Dbq - Mansa Musa

The Renaissance changed man’s view of the world because of its influence on Art, Literature, and Science. This made man try harder to discover everything about the world.

1. Mansa Musa’s name literally means King Moses because Mansa translates to King, Emperor, or Highness and Musa translates to Moses.

Trade and trade routes played a crucial role in the spread of Islam. Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, was a very prominent trade hub. Due

In the “Arabian Peninsula Trade Routes” (Doc. A) it shows how Mecca was very busy with all kinds of trade. Since Mecca is where Islam would start in the upcoming years, traders would come and go taking the teachings of Muhammad with them. Mecca was both the center of trade and the center of Islam which leads to the quick spread of faith through the many traders and merchants that

Trade was a large part in why Islam spread so quickly. Mecca had several trading routes. “By the middle of the sixth century… Mecca was … prosperous and important (Doc A).” They were trading through the two main empires: Byzantine and Persian. East Africa, Spain, India, and China also traded with them. Mecca being at the center of the trading system, they brought in many tourists to see the famous holy shrine. With the help of communication people interested in Islam were also drawn because goods were not just traded, but the Islamic culture as well.

It was a crossroad for caravan trade and an added advantage was that Mecