Mansa Musa
Musa | |
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Maliki |
Mansa Musa[a] (reigned c. 1312 – c. 1337[b]) was the ninth[4] Mansa of the Mali Empire, which reached its territorial peak during his reign. Musa's reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali's power and prestige.
He was extremely wealthy; it has been suggested that he was the wealthiest person in history,[5] but the extent of his actual wealth is not known with any certainty. It is known from local manuscripts and travellers accounts that Mansa Musa's wealth came principally from the Mali Empire controlling and taxing the trade in salt from northern regions and especially from gold panned and mined in the gold-rich regions to the south: Bambuk, Wangara, Bure, Galam, Taghaza and other such kingdoms over many centuries. Over a very long period Mali had created a large reserve of gold. Mali is also suspected to have been involved in the trade in many goods such as ivory, slaves, spices, silks, and ceramics. However presently little is known about the extent or mechanics of these trades.[6][7] At the time of Musa's ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which Mali had conquered. The Mali Empire consisted of land that is now part of Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and the modern state of Mali.
Musa went on Hajj to Mecca in 1324, traveling with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. En route, he spent time in Cairo, where his lavish gift-giving is said to have noticeably affected the value of gold in Egypt and garnered the attention of the wider Muslim world. Musa expanded the borders of the Mali Empire, in particular incorporating the cities of Gao and Timbuktu into its territory. He sought closer ties with the rest of the Muslim world, particularly the Mamluk and Marinid Sultanates. 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. His reign is associated with numerous construction projects, including part of Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu.
Name and titles
Mansa Musa's personal name was Musa (
Al-Yafii gave Musa's name as Musa ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abi al-Aswad (
In the Songhai language, rulers of Mali such as Musa were known as the Mali-koi, koi being a title that conveyed authority over a region: in other words, the "ruler of Mali".[17]
Historical sources
Much of what is known about Musa comes from Arabic sources written after his hajj, especially the writings of
Lineage and accession to the throne
Magha II | |||||
Genealogy of the mansas of the Mali Empire up to Magha II (d. c. 1389), based on Levtzion's interpretation of Ibn Khaldun.[21] Numbered individuals reigned as mansa; the numbers indicate the order in which they reigned.[e]
Musa's father was named Faga Leye
Musa ascended to power in the early 1300s
According to the Tarikh al-Fattash, Musa had a wife named Inari Konte.[37] Her jamu (clan name) Konte is shared with both Sunjata's mother Sogolon Konte and his arch-enemy Sumanguru Konte. [38]
Early reign
Musa was a young man when he became Mansa, possibly in his early twenties.[39] Given the grandeur of his subsequent hajj, it is likely that Musa spent much of his early reign preparing for it.[40] Among these preparations would likely have been raids to capture and enslave people from neighboring lands, as Musa's entourage would include many thousands of enslaved people; the historian Michael Gomez estimates that Mali may have captured over 6,000 people per year for this purpose.[41] Perhaps because of this, Musa's early reign was spent in continuous military conflict with neighboring non-Muslim societies.[41] In 1324, while in Cairo, Musa said that he had conquered 24 cities and their surrounding districts.[42]
Pilgrimage to Mecca
Musa was a Muslim, and his hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca made him well known across North Africa and the Middle East. To Musa, Islam was "an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean".[43] He would have spent much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire. When Musa departed Mali for the Hajj, he left his son Muhammad to rule in his absence.[44]
Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325, spanning 2700 miles.
Musa provided all necessities for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals.
