Person

Mansa Musa

Also called: Musa I of Mali, Kankan Musa

King of the Mali Empire (r. c. 1312–1337) whose gold-laden pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 made him famous

A kinsman of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, he came to the throne in the early 14th century. On his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 he spent gold so freely in Cairo that his name became famous. Returning with scholars and an architect, he built mosques at Timbuktu and Gao and encouraged Islamic learning. In his reign Mali reached its greatest extent, taking in Gao.

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1324 – 1325Mansa Musa’s Pilgrimage to Meccaleader
Mansa Musa, king of Mali in West Africa, made the pilgrimage to Mecca with a vast retinue and a great deal of gold. Mali’s wealth became so famous that the price of gold was said to have fallen in Cairo, where he passed through.

Themes this person appears in

Turkic-Islamic Empires and Other Civilizations1000 – 1533
From the Ghaznavid raids on India to the Mughal Empire and Suleiman I — five centuries in which Turkic-led Islamic empires took western Asia and India, while Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas raised civilisations of their own