five year reign, he expanded the land area of Mali by twice. Musa was known as an exceptionally wise ruler. Mali Empire had grown very big after he took over the country. The first thing he did as a Mansa was break down the empire into provinces; governors called a ‘ferba’ is in charge of province. Each province was made of many villages; and he put a mayor called ‘mochrif’ in each village. At that time, there were at least 14 provinces exited in Mali, a strong army protected the gold mines. This system made Mansa Musa and his advisors are able to focus on the whole empire, and also his government efficiently operated in long term.

Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca and its consequences
Mansa Musa’s pilgrim journey to Mecca is one of the most famous incidents in the history of Africa; and also it made a huge impact on Egyptian financial market. Mansa Musa was a pious Muslim as well as other Muslim king in Mali Empire; therefore he decided to make his first pilgrimage to Mecca in the 17th year of his reign. It took several years to prepare his lavish expedition. In David W. Tschanz’s article, he described:

Trudging solemnly behind him were 80 camels, each bearing 300 pounds (140 kg) of gold – the modern equivalent of $576,000,000 – extracted from the mines of West Africa. Behind this vanguard stretched a vast array. There were 60,000 porters, and a retinue of 12,000 of the king’s personal slaves. The king's senior wife herself brought 500 maids. (1)
As respectable Muslim, Musa gave out a large quantity of gold as alms to the poor on the way to Mecca.

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

home.
Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage has significant impact on Islamic education in Mali. After he returns to Mali, he had a desire to introduce more Islamic culture to Mali. He brought many Muslim scholars and architects back, and started to use Mali’s wealth to built mosques, universities, palaces, and libraries in Timbuktu. Gradually, Timbuktu became one of the most important cities in the Islamic world.

Mansa Musa’s Legacy
According to Olivia Fleming’s article, in today’s money, he would have approximately $400 billion during his reign from 1312 to 1337. His spectacular legacy came from his country’s production of more than half of the world’s gold and salt. However, the prosperity is destined to experience a decline. Mali Empire had been limping along on the gold, which is limited resource. After two generations, Mansa Musa’s vast wealth was no longer existed in the world.