22/06/2025
Mansa Musa. Mali’s most famous ruler was a Muslim king named Mansa Musa. Under his skillful leadership, Mali reached the height of its wealth, power, and fame in the 1300s. Because of Mansa Musa’s influence, Islam spread through a large part of West Africa. Mansa Musa ruled Mali for about 25 years. During that time, his army captured many important trade cities, including Timbuktu (tim-buhk-TOO), Gao (GOW), and Djenne (je-NAY). These cities became part of Mali’s empire.
The World Learns about Mali Religion was very important to Mansa Musa. In 1324, he left Mali on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Making such a journey, or hajj, is a spiritual duty of all Muslims. Mansa Musa’s first stop on his hajj was Cairo, Egypt. According to one account, he arrived in the city with nearly 100 camels, each loaded with 300 pounds of gold. Some 60,000 men traveled with him. About 10 years later, a historian spoke to an official who had met him:
“He did me extreme honor and treated me with the greatest courtesy. He addressed me, however, only through an interpreter despite his perfect ability to speak in the Arabic tongue. Then he forwarded [sent] to the royal treasury many loads of unworked native gold and other valuables.... He left neither court emir nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a load of gold. The Cairenes [people of Cairo] made incalculable [uncountable] profits out of him.” This historian says at Mansa Mthata gave away so much gold in Egypt that gold was no longer rare there, even 10 years later!
As a result, its value dropped steeply.
Through his journey, Mansa Musa introduced the empire of Mali to the world. Before he came to power, only a few people outside of West Africa had ever heard of Mali, even though it was one of the world’s largest empires. Mansa Musa made such
a great impression on people, though, that Mali became famous throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe.
