Mansa Musa facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Musa I
This picture shows Mansa Musa, a powerful ruler of the Mali Empire in the 1300s. It's from an old map called the 1375 Catalan Atlas. The writing says he was "the richest and noblest of all these lands" because of all the gold from his kingdom.
Mansa of Mali
Reign	c. 1312 – c. 1337 (about 25 years)
Predecessor	Muhammad
Successor	Magha
Born	1280 Mali Empire
Died	c. 1337 (around age 57) Mali Empire
Spouse	Inari Konte
House	Keita dynasty
Religion	Islam Maliki

Mansa Musa (reigned around 1312 to 1337) was the ninth Mansa, or ruler, of the Mali Empire. His time as ruler is often seen as the peak of Mali's power and fame. During his reign, the Mali Empire grew to its largest size.

Mansa Musa was incredibly wealthy, so rich that people at the time found it hard to imagine. Time magazine even said, "There's really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth." We know from old writings and travelers' stories that Mansa Musa's wealth mainly came from the Mali Empire controlling and taxing the trade of salt from northern areas and, most importantly, gold. This gold was found in places like Bambuk and Bure in the south. Over a long time, Mali had gathered a huge amount of gold. The empire also traded in other goods like ivory, slaves, spices, silks, and pottery.

When Musa became ruler, the Mali Empire included much of the land that used to be the Ghana Empire. Today, parts of Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and the modern country of Mali were once part of the Mali Empire.

In 1324, Musa went on a Hajj (a religious pilgrimage) to Mecca. He traveled with a huge group of people and a vast amount of gold. On his way, he stopped in Cairo, where his generous gift-giving was so grand that it actually made the value of gold in Egypt go down! This event caught the attention of the wider Muslim world. Mansa Musa also expanded the Mali Empire, adding important cities like Gao and Timbuktu. He wanted to build stronger connections with other Muslim lands, especially the Mamluk and Marinid Sultanates. He invited scholars from across the Muslim world to come to Mali, like the poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili from Spain. He also helped make Timbuktu a major center for Islamic learning. Many building projects happened during his rule, including parts of the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu.

Who Was Mansa Musa?

Understanding His Name and Titles

Mansa Musa's personal name was Musa, which is the Arabic name for Moses. The word Mansa means 'ruler' or 'king' in the Mandé language, and it was the title for the leader of the Mali Empire.

In old stories and writings like the Timbuktu Chronicles, Musa is also known as Kanku Musa. In Mandé traditions, it was common to add a person's mother's name before their own. So, Kanku Musa might mean "Musa, son of Kanku."

Because he made the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Musa is often called Hajji in oral traditions. In the Songhai language, rulers of Mali like Musa were known as the Mali-koi, where koi meant a leader with authority over a region, so "ruler of Mali."

How We Know About Mansa Musa

Most of what we know about Mansa Musa comes from Arabic writers who wrote after his famous pilgrimage to Mecca. Important historians like Al-Umari and Ibn Khaldun recorded his story. When Musa was in Cairo during his pilgrimage, he made friends with officials who learned about him and his country. They later shared this information with historians.

We also get information from two old manuscripts written in Timbuktu in the 1600s: the Tarikh Ibn al-Mukhtar and the Tarikh al-Sudan. There are also oral traditions, which are stories passed down through generations by special storytellers called jeliw (also known as griots). However, these oral traditions don't talk as much about Musa as they do about some earlier rulers of Mali.

Mansa Musa's Journey to Power

His Family Background

Mansa Musa's father was named Faga Leye, and his mother might have been named Kanku. Faga Leye was the son of Abu Bakr, who was a brother of Sunjata, the first mansa of the Mali Empire.

Historians have debated Musa's exact family tree because old sources sometimes seem to contradict each other. What's clear is that he was part of the Keita dynasty, the ruling family of Mali.

How He Became Ruler

Musa became ruler in the early 1300s, but the exact details are a bit unclear. According to Musa's own story, the mansa before him, Muhammad ibn Qu, went on two expeditions to explore the Atlantic Ocean. The mansa himself led the second trip and appointed Musa as his deputy to rule the empire until he returned. When the mansa didn't come back, Musa was crowned as the new ruler. This marked a change in the line of succession, moving it from Sunjata's direct descendants to the descendants of his brother, Abu Bakr.

Some modern historians wonder if Musa might have taken power from his predecessor and made up the story about the ocean voyage to explain how he became mansa. However, the idea of such a voyage has been considered seriously by several historians.

