Mansa Mūsā

Mansa Musa was the wealthiest religious leader of all empires in Africa. During his era, people ventured on a religious pilgrimage in Africa. Mansa Musa was a monotheistic, Muslim leader who wanted to spread the Islam belief of one god and diminish the polytheistic faith while following the 5 Pillars from the Muslim holy book, the Koran, throughout his religious pilgrimage across Africa to the city of Mecca.

"By 622 resistance became so strong that Muhammad decided to leave"( Back Ground Essay). Islam wasn 't accepted in Mecca at first, they didn 't believe in changing their religion views and following altered beliefs. Therefore, Muhammad traveled to reform a base along with his followers. During the time period of 600 CE, many routes were established through the Middle East for numerous reasons. Islam spread drastically due to cultural diffusion; however, military conquest seemed to be the significant for of cultural diffusion used to spread the Islam faith.

One of Mali’s most famous rulers was Mansa Musa. He did many things during his rule such as encouraging learning and the arts and even extended the boundaries of his kingdom. One of the most famous things he did in his rule was go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. According to a story, 500 slaves, 60,000 followers, and 80-100 camel loads went along with him. Along the, he gave so much gold out to people, even the poor, that the

While the Indian Ocean and Trans-Saharan trade routes both encouraged and facilitated the spread of Islam, the Indian Ocean saw a more extensive diffusion of disease, and traded across water instead of land.

In the city of Mecca, a man started a new religion known as Islam. This man was Muhammad who was born in about 570 C.E. While going to pray in a cave in the mountains of Mecca, an angel named Gabriel visited Muhammad. Gabriel proclaimed that Muhammad was a prophet, messenger of God. As he received messages from God, Muhammad began to teach and recite them to others. Over time, Islam attracted new followers through military conquest, trade, and the appeal of message, which contributed to the rapid spread of Islam.

The journey of Mansa Musa was strongly enforced and targeted to get more people to travel to Mali. "He left no court emor nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a load of gold".(document e) If this was a religious journey, he would not spend this much profit on other people. Since this is a journey to get more people to come to Mali, he wanted to impress the others, so that they thought that Mali was a wealthy place - which it was. He was the "most noble king in all the

Sundiata was their fist Mansa, which was a ruler/king. He turned Mail into a wealthy and strong empire by defeating attacks and growing their goldfields'. After Ghana collapsed the regions they had became farming villages. The kings were used to collect taxes and build new towns. Sundiata’s story, the first mansa for Mail, is mostly a legend, but there have been some evidence of his rule. From what people know Sundiata might have combined many religions, created a new society, and mastered the dangerous people who came from Mecca. We do know Sundiata was powerful and successful. From 1312 to 1337, a new mansa of Mali was Mansa Musa. Mansa Musa was the grandnephew of Sundiata. Mansa Musa is known for leading the pilgrimage of 60,000 people to Mecca in 1324 with tons of camels carrying pounds of gold! A very harsh journey through the Sahara desert consisted of little to no water, lots of flies and even some dead and lost people. When he went on his long journey he not only spread his wealth of gold to others, he also brought back new ideas to Mali. Including schoolers, poets, teachers and most importantly he converted their religion to Islam. One specific way he did this was by trading gold and salt and then using his wealth to build new mosques for the city and universities for the students to learn about the Islamic world. Something we learn from this long journey is that many people liked the “bling” you could say, also known as

Imagine traveling through the Sahara Desert with 60,000 other people for four months. This is what it was like on Mansa Musa’s hajj. Mansa Musa was the king of Mali; he was a powerful and generous leader. Mansa Musa went on hajj because he was a Muslim. He wanted to show his commitment to Islam. Mansa Musa’s hajj influenced the world’s perception of West Africa because it showed how many people were Muslim and the amount of resources West Africa had.

The lucrative location of the beginnings of Islam lead many merchants to trade while spreading the culture. Mecca, Islam’s headquarters, was in the crossroads of the world and in a perfect location for trade, which led to the spread of the culture. In a map created

In Africa during the Post-Classical era, 600-1450 CE, the Saharan was no longer a barren wasteland hardly suitable for travel, but, an essential part of both North African and Sub-Saharan West African societies. Camels and caravans allowed for quicker and more effective traveling. With trading becoming increasingly popular in this area, it provided the resources to build new and larger political structures. During this era, Africa’s economy began to change and the western part of Sub-Saharan was no different. With the Trans-Saharan trade routes ability to increase with the help of wealthier Islamic states, it allowed for the spread of religious and political ideas such as larger empires and the Islamic faith in which both greatly influenced

Mansa Musa, who ruled from 1312 to 1337 CE (often referred to as “the golden age of the Mali Empire”), was the tenth mansa, or king, of the Mali Empire, which was located in the Sahara Desert and “stretched across two thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad” (Alkhateeb; Tesfu). In 1324 CE, Musa, a Muslim ruler, decided to begin his pilgrimage to Mecca, called the Hajj, which is the fifth pillar of Islam. Mansa Musa’s visit to Cairo, Egypt during his Hajj to Mecca had an incredibly negative impact on the economy in Egypt for over a decade.

He was so secure in his power and rule that he did not hesitate to leave his kingdom in the rule of another while he preformed his pilgrimage. Even while on his journey he managed to command a large group of travelers with “100 loads of gold” (p. 60) on an incredibly long walk to Mecca. Today, there aren’t any leaders who could boast about having the same command, or being able to affect the price of a precious metal like gold. During his stay in Egypt Al-Umari writes that Mansa Musa “left no court amir nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a load of gold. The Cairenes made incalculable profits out of him and his suite in buying and selling and giving and taking.” (p. 62) flooding the region with his gifts. However, Mansa Musa was also very generous to his people as Al-‘Umari documents that “The emirs and soldiers of the king have fiefs and benefices, Among their chiefs are some whose wealth derived from the king reaches 50,000 mithqals of gold every year.” (p.56) Al-Umari further goes on to say that the kings whole ambition is to give his people “fine clothes and to make his town into cities” (p. 56). Hence, Mansa Musa was very concerned with the development of his people and kingdom by distributing his wealth, establishing trade, and creating a progressive reputation about the kingdom of Mali to the

Mansa Musa was the emperor of Mali when he made a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He received piety and generosity and he earned his respect from the local populations of Egypt. During quest he brought 60,000 people and 12,000 were slaves. Also he had 500 slaves carry golden staffs. He spent so much of this gold that there was an economic crash in Cairo, which people still felt 12 years after he left.

There have lived many great people throughout the course of history who have left major influences in the world. The most important influences come from major religious figures, as their ideas and teachings have influenced society and politics. The most influential of all the religious figures in Islam was the Prophet Muhammad, and his achievements influence the modern economy, politics, and society.

“This king is the richest and most noble lord of all of this region due to the abundance of gold which is collected in his land.”(Mansa Musa). During the Empire of Mali, Mali was considered a site of cultural exchange thanks to all the money that they had. Cultural exchange means there was an exchange of ideas and different cultures. This shows that they really care about trade and relationships. Mali was in created in 1230 A.D. It is west Africa and gained a lot of land from when Ghana fell. Mali was famous for many reasons. One of the reason were was famous was thanks their wealth. They were rich because of many natural resources. They had natural gold in Mali, and they traded it for salt. They also owned an taxed that salt and Iron trade routes. Another reason that Mali was very rich was Mansa Musa's famous pilgrimage, and last but not least, universities.