Musa and his entourage arrived at the outskirts of Cairo in July 1324. They camped for three days by the
Despite this initial awkwardness, the two rulers got along well and exchanged gifts. Musa and his entourage gave and spent freely while in Cairo. Musa stayed in the Qarafa district of Cairo and befriended its governor, ibn Amir Hajib, who learned much about Mali from him. Musa stayed in Cairo for three months, departing on 18 October[l] with the official caravan to Mecca.[50][53]
Musa's generosity continued as he traveled onward to Mecca, and he gave gifts to fellow pilgrims and the people of Medina and Mecca. While in Mecca, conflict broke out between a group of Malian pilgrims and a group of Turkic pilgrims in the Masjid al-Haram. Swords were drawn, but before the situation escalated further, Musa persuaded his men to back down.[54]
Musa and his entourage lingered in Mecca after the last day of the Hajj. Traveling separately from the main caravan, their return journey to Cairo was struck by catastrophe. By the time they reached Suez, many of the Malian pilgrims had died of cold, starvation, or bandit raids, and they had lost many of their supplies.[55][56] Having run out of money, Musa and his entourage were forced to borrow money and resell much of what they had purchased while in Cairo before the Hajj, and Musa went into debt to several merchants such as Siraj al-Din. However, Al-Nasir Muhammad returned Musa's earlier show of generosity with gifts of his own.[57]
On his return journey, Musa met the
According to the Tarikh al-Sudan, the cities of Gao and Timbuktu submitted to Musa's rule as he traveled through on his return to Mali.[60] According to one account given by ibn Khaldun, Musa's general Saghmanja conquered Gao. The other account claims that Gao had been conquered during the reign of Mansa Sakura.[61] Both of these accounts may be true, as Mali's control of Gao may have been weak, requiring powerful mansas to reassert their authority periodically.[62]
Later reign
Construction in Mali
Musa embarked on a large building program, raising
In Niani, Musa built the Hall of Audience, a building communicating by an interior door to the royal palace. It was "an admirable Monument", surmounted by a dome and adorned with arabesques of striking colours. The wooden window frames of an upper storey were plated with silver foil; those of a lower storey with gold. Like the Great Mosque, a contemporaneous and grandiose structure in Timbuktu, the Hall was built of cut stone.
During this period, there was an advanced level of urban living in the major centers of Mali. Sergio Domian, an Italian scholar of art and architecture, wrote of this period: "Thus was 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."[64]
Economy and education
It is recorded that Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of Timbuktu and Gao on his way to Mecca, and made them a 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.[65]
Timbuktu soon became the center of trade, culture, and Islam; markets brought in merchants from
The
In 1330, the kingdom of Mossi invaded and conquered the city of Timbuktu. 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.[69] While Musa's palace has since vanished, the university and mosque still stand in Timbuktu.
Death
The date of Mansa Musa's death is not certain. 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.[70] However, Ibn Khaldun also reports that Musa sent an envoy to congratulate Abu al-Hasan Ali for his conquest of Tlemcen, which took place in May 1337, but by the time Abu al-Hasan sent an envoy in response, Musa had died and Suleyman was on the throne, suggesting Musa died in 1337.[71] In contrast, al-Umari, writing twelve years after Musa's hajj, in approximately 1337,[72] claimed that Musa returned to Mali intending to abdicate and return to live in Mecca but died before he could do so,[73] suggesting he died even earlier than 1332.[74] It is possible that it was actually Musa's son Maghan who congratulated Abu al-Hasan, or Maghan who received Abu al-Hasan's envoy after Musa's death.[75] The latter possibility is corroborated by Ibn Khaldun calling Suleyman Musa's son in that passage, suggesting he may have confused Musa's brother Suleyman with Musa's son Maghan.[76] Alternatively, it is possible that the four-year reign Ibn Khaldun credits Maghan with actually referred to his ruling Mali while Musa was away on the hajj, and he only reigned briefly in his own right.[77] Nehemia Levtzion regarded 1337 as the most likely date,[71] which has been accepted by other scholars.[78][79]
Legacy
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.[80] 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.[81]
Musa is less renowned in Mandé oral tradition as performed by the jeliw.[82] He is criticized for being unfaithful to tradition, and some of the jeliw regard Musa as having wasted Mali's wealth.[83][84] However, some aspects of Musa appear to have been incorporated into a figure in Mandé oral tradition known as Fajigi, which translates as "father of hope".[85] Fajigi is remembered as having traveled to Mecca to retrieve ceremonial objects known as boliw, which feature in Mandé traditional religion.[85] As Fajigi, Musa is sometimes conflated with a figure in oral tradition named Fakoli, who is best known as Sunjata's top general.[86] The figure of Fajigi combines both Islam and traditional beliefs.[85]
The name "Musa" has become virtually synonymous with pilgrimage in Mandé tradition, such that other figures who are remembered as going on a pilgrimage, such as Fakoli, are also called Musa.[87]
Wealth