Mansa Musa's Famous Pilgrimage

Preparing for the Hajj

Musa was a young man when he became Mansa, perhaps in his early twenties. Given how grand his later pilgrimage was, it's likely he spent much of his early reign getting ready for it. Part of these preparations might have involved military campaigns to capture and enslave people from neighboring lands, as Musa's traveling group would include many thousands of slaves. One historian estimates that Mali might have captured over 6,000 slaves per year for this purpose. Because of this, Musa's early reign involved continuous military conflicts with non-Muslim societies nearby. In 1324, while in Cairo, Musa said that he had conquered 24 cities and their surrounding areas.

Musa was a Muslim, and his hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, made him famous across North Africa and the Middle East. For Musa, Islam was a way to connect with the educated world of the Eastern Mediterranean. He worked hard to help Islam grow within his empire. When Musa left Mali for the Hajj, he left his son Muhammad in charge.

The Grand Journey to Mecca

Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325, traveling about 2,700 miles. His procession was said to include over 12,000 slaves, all dressed in fancy brocade and Yemeni silk. Each carried about 4 pounds of gold bars. Heralds (messengers) dressed in silks and carrying gold staffs organized the horses and handled bags.

Musa provided everything needed for the journey, feeding all the men and animals. The animals included 80 camels, each carrying between 50 and 300 pounds of gold dust. Musa gave gold to the poor people he met along his route. He not only gave to cities he passed, like Cairo and Medina, but also traded gold for souvenirs. It was even reported that he built a mosque every Friday.

A historian named Shihab al-Din al-'Umari, who visited Cairo shortly after Musa's pilgrimage, wrote that it was "a lavish display of power, wealth, and unprecedented by its size and pageantry." Musa made a big effort to show off his nation's wealth.

His Time in Cairo

Musa and his group arrived near Cairo in July 1324. They camped for three days by the Pyramids of Giza before crossing the Nile River into Cairo on July 19. While in Cairo, Musa met with the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad. The sultan expected Musa to bow down to him, which Musa at first refused to do. When Musa finally did bow, he said he was doing so only for God.

Despite this awkward start, the two rulers got along well and exchanged gifts. Musa and his group gave and spent freely in Cairo. Musa stayed in the Qarafa district of Cairo and became friends with its governor, ibn Amir Hajib, who learned a lot about Mali from him. Musa stayed in Cairo for three months, leaving on October 18 with the official group heading to Mecca.

Continuing to Mecca and the Return Journey

Musa's generosity continued as he traveled to Mecca, and he gave gifts to other pilgrims and the people of Medina and Mecca. While in Mecca, a small conflict broke out between some Malian pilgrims and some Turkic pilgrims. Swords were drawn, but Musa convinced his men to back down before things got worse.

Musa and his group stayed in Mecca after the Hajj. Traveling separately from the main group, their return journey to Cairo faced many problems. By the time they reached Suez, many Malian pilgrims had died from cold, hunger, or bandit attacks, and they had lost many of their supplies. Having run out of money, Musa and his group had to borrow money and resell much of what they had bought in Cairo before the Hajj. Musa even went into debt to several merchants. However, Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad returned Musa's earlier generosity with gifts of his own.

On his way back, Musa met the poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili from al-Andalus (Spain). Musa was impressed by his speaking skills and knowledge and convinced him to travel back to Mali with him. Musa also brought other scholars to Mali, including Maliki jurists (Islamic legal experts).

According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, the cities of Gao and Timbuktu accepted Musa's rule as he traveled through them on his way back to Mali. However, it's unlikely that a group of pilgrims, even if armed, could have conquered a wealthy and powerful city. It's more likely that Mali's control of Gao might have been weak, needing powerful rulers to reassert their authority from time to time.

Mansa Musa's Later Reign and Legacy

Building and Learning in Mali

Musa started a huge building program, constructing mosques and madrasas (Islamic schools) in Timbuktu and Gao. Most famously, the ancient learning center Sankore Madrasah (or University of Sankore) was built during his reign.

During this time, major cities in Mali had a high level of urban living. An Italian scholar named Sergio Domian wrote that this period "laid the foundation of an urban civilization. At the height of its power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the Niger Delta was very densely populated."

Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of Timbuktu and Gao on his way to Mecca, and he made them part of his empire when he returned around 1325. He brought architects from Andalusia (a region in Spain) and Cairo to build his grand palace in Timbuktu and the great Djinguereber Mosque that still stands today.

Timbuktu quickly became a center of trade, culture, and Islam. Markets brought in merchants from Hausaland, Egypt, and other African kingdoms. A university was founded in the city (as well as in the Malian cities of Djenné and Ségou), and Islam spread through the markets and university, making Timbuktu a new hub for Islamic scholarship. News of the Malian empire's wealthy city even reached southern Europe, where traders from Venice, Granada, and Genoa soon added Timbuktu to their maps to trade manufactured goods for gold.

The University of Sankore in Timbuktu was staffed under Musa's reign with legal experts, astronomers, and mathematicians. The university became a center of learning and culture, attracting Muslim scholars from all over Africa and the Middle East to Timbuktu.

In 1330, the kingdom of Mossi invaded and took over Timbuktu. Gao had already been captured by Musa's general, and Musa quickly took Timbuktu back. He built a wall and a stone fort and placed a permanent army there to protect the city from future invaders. While Musa's palace has since disappeared, the university and mosque still stand in Timbuktu.

When Did Mansa Musa Die?

The exact date of Mansa Musa's death is not certain. Some historians believe he died in 1332, while others suggest 1337. It's possible that there was some confusion in the historical records, but many scholars now believe 1337 is the most likely date.

Mansa Musa's Lasting Impact

Musa's reign is often called Mali's golden age. This might be because his rule is the best recorded by Arabic writers, rather than him necessarily being the wealthiest and most powerful mansa of Mali. The Mali Empire was at its largest during the reigns of Musa and his brother Sulayman, covering a vast area of West Africa.

In Mandé oral traditions, Mansa Musa is not as famous as some other rulers. Some storytellers criticize him for not sticking to traditional ways and for supposedly wasting Mali's wealth. However, some parts of Musa's story seem to have been combined into a figure in Mandé oral tradition called Fajigi, which means "father of hope." Fajigi is remembered for traveling to Mecca to bring back special ceremonial objects important in Mandé traditional religion. As Fajigi, Musa is sometimes mixed up with another figure named Fakoli, who was a top general for Sunjata. The character of Fajigi combines both Islamic and traditional beliefs.

The name "Musa" has become almost a synonym for pilgrimage in Mandé tradition, so much so that other figures remembered for going on a pilgrimage, like Fakoli, are also sometimes called Musa.

His Incredible Wealth

Mansa Musa is famous for his wealth and generosity. While some articles online in the 21st century have claimed he was the richest person of all time, historians like Hadrien Collet argue that it's impossible to accurately calculate Musa's wealth. Arabic sources at the time might have been trying to say that Musa had more gold than they thought possible, rather than giving an exact number. Also, it's hard to truly compare the wealth of historical figures like Mansa Musa because it's difficult to separate a ruler's personal wealth from the wealth of the state, and comparing wealth across very different societies is challenging.

Musa might have taken as much as 18 tons of gold on his pilgrimage, which would be worth over US$1.397 billion in 2024. Musa himself helped spread the idea that he had vast, endless wealth by spreading rumors that gold grew like a plant in his kingdom.

According to some Arabic writers, Musa's gift-giving caused the value of gold in Egypt to go down. One historian said that before Musa arrived, a mithqal (a unit of gold) was worth 25 silver dirhams, but it dropped to less than 22 dirhams afterward and stayed low for at least twelve years. While some have said this "wrecked" Egypt's economy, other historians argue that this was within the normal ups and downs of gold value in Mamluk Egypt.

The wealth of the Mali Empire didn't come from directly controlling gold-producing areas, but rather from trade and tribute (payments from other groups). The gold Musa brought on his pilgrimage probably represented years of collected tribute that Musa would have spent much of his early reign gathering. Another source of income for Mali during Musa's reign was taxing the copper trade.

Some writers, like Ibn Battuta, said that Mansa Musa ran out of money during his journey to Mecca and had to borrow from Egyptian merchants at a high interest rate on his way back. These writers claim that the moneylenders were either never repaid or only partly repaid. However, other sources disagree, saying they were eventually fully paid back.

His Character

Arabic writers, such as Ibn Battuta, praised Musa's generosity, good character, and intelligence. Ibn Khaldun said that he "was an upright man and a great king, and tales of his justice are still told."

See also

In Spanish: Mansa Musa para niños