He was the son of Niani's faama, Nare Fa (also known as Maghan Kon Fatta meaning the handsome prince). Imperial Mali's horsemen also used iron helmet and mail armour for defence[146] as well as shields similar to those of the infantry. [16] However, al-Umari gives Mali as the name of the capital province and Ibn Khaldun refers to Mali as a people, with each giving different names for the capital city itself. Well after his death, Mansa Musa remained engrained in the imagination of the world as a symbol of fabulous wealth. We all know of Mansa Musa, possibly the richest man to ever exist. Mansa Ms, whose empire was one of the largest in the world at that time, is reported to have observed that it would take a year to travel from one end of his empire to the other. But more reasoned analysis suggests that his role, if any, was quite limited. Duties of the farba included reporting on the activities of the territory, collecting taxes and ensuring the native administration didn't contradict orders from Niani. [8] Mansa, 'ruler'[9] or 'king'[10] in Mand, was the title of the ruler of the Mali Empire. Intro animation: Syawish Rehman. the descendants of the nearly 1,000-year-old objects made in Africa. The Songhai kingdom measured several hundreds of miles across, so that the conquest meant the acquisition of a vast territory. [45] Those animals included 80 camels which each carried 23136kg (50300lb) of gold dust. [56] Musa and his entourage lingered in Mecca after the last day of the hajj. [98] Musa's hajj, and especially his gold, caught the attention of both the Islamic and Christian worlds. Mansa Musa returned from Mecca with several Islamic scholars, including direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad and an Andalusian poet and architect by the name of Abu Es Haq es Saheli, who is . He did however, maintain contacts with Morocco, sending a giraffe to King Abu Hassan. 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). Mansa Musa (1280-1337) Mansa Musa, fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire, is the medieval African ruler most known to the world outside Africa. The date of Mansa Musa's death is not certain. Sundiata Keita was a warrior-prince of the Keita dynasty who was called upon to free the local people from the rule of the king of the Sosso Empire, Soumaoro Kant. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Dates: 4001591 C. E.", "Is Mansa Musa the richest man who ever lived? The Gbara or Great Assembly would serve as the Mandinka deliberative body until the collapse of the empire in 1645. One of the greatest caravans to ever cross the Sahara was led by Mansa Musa, the legendary ruler of the vast West African empire of Mali. The empire he founded became one of the richest in the world, and his descendants included one of the richest individuals to ever live, Mansa Musa. The value of the salt was chiefly determined by the transport costs. [80] Ibn Khaldun regarded Wali as one of Mali's greatest rulers. Following the death of Sundiata Keita in c. 1255, the kings of Mali were referred to by the title mansa. Consequently, the name of Mali and Timbuktu appeared on 14th century world maps. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In 1481, Fula raids against Mali's Tekrur provinces began. Sadly for Sundjata, this did not occur before his father died. His religious devotion contributed to the spread of Islam across West Africa. [43] Perhaps because of this, Musa's early reign was spent in continuous military conflict with neighboring non-Muslim societies. [59] Those not living in the mountains formed small city-states such as Toron, Ka-Ba and Niani. In his lifetime and beyond, he was known for his extravagant wealth and spending, funded by his kingdom's vast salt and gold mines. Free warriors from the north (Mandekalu or otherwise) were usually equipped with large reed or animal hide shields and a stabbing spear that was called a tamba. Ms Is hajj left a lasting impression of Malis splendour on both the Islamic and European worlds. 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. The 1375 Catalan Atlas portrayed a "city of Melly" (Catalan: ciutat de Melly) in West Africa. He was an extremely successful military leader 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. The Joma area, governed from Siguiri, controlled the central region, which encompassed Niani. 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. [15], Musa ascended to power in the early 1300s[i] under unclear circumstances. [73], Prince Sundjata was prophesied to become a great conqueror. After a mere nine months of rule, Mansa Camba Keita was deposed by one of Maghan Keita I's three sons. [79][80], Musa's reign is commonly regarded as Mali's golden age, but this perception may be the result of his reign being the best recorded by Arabic sources, rather than him necessarily being the wealthiest and most powerful mansa of Mali. The fame of Mansa Musa and his phenomenal wealth spread as he traveled on his hajjto Mecca. Mansa Musa Keita's crowning achievement was his famous pilgrimage to Mecca, which started in 1324 and concluded with his return in 1326. [60] The anglicised version of this name, Sunjata, is also popular. The Mali Empire (Manding: Mand or Manden; Arabic: , romanized: Ml) was an empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670. [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. Gold dust was used all over the empire, but was not valued equally in all regions. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Musa was a Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca, also known as hajj, made him well known across Northern Africa and the Middle East. The Mali Empire reached its largest area under the Laye Keita mansas. While the accounts are of limited length, they provide a fairly good picture of the empire at its height. [22] Oral tradition, as performed by the jeliw (sg. Provinces picked their own governors via their own custom (election, inheritance, etc.). [93] Musa may have brought as much as 18 tons of gold on his hajj,[94] equal in value to over US$957million in 2022. [90] CelebrityNetWorth has been criticized for the unreliability of its estimates. ", "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. The only real requirement was that the mansa knew he could trust this individual to safeguard imperial interests. Mansa Mahmud Keita II came to the throne in 1481 during Mali's downward spiral. The Keitas retreated to the town of Kangaba, where they became provincial chiefs. [70] The mansa lost control of Jalo during this period. There is some ambiguity over the identity of the mansa responsible for the voyages. Candice Goucher, Charles LeGuin, and Linda Walton. Musa went on hajj to Mecca in 1324, traveling with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. [11][b] In Mand tradition, it was common for one's name to be prefixed by their mother's name, so the name Kanku Musa means "Musa, son of Kanku", although it is unclear if the genealogy implied is literal. Still, when Ibn Battuta arrived at Mali in July 1352, he found a thriving civilisation on par with virtually anything in the Muslim or Christian world. [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. These conflicts also interrupted trade. Sundiata, according to the oral traditions, did not walk until he was seven years old. [43] In 1324, while in Cairo, Musa said that he had conquered 24 cities and their surrounding districts.[44]. King Mansa Musa is famous for his Hajj journey, during which he stopped off in Egypt and gave out so much gold that the Egyptian economy was ruined for years to come. His reign came with huge physical, economic and intellectual development in the Mali Empire. Kankoro-sigui Mari Djata, who had no relation to the Keita clan, essentially ran the empire in Musa Keita II's stead. His skillful administration left his empire well-off at the time of his death, but eventually, the empire fell apart. [4] Much of the recorded information about the Mali Empire comes from 14th-century Tunisian historian Ibn Khaldun, 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta and 16th-century Andalusian traveller Leo Africanus. Sundiata Keita is the first ruler for which there is accurate written information (through Ibn Khaldun). [108] Alvise Cadamosto, a Venetian explorer, recorded that the Mali Empire was the most powerful entity on the coast in 1454. [120], The old core of the empire was divided into three spheres of influence. This is the least known period in Mali's imperial history. "Mansa Musa Family Tree | Empire of Mali." So lavish was the emperor in his spending that he flooded the Cairo market with gold, thereby causing such a decline in its value that the market some 12 years later had still not fully recovered. [7] Maghan I succeeded his father as mansa in 1337, but was deposed by his uncle Suleyman in 1341. [92] He was one of the first truly devout Muslims to lead the Mali Empire. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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. [67] News of the Malian empire's city of wealth even traveled across the Mediterranean to southern Europe, where traders from Venice, Granada, and Genoa soon added Timbuktu to their maps to trade manufactured goods for gold.[68]. Sakura was able to stabilize the political situation in Mali. The conquest of Sosso in c. 1235 gave the Mali Empire access to the trans-Saharan trade routes. In Ibn Khaldun's account, Sundjata is recorded as Mari Djata with "Mari" meaning "Amir" or "Prince". While spears and bows were the mainstay of the infantry, swords and lances of local or foreign manufacture were the choice weapons of the cavalry. He attempted to make Islam the faith of the nobility,[93] but kept to the imperial tradition of not forcing it on the populace. [86] As Fajigi, Musa is sometimes conflated with a figure in oral tradition named Fakoli, who is best known as Sunjata's top general. [g] Faga Leye was the son of Abu Bakr, a brother of Sunjata, the first mansa of the Mali Empire. Timbuktu was a place of trade, entertainment, and education. He ruled oppressively and nearly bankrupted Mali with his lavish spending. In 14331434, the Mali Empire lost control of Timbuktu to the Tuareg, led by Akil Mali's domain also extended into the desert. [33] Some modern historians have cast doubt on Musa's version of events, suggesting he may have deposed his predecessor and devised the story about the voyage to explain how he took power. With trade being disrupted by wars, there was no way for the economy to continue to prosper. [36][37][38], According to the Tarikh al-Fattash, Musa had a wife named Inari Konte. They founded the first village of the Manding, Kirikoroni, then Kirina, Siby, Kita. You cannot download interactives. In the event of conquest, farins took control of the area until a suitable native ruler could be found. By the end of Mansa Musa's reign, the Sankor University had been converted into a fully staffed university with the largest collections of books in Africa since the Library of Alexandria. 1312 is the most widely accepted by modern historians. [119], It would be the Mandinka themselves that would cause the final destruction of the empire. Via one of the royal ladies of his court, Musa transformed Sankore from an informal madrasah into an Islamic university. Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Musa stayed in Cairo for three months, departing on 18 October[k] with the official caravan to Mecca. The Sankor University was capable of housing 25,000 students and had one of the largest libraries in the world with roughly 1,000,000 manuscripts.