However, many believe Mansa Musa's wealth outdoes that of all modern billionaires. All rights reserved. [8] Mansa, 'ruler'[9] or 'king'[10] in Mand, was the title of the ruler of the Mali Empire. This is one of the main factors to the fall of the kingdom. Sandaki likely means High Counsellor or Supreme Counsellor, from san or sanon (meaning "high") and adegue (meaning counsellor). The area was famous as a hunting ground for the large amount of game that it sheltered, as well as its dense vegetation. Mahmud Keita, possibly a grandchild or great-grandchild of Mansa Gao Keita, was crowned Mansa Maghan Keita III in 1390. Log in, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window). Included in al-Qalqashandi's quotation of al-'Umari, but not in any manuscript of al-'Umari's text itself, which only list thirteen provinces despite saying there are fourteen. Musa went on hajj to Mecca in 1324, traveling with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. The other major source of information comes from Mandinka oral tradition, as recorded by storytellers known as griots.[5]. Al-Umari said that before Musa's arrival, a mithqal of gold was worth 25 silver dirhams, but that it dropped to less than 22 dirhams afterward and did not go above that number for at least twelve years. They also used flaming arrows for siege warfare. The Rock art in the Sahara suggests that northern Mali has been inhabited since 10,000 BC, when the Sahara was fertile and rich in wildlife. Musa is known for his wealth and generosity. Very little is known about the life of Mansa Musa before 1312. The conquest of Sosso in c. 1235 gave the Mali Empire access to the trans-Saharan trade routes. [93] Only at the state or province level was there any palpable interference from the central authority in Niani. [110] Meanwhile, Songhai seized the salt mines of Taghazza in 1493. World History Encyclopedia, 17 Oct 2020. One of these was Dioma, an area south of Niani populated by Fula Wassoulounk. [81] The territory of the Mali Empire was at its height during the reigns of Musa and his brother Sulayman, and covered the Sudan-Sahel region of West Africa. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita (c. 1214 - c. 1255) and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa (Musa Keita). UsefulCharts, . Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The reign of Mari Djata Keita II was ruinous and left the empire in bad financial shape, but the empire itself passed intact to the dead emperor's brother. Although this time in the kingdom was prosperous, Mali's wealth and power soon declined. Inside the world's wealthiest", "Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali) | National Geographic Society", "The 25 richest people who ever lived inflation adjusted", "Civilization VI the Official Site | News | Civilization VI: Gathering Storm Mansa Musa Leads Mali", International Journal of African Historical Studies, "Searching for History in The Sunjata Epic: The Case of Fakoli", "chos d'Arabie. During most of his journey, Ibn Battuta travelled with a retinue that included servants, most of whom carried goods for trade. Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History. The third great account is that of Ibn Khaldun, who wrote in the early 15th century. Sergio Domian, an Italian scholar of art and architecture, wrote of this period: "Thus was laid the foundation of an urban civilization. We care about our planet! It spanned the modern-day countries of Senegal, southern Mauritania, Mali, northern Burkina Faso, western Niger, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, the Ivory Coast and northern Ghana. World History Publishing is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. World History Encyclopedia. [32] When he did not return, Musa was crowned as mansa himself, marking a transfer of the line of succession from the descendants of Sunjata to the descendants of his brother Abu Bakr. The second account is that of the traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited Mali in 1352. National Geographic Society is a 501 (c)(3) organization. "Mansa Musa Family Tree | Empire of Mali." Mansa Mari Djata Keita II became seriously ill in 1372,[93] and power moved into the hands of his ministers until his death in 1374. "LEAD: International: The History of Guinea-Bissau", "Four People Who Single-handedly Caused Economic Crises", "Lessons from Timbuktu: What Mali's Manuscripts Teach About Peace | World Policy Institute", "Mossi (12501575 AD) DBA 2.0 Variant Army List", "The history of Africa Peul and Toucouleur", "Africa and Slavery 15001800 by Sanderson Beck", "How the Mali Empire in the 12th century revolved levels of governance", Trade, Transport, Temples, and Tribute: The Economics of Power, "Gold, Islam and Camels: The Transformative Effects of Trade and Ideology", "Power and permanence in precolonial Africa: a case study from the central Sahel", "Recherches sur l'Empire du Mali au Moyen Age", "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia", "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires", Metropolitan Museum Empires of the Western Sudan: Mali Empire, Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 13251354, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mali_Empire&oldid=1142808910, Identification disputed; possibly no fixed capital, Yantaar or Kel Antasar: Located in the vicinity of the, Tn Ghars or Yantar'ras: Correspond to the modern, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 13:53. