Mansa Musa, fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire,
is the medieval African ruler most known to the world outside Africa.
His elaborate pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1324 introduced him to rulers in the
Middle East and in Europe. His
leadership of Mali, a state which stretched across two thousand miles from the
Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad and which included all or parts of the modern nations of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina
Faso, Mali, Niger,Nigeria, and Chad,
ensured decades of peace and prosperity in Western Africa.
Accompanied by thousands of richly dressed
servants and supporters Musa made generous donations to the poor and to
charitable organizations as well as the rulers of the lands his entourage
crossed. On his stop in Cairo, Egypt, the
Emperor gave out so much gold that he generated a brief decline in its value.
Cairo’s gold market recovered over a decade later.
Upon his return from Mecca, Mansa Musa brought Arab scholars, government bureaucrats, and architects. Among
those who returned with him was the architect Ishaq El Teudjin who introduced
advanced building techniques to Mali. He designed numerous buildings for
the Emperor including a new palace named Madagou, the mosque at Gao, the second largest
city in Mali, and the still-standing great mosque at Timbuktu,
the largest city in the empire. That mosque was named the Djinguereber. El
Teudjin’s most famous design was the Emperor’s chamber at the Malian capital of
Niani.
Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage boosted Islamic
education in Mali by adding mosques, libraries, and universities. The awareness
of Musa by other Islamic leaders brought increased commerce and scholars,
poets, and artisans, making Timbuktu one of the leading cities in the Islamic
world during the time when the most advanced nations from Spain to central India were Muslim. Timbuktu was clearly the center of Islamic
Sub-Saharan Africa.
Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca brought Mali to the
attention of Europe. For the next two centuries Italian, German,
and Spanish cartographers produced maps of the world which showed Mali and
which often referenced Mansa Musa. The first of these maps appeared in
Italy in 1339 with Mansa Musa’s name and likeness.
Mansa Musa died in 1337 after a twenty-five
year reign. He was succeeded by his son, Maghan I.
- See more at:
http://www.blackpast.org/gah/musa-mansa-1280-1337#sthash.XAb4yN4Q.dpuf
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