A great king ruled Mali from 1312
to 1337 and his name was Mansa Musa. Crowned “Mansa”-meaning “king of Kings”-
Mansa Musa was the grand-nephew of Sundiata. A Muslim himself, Mansa Musa
embarked on the greatest Islamic pilgrimage by caravan ever recorded in history
between the years 1324-1325 in a journey spanning thousands of miles through
the stretch of the massive and expansive Sahara
desert. Reputedly the most lavish pilgrimage in the world, Mansa Musa’s
entourage carried 100 camel-loads of gold, each weighing 300 pounds; 500
slaves, each carrying a 4-lb. gold staff; thousands of his subjects; as well as
his senior wife, with her 500 attendants.
According to Arab historian Al-Umari,
Mansa Musa and his retinue gave out so much gold such that the value of gold in
Egypt
drastically fell rendering the Egyptian economy in decline for many years.
Al-Umari further states that Mansa Musa had to borrow from well-wishers at
usurious interest rates for his return journey to Mali . In return, Mansa Musa brought
back with him an Arabic library, religious scholars, and most importantly the
renowned Muslim architect al-Sahili who built him a majestic royal palace and
two great mosques at Gao and Timbuktu .
In the aftermath of Mansa Musa’s travel to Mecca
and Cairo , the Kingdom Mali became a center for
commerce, education, and trade followed by diplomatic exchanges with Morocco and
other Islamic nations. Mali
enjoyed remarkable peace, stability, and profound prosperity for the
forty-seven years between the time of his grandfather’s brother, Sundiata, and
his accession to the throne. Mansa Musa ruled the Kingdom of Mali
According to E.W. Bovill, author of The Golden Trade of
Moors (1958), Mansa Musa’s kingdom was "remarkable both for its extent
and for its wealth and a striking example of the capacity of the Negro for
political organization". [ii]
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