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [citation needed]. Despite the faama of Niani's wishes to respect the prophecy and put Sundiata on the throne, the son from his first wife Sassouma Brt was crowned instead. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. At the height of its power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the Niger Delta was very densely populated. The Gbara or Great Assembly would serve as the Mandinka deliberative body until the collapse of the empire in 1645. Mali Emperors Family Tree | Mansa Musa - The Richest Man in World History 71,113 views Nov 27, 2019 1.8K Dislike Share Save UsefulCharts 1.08M subscribers Watch the map animation on From. [93] Gold mines in Boure, which is located in present-day Guinea, were discovered sometime near the end of the 12th century. To Westerners, he seems to have been the greatest of Mali rulers, as visible in games like Civilization. In 1542, the Songhai invaded the capital city but were unsuccessful in conquering the empire. Original video by UsefulCharts. Therefore, Arabic visitors may have assigned the "capital" label merely to whatever major city the mansa was based out of at the time of their visit. Mansa Musa began extending the shores of the empire alongside amassing great wealth and riches. "[42], Early European writers such as Maurice Delafosse believed that Niani, a city on what is now the border between Guinea and Mali, was the capital for most of the empire's history, and this notion has taken hold in the popular imagination. [86] Qu was succeeded by his son Muhammad, who launched two voyages to explore the Atlantic Ocean. Abu Bakr was the first and only mansa to inherit through the female line, which has been argued to be either a break from or a return to tradition. Ms I of Mali, Ms also spelled Musa or Mousa, also called Kankan Ms or Mansa Musa, (died 1332/37? The family tree of Mansa Musa. Mansa Musa (died 1337), king of the Mali empire in West Africa, is known mostly for his fabulous pilgrimage to Mecca and for his promotion of unity and prosperity within Mali. [24] The empire's total area included nearly all the land between the Sahara Desert and coastal forests. Imperial Mali's horsemen also used iron helmet and mail armour for defence[146] as well as shields similar to those of the infantry. Niane, D. T.: "Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali". A Golden Age: King Mansa Musa's Reign. Mansa Musa Family Tree | Empire of Mali Server Costs Fundraiser 2023 Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. This led to inflation throughout the kingdom. [120], The old core of the empire was divided into three spheres of influence. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. The people of the south needed salt for their diet, but it was extremely rare. Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali) was the king of the ancient empire of Mali in West Africa. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Nelson, 1971. His riches came from mining significant salt and gold deposits in the Mali kingdom. Imperial Malian architecture was characterised by Sudano-Sahelian architecture with a Malian substyle, which is exemplified by the Great Mosque of Djenne. Between 1324 - 1325, Mansa Musa . What did Ms I do when he returned to Mali? While in Cairo during his hajj, Musa befriended officials such as Ibn Amir Hajib, who learned about him and his country from him and later passed on that information to historians such as Al-Umari. Musa embarked on a large building program, raising mosques and madrasas in Timbuktu and Gao. [34][35] Nonetheless, the possibility of such a voyage has been taken seriously by several historians. [75] When the campaigning was done, his empire extended 1,000 miles (1,600km) east to west with those borders being the bends of the Senegal and Niger rivers respectively. Bukar professed his support, but believing Mahmud's situation to be hopeless, secretly went over to the Moroccans. In that year he succeeded his father, Abu Bakr II, to the throne and thus gained the hereditary title of mansa. At the local level (village, town and city), kun-tiguis elected a dougou-tigui (village-master) from a bloodline descended from that locality's semi-mythical founder. He recruited scholars from the wider Muslim world to travel to Mali, such as the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, and helped establish Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning. Mansa Musa Family Tree | Empire of Mali. Mansa Musa, one of the wealthiest people who ever lived - Jessica Smith TED-Ed 7.1M views 7 years ago The history of Nigeria explained in 6 minutes (3,000 Years of Nigerian history) Epimetheus. Ibn Battuta had written that in Taghaza there were no trees and there is only sand and the salt mines. Cairo and Mecca received this royal personage, whose glittering procession, in the superlatives employed by Arab chroniclers, almost put Africas sun to shame. The only major setback to his reign was the loss of Mali's Dyolof province in Senegal. According to Musa's own account, his predecessor as Mansa of Mali, presumably Muhammad ibn Qu,[31] launched two expeditions to explore the Atlantic Ocean (200 ships for the first exploratory mission and 2,000 ships for the second). [91] Historians such as Hadrien Collet have argued that Musa's wealth is impossible to accurately calculate. Using the reign lengths reported by Ibn Khaldun to calculate back from the death of Mansa Suleyman in 1360, Musa would have died in 1332. [46] Kangaba became the last refuge of the Keita royal family after the collapse of the Mali Empire, and so has for centuries been associated with Sundiata in the cultural