Mansa Musa is renowned for his wealth and generosity. Online articles in the 21st century have claimed that Mansa Musa was the richest person of all time.[88] [citation needed] Historians such as Hadrien Collet have argued that Musa's wealth is impossible to accurately calculate.[88][84] 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.[89] Furthermore, it is difficult to meaningfully compare the wealth of historical figures such as Mansa Musa, due to the difficulty of separating the personal wealth of a monarch from the wealth of the state and the difficulty of comparing wealth in highly different societies.[90] Musa may have brought as much as 18 tons of gold on his hajj,[91] equal in value to over US$957 million in 2022.[92] Musa himself further promoted the appearance of having vast, inexhaustible wealth by spreading rumors that gold grew like a plant in his kingdom.[93]
According to some Arabic writers, Musa's gift-giving caused a depreciation in the value of gold in Egypt. Al-Umari said that before Musa's arrival, a
The wealth of the Mali Empire did not come from direct control of gold-producing regions, but rather trade and tribute.[96] The gold Musa brought on his pilgrimage probably represented years of accumulated tribute that Musa would have spent much of his early reign gathering.[40] Another source of income for Mali during Musa's reign was taxation of the copper trade.[97]
According to several contemporary authors, such as Ibn Battuta, Ibn al-Dawadari and al-Umari, Mansa Musa ran out of money during his journey to Mecca and had to borrow from Egyptian merchants at a high rate of interest on his return journey. Al-Umari and Ibn Khaldun state that the moneylenders were either never repaid or only partly repaid. Other sources disagree as to whether they were eventually and fully compensated.[98][99][100]
Character
Arabic writers, such as Ibn Battuta and Abdallah ibn Asad al-Yafii, praised Musa's generosity, virtue, and intelligence.[24][15] Ibn Khaldun said that he "was an upright man and a great king, and tales of his justice are still told."[101]
Footnotes
- Arabic: منسا موسى, romanized: Mansā Mūsā
- ^ The dates of Musa's reign are uncertain. Musa is reported to have reigned for 25 years, and different lines of evidence suggest he died either c. 1332 or c. 1337, with the 1337 date being considered more likely.[3]
- ^ The Tarikh Ibn al-Mukhtar is a historiographical name for an untitled manuscript by Ibn al-Mukhtar. This document is also known as the Tarikh al-Fattash, which Nobili and Mathee have argued is properly the title of a 19th-century document that used Ibn al-Mukhtar's text as a source.[19]
- ^ The sixth mansa, Sakura, is omitted from this chart as he was not related to the others. The third and fourth mansas (Wati and Khalifa), brothers of Uli, and fifth (Abu Bakr), a nephew of Uli, Wati, and Khalifa, are omitted to save space.
- ^ Name from oral tradition
- ^ Name from oral tradition
- ^ Musa's name Kanku Musa means "Musa son of Kanku", but the genealogy may not be literal.[22]
- ^ Arabic sources omit Faga Leye, referring to Musa as Musa ibn Abi Bakr. This can be interpreted as either "Musa son of Abu Bakr" or "Musa descendant of Abu Bakr." It is implausible that Abu Bakr was Musa's father, due to the amount of time between Sunjata's reign and Musa's.[23]
- ^ The exact date of Musa's accession is debated. Ibn Khaldun claims Musa reigned for 25 years, so his accession is dated to 25 years before his death. Musa's death may have occurred in 1337, 1332, or possibly even earlier, giving 1307 or 1312 as plausible approximate years of accession. 1312 is the most widely accepted by modern historians.[27][28]
- ^ 26 Rajab 724
- ^ 28 Shawwal
References
Citations
- ^ "The Cresques Project - Panel III". cresquesproject.net. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
- ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 346
- ^ Levtzion 1963, pp. 349–350.
- ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 353
- ^ Mulroy, Clare. "The richest person who ever lived had unimaginable wealth. Inside the world's wealthiest". USA Today. Archived from the original on 27 December 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ "Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali)". National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-87436-885-7. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ McKissack & McKissack 1994, p. 56.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 87
- ^ MacBrair 1873, p. 40
- ^ Bell 1972, p. 230
- ^ Cissoko 1969.
- ^ a b Gomez 2018, p. 109
- ^ a b c Niane 1959.
- ^ a b Collet 2019, p. 115–116.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 358.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 109, 129
- ^ Al-Umari, Chapter 10.
- ^ Nobili & Mathee 2015.
- ^ a b Gomez 2018, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Levtzion 1963.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 109–110
- ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 347
- ^ a b Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 295.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 416.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 104
- ^ a b Bell 1972
- ^ Levtzion 1963, pp. 349–350
- ^ Fauvelle 2018
- ^ Al-Umari, Chapter 10
- ^ Ibn Khaldun
- ^ Gomez 2018
- ^ Thornton 2012, pp. 9, 11
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 101.
- ^ Devisse & Labib 1984, p. 666.
- ^ Thornton 2012, p. 13.
- ^ Bühnen 1994, p. 12.
- ^ Bühnen 1994, p. 12–13.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 104.
- ^ a b Gomez 2018, p. 105.
- ^ a b Gomez 2018, p. 107.
- ^ Al-Umari, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 267
- ^ a b Goodwin 1957, p. 110.
- ^ Al-Umari, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 268
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 4.