[100][101]. Thank you for your help! [115], Mali's fortunes seem to have improved in the second half of the 16th century. In that year he succeeded his father, Abu Bakr II, to the throne and thus gained the hereditary title of mansa. Traveling separately from the main caravan, their return journey to Cairo was struck by catastrophe. Mali is the Fula form of the word. Hunters from the Ghana Empire (or Wagadou), particularly mythical ancestors Kontron and Sanin, founded Manding and the Malink and Bambaras hunter brotherhood. Please check the original source(s) for copyright information. [111] This envoy from the Portuguese coastal port of Elmina arrived in response to the growing trade along the coast and Mali's now urgent request for military assistance against Songhai. Upon stabbing their spears into the ground before Sundiata's throne, each of the twelve kings relinquished their kingdom to the Keita dynasty. This website claims no authorship of this content; we are republishing it for educational purposes. The Black emperors great civility notwithstanding, the meeting between the two rulers might have ended in a serious diplomatic incident, for so absorbed was Mansa Ms in his religious observances that he was only with difficulty persuaded to pay a formal visit to the sultan. When he did finally bow, he said he was doing so for God alone. Under his leadership, Mali conquered new territories and trade with North Africa increased. [50] Such impermanent capitals are a historically widespread phenomenon, having occurred in other parts of Africa such as Ethiopia, as well as outside Africa, such as in the Holy Roman Empire.[51]. [22], Genealogy of the mansas of the Mali Empire up to Magha II (d.c.1389), based on Levtzion's interpretation of Ibn Khaldun. A Golden Age: King Mansa Musa's Reign. In 1324 Musa embarked on a hajj, a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, traveling with an entourage that included 8,000 courtiers, 12,000 servants and 100 camel loads of . [6] The early history of the Mali Empire (before the 13th century) is unclear, as there are conflicting and imprecise accounts by both Arab chroniclers and oral traditionalists. The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa By Patricia McKissack, Fredrick McKissack Page 60, "The richest person who ever lived had unimaginable wealth. He also made Eid celebrations at the end of Ramadan a national ceremony. After Ibn Khaldun's death in 1406, there are no further Arab primary sources except for Leo Africanus, who wrote over a century later. While Musa's palace has since vanished, the university and mosque still stand in Timbuktu today. Biti, Buti, Yiti, Tati). [84][85] However, some aspects of Musa appear to have been incorporated into a figure in Mand oral tradition known as Fajigi, which translates as "father of hope". Every year merchants entered Mali via Oualata with camel loads of salt to sell in Niani. Al-Umari, who wrote down a description of Mali based on information given to him by Abu Said 'Otman ed Dukkali (who had lived 35 years in the capital), reported the realm as being square and an eight-month journey from its coast at Tura (at the mouth of the Senegal River) to Muli. Gao had already been captured by Musa's general, and Musa quickly regained Timbuktu, built a rampart and stone fort, and placed a standing army to protect the city from future invaders.[70]. CREDITS: Chart/Narration: Matt Baker. Robert Smith, "The Canoe in West African History", harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBourgeois1987 (, Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Kitab al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik (Book of Highways and Kingdoms) Ab Ubayd Al-Bakri, "The Empire of Mali, In Our Time BBC Radio 4", "Tracing History in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali -Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Written Sources". [120] Each ruler used the title of mansa, but their authority only extended as far as their own sphere of influence. Sundjata is credited with at least the initial organisation of the Manding military. [83] He is criticized for being unfaithful to tradition, and some of the jeliw regard Musa as having wasted Mali's wealth. [18][16], Another hypothesis suggests that the name Mali is derived from Mand mali "hippopotamus", an animal that had special significance to the Keitas, and that Mand means "little manatee". During his monarchy Musa or Musa, I was highly powered and the richest individual king Mansa Musa the . The Malian and Moroccan armies fought at Jenne on 26 April, the last day of Ramadan, and the Moroccans were victorious thanks to their firearms and Bukar's support, but Mahmud was able to escape. During this period, trade routes shifted southward to the savanna, stimulating the growth of states such as Bono state. While in Cairo, Mansa Musa met with the Sultan of Egypt, and his caravan spent and gave away so much gold that the overall value of gold decreased in Egypt for the next 12 years. His elaborate pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1324 introduced him to rulers in the Middle East and in Europe. [114] However, the Songhai do not maintain their hold on the Malian capital. Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali) was the king of the ancient empire of Mali in West Africa. Despite this disunity in the realm, the realm remained under Mandinka control into the mid-17th century. The farimba operated from a garrison with an almost entirely slave force, while a farima functioned on field with virtually all freemen. Musa stayed in the Qarafa district of Cairo, and befriended its governor, Ibn Amir Hajib, who learned much about Mali from him. The architectural crafts in Granada had reached their zenith by the fourteenth century, and its extremely unlikely that a cultured and wealthy poet would have had anything more than a dilettante's knowledge of the intricacies of contemporary architectural practice. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. However, territories that were crucial to trade or subject to revolt would receive a farba.