imagination of Mande peoples. In his lifetime and beyond, he was known for his extravagant wealth and spending, funded by his kingdom's vast salt and gold mines. Answer (1 of 3): The same thing that happened to anybody else's wealth in history: it was spent, looted, donated, or otherwise distributed. Many houses were built by hand and during the hot weather some houses would melt so they had to be very secure, The dating of the original Great Mosque's construction is obscure (the current structure, built under French Colonial Rule, dates from 1907). Rulers of West African states had made pilgrimages to Mecca before Mansa Ms, but the effect of his flamboyant journey was to advertise both Mali and Mansa Ms well beyond the African continent and to stimulate a desire among the Muslim kingdoms of North Africa, and among many of European nations as well, to reach the source of this incredible wealth. As founded by Mari Djata, it was composed of the "three freely allied states" of Mali, Mema and Wagadou plus the Twelve Doors of Mali.[60]. The Camara (or Kamara) are said to be the first family to have lived in Manding, after having left, due to the drought, Ouallata, a region of Wagadou, in the south-east of present-day Mauritania. The Bamana, likewise, vowed not to advance farther upstream than Niamina. [92] He was one of the first truly devout Muslims to lead the Mali Empire. It then seized Timbuktu from the Tuareg in 1468 under Sunni Ali Ber. [82], Musa is less renowned in Mand oral tradition as performed by the jeliw. His leadership of Mali, a state which stretched across two thousand . [98] Musa's hajj, and especially his gold, caught the attention of both the Islamic and Christian worlds. . If the mansa didn't believe the dyamani-tigui was capable or trustworthy, a farba might be installed to oversee the province or administer it outright. Still, by the time of Mansa Musa Keita II's death in 1387, Mali was financially solvent and in control of all of its previous conquests short of Gao and Dyolof. [93] Sandaki Keita should not however be taken to be this person's name but a title. Mansa Ms, either the grandson or the grandnephew of Sundiata, the founder of his dynasty, came to the throne in 1307. Your email address will not be published. When Mansa Musa was giving gold away, he was following 2 . Not only do we pay for our servers, but also for related services such as our content delivery network, Google Workspace, email, and much more. The Wolof populations of the area united into their own state known as the Jolof Empire in the 1350s. [136] While it was as good as gold in the north, it was even better in the south. Al-Nasir expected Musa to prostrate himself before him, which Musa initially refused to do. They camped for three days by the Pyramids of Giza, before crossing the Nile into Cairo on 19 July. [93] Mansa Souleyman's generals successfully fought off the military incursions, and the senior wife Kassi behind the plot was imprisoned. His skillful administration left his empire well-off at the time of his death, but eventually, the empire fell apart. In 14331434, the Mali Empire lost control of Timbuktu to the Tuareg, led by Akil [76] After unifying Manden, he added the Wangara goldfields, making them the southern border. (2020, October 17). Web. Mansa Mss prodigious generosity and piety, as well as the fine clothes and exemplary behaviour of his followers, did not fail to create a most-favourable impression. [147][148], The Sudano-Sahelian influence was particularly widely incorporated during the rule of Mansa Musa I, who constructed many architectural projects, including the Great Mosque of Gao and Royal Palace in Timbuktu, which was built with the assistance of Ishaak al-Tuedjin, an architect brought by Musa from his pilgrimage to Mecca. Musa's death may have occurred in 1337, 1332, or possibly even earlier, giving 1307 or 1312 as plausible approximate years of accession. [89][85] Contemporary Arabic sources may have been trying to express that Musa had more gold than they thought possible, rather than trying to give an exact number. . During this period only the Mongol Empire was larger. The identification of Niani as imperial capital is rooted in an (possibly erroneous) interpretation of the Arab traveler al Umari's work, as well as some oral histories. He stopped in Cairo along the way, and his luxurious spending and gift giving was so extensive that he diluted the value of gold by 10 to 25 percent and impacted Cairos economy for at least 12 years afterward. In 1645, the Bamana attacked Manden, seizing both banks of the Niger right up to Niani. He made his wealth and that of Mali known through a long and extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, the 17th year of his reign as emperor of Mali. The tarikh states that a Sultan Kunburu became a Muslim and had his palace pulled down and the site turned into a mosque; he then built another palace for himself near the mosque on the east side. The 1375 Catalan Atlas portrayed a "city of Melly" (Catalan: ciutat de Melly) in West Africa. Afterward, he put himself and his kingdom, West Africa's Mali, on the map, literally. [87] The figure of Fajigi combines both Islam and traditional beliefs. The most common measure for gold within the realm was the ambiguous mithqal (4.5grams of gold). If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. As soon as Sassouma's son Dankaran Touman took the throne, he and his mother forced the increasingly popular Sundjata into exile along with his mother and two sisters. Musa expanded the borders of the Mali Empire, in particular