- ISBN 978-0-393-91847-2.
- ISBN 9780860785132.
- ^ de Graft-Johnson, John Coleman. "Mūsā I of Mali". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017.
- ^ The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa By Patricia McKissack, Fredrick McKissack Page 60
- ^ a b Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 355.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 114, 117.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 116.
- ^ Collet 2019, p. 111.
- ^ Collet 2019, pp. 115–122.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 118.
- ^ Collet 2019, pp. 122–129.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 118–120.
- ^ Hunwick 1990, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Al-Umari, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 261
- ^ al-Sadi, translated in Hunwick 1999, p. 10
- ^ Ibn Khaldun, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 334
- ^ Levtzion 1973, p. 75.
- ^ "The University of Sankore, Timbuktu". 7 June 2003.
- ^ "Mansa Musa". African History Restored. 2008. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
- ^ De Villiers & Hirtle 2007, p. 70.
- ^ De Villiers & Hirtle 2007, p. 74.
- ^ De Villiers & Hirtle 2007, p. 87–88.
- ^ Goodwin 1957, p. 111.
- ^ De Villiers & Hirtle 2007, p. 80–81.
- ^ Levtzion 1963, p. 349.
- ^ a b Levtzion 1963, p. 350.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, pp. 252, 413.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 268.
- ^ Bell 1972, p. 224.
- ^ Bell 1972, p. 225–226.
- ^ Bell 1972, p. 225.
- ^ Bell 1972, p. 226–227.
- ^ Sapong 2016, p. 2.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 145.
- ^ Canós-Donnay 2019.
- ^ Niane 1984, p. 152.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 92–93
- ^ Niane 1984.
- ^ a b c Mohamud 2019.
- ^ a b c Conrad 1992, p. 152.
- ^ Conrad 1992, p. 153.
- ^ Conrad 1992, pp. 153–154.
- ^ a b Collet 2019, p. 106.
- ^ Davidson 2015b.
- ^ Davidson 2015a.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 106.
- ^ "Gold Price in US Dollars (USD/oz t)". YCharts. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
- ^ Gomez 2018, p. 121.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 271.
- ^ Schultz 2006.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 272.
- ^ Gomez 2018, pp. 119–120
- ^ Abbou, Tahar (2020). "Mansa Musa's Journey to Mecca and Its Impact on Western Sudan (Conference: 'Routes of Hajj in Africa', at International University of Africa, Khartoum)".
With his lavish spending and generosity in Cairo, (Mansa Musa) ran out of money and had to borrow at high rates of interest for the return journey. Ibn Battuta says that Mansa Musa borrowed 50,000 dinars from Siraj al-Din ibn al-Kuwayk, a rich merchant from Alexandria, after he had spent all his wealth.
- ISBN 9781442603844.
[Mansa Musa] could not meet his expenses. He therefore borrowed money from the principal merchants. Among those merchants who were in his company were the Banu l-Kuwayk, who gave him a loan of 50,000 dinars. He sold to them the palace which the sultan had bestowed on him as a gift. He [the sultan] approved it. Siraj al-Din b. al-Kuwayk sent his vizier along with him to collect what he had loaned to him but the vizier died there. Siraj al-Din sent another [emissary] with his son. He [the emissary] died but the son, Fakhr al-Din Abu Jafar, got back some of it. Mansa Musa died before he [Siraj al-Din] died, so they obtained nothing more from him.
- ^ Levtzion & Hopkins 2000, p. 334.
Primary sources
- Al-Umari, Masalik al-Absar fi Mamalik al-Amsar, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000
- Ibn Khaldun, Kitāb al-ʿIbar wa-dīwān al-mubtadaʾ wa-l-khabar fī ayyām al-ʿarab wa-ʾl-ʿajam wa-ʾl-barbar, translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000
- al-Sadi, Taʾrīkh al-Sūdān, translated in Hunwick 1999
Other sources
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- Collet, Hadrien (2019). "Échos d'Arabie. Le Pèlerinage à La Mecque de Mansa Musa (724–725/1324–1325) d'après des Nouvelles Sources". History in Africa. 46: 105–135. from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
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Further reading
- Ibn Battuta; Ibn Juzayy. Tuḥfat an-Nuẓẓār fī Gharāʾib al-Amṣār wa ʿAjāʾib al-Asfār., translated in Levtzion & Hopkins 2000 and Hamdun & King 2009
External links
- Mansa Musa I at World History Encyclopedia
- Mansa Moussa: Pilgrimage of Gold (archived) at History Channel's History.com
- Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa at Northwestern University's Block Museum of Art