incorporating the cities of Gao and Timbuktu into its territory. Mansa Musa was very wealthy and religious man who went on his Hajj for religious reasons and to also help people from his empire make the holy trip to Mecca for the god Allah. Mansa Musa developed cities like Timbuktu and Gao into important cultural centers. It was reported that he built a mosque every Friday. [90][91] His reign is considered the golden age of Mali. The emperor himself rode on horseback and was directly preceded by 500 enslaved persons, each carrying a gold-adorned staff. Musa I ( Arabic: , romanized : Mans Ms, N'Ko: ; r. c. 1312 - c. 1337 [a]) was the ninth [4] mansa of the Mali Empire, which reached its territorial peak during his reign. Kankoro-sigui Mari Djata, who had no relation to the Keita clan, essentially ran the empire in Musa Keita II's stead. . [27] His list does not necessarily accurately reflect the actual organization of the Mali Empire,[28] and the identification of the listed provinces is controversial. [81] He was replaced by Abu Bakr, a son of Sunjata's daughter. Manuscript of Nasir al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn al-Hajj al-Amin al-Tawathi al-Ghalawi's Kashf al-Ghummah fi Nafa al-Ummah. Hunters from the Ghana Empire (or Wagadou), particularly mythical ancestors Kontron and Sanin, founded Manding and the Malink and Bambaras hunter brotherhood. ", "Recherches sur l'Empire du Mali au Moyen Age", "Towards a New Study of the So-Called Trkh al-fattsh", World History Encyclopedia Mansa Musa I, History Channel: Mansa Moussa: Pilgrimage of Gold, Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mansa_Musa&oldid=1142573327, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Mansa Musa was portrayed in two games in the, Mansa Musa was portrayed in the episode ", This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 05:05. [120] Each ruler used the title of mansa, but their authority only extended as far as their own sphere of influence. jeli), also known as griots, includes relatively little information about Musa compared to some other parts of the history of Mali. Mansa Musa was the great nephew of Sundiata Keita, who was founder . Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325 spanning 2,700 miles. [100], Arabic writers, such as Ibn Battuta and Abdallah ibn Asad al-Yafii, praised Musa's generosity, virtue, and intelligence. The historian al-Umar, who visited Cairo 12 years after the emperors visit, found the inhabitants of this city, with a population estimated at one million, still singing the praises of Mansa Ms. [145] Another common weapon of Mandekalu warriors was the poison javelin used in skirmishes. Mansa Musa, also known as Musa Keita I of Mali, was the tenth Sultan of the Mali Empire. It was cut into pieces and spent on goods with close to equal buying power throughout the empire. In Mali he promoted trans-Saharan trade that further increased the empires wealth. [20] Arab interest in the Mali Empire declined after the Songhai conquered the northern regions of the empire which formed the primary contact between Mali and the Arab world. [41] A particular challenge lies in interpreting early Arabic manuscripts, in which, without vowel markings and diacritics, foreign names can be read in numerous different ways (e.g. The family tree of Mansa Musa. It contained three immense gold mines within its borders unlike the Ghana Empire, which was only a transit point for gold. Mali flourished especially when Timbuktu came under Mansa Musa's control. The emperor was so overjoyed by the new acquisition that he decided to delay his return to Niani and to visit Gao instead, there to receive the personal submission of the Songhai king and take the kings two sons as hostages. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. 1312 is the most widely accepted by modern historians. Mansa Musa also ran out of gold on the hajj to Mecca but was not concerned because he knew he had enough gold back in Mali to pay back everyone he owed money to. Scholars who were mainly interested in history, Qurnic theology, and law were to make the mosque of Sankore in Timbuktu a teaching centre and to lay the foundations of the University of Sankore. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely . [13][12] In the Manding languages, the modern descendants of the language spoken at the core of the Mali Empire, Manden or Manding is the name of the region corresponding to the heartland of the Mali Empire. [15] He is also called Hidji Mansa Musa in oral tradition in reference to his hajj. [49] It has been suggested that the name given in the Arabic sources for the capital of Mali is derived the Manding word "bambi", meaning "dais", and as such refers to the "seat of government" in general rather than being the name of a specific city. Ag-Amalwal. CREDITS: Chart/Narration: Matt Baker Research/Artwork: From Nothing Team Editing: Jack Rackam Intro animation: Syawish Rehman Intro music: "Lord of the Land" by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0. [140], The Mali Empire maintained a semi-professional, full-time army in order to defend its borders. Mansa Musa brought the architect back to Mali to beautify some of the cities. Mansa Musa eventually gained the throne owing to a strange sequence of events that turned in his favor. [22] Oral tradition, as performed by the jeliw (sg. He was an extremely successful military leader As a result of steady tax revenue and stable government beginning in the last quarter of the 13th century, the Mali Empire was able to project its power throughout its own extensive domain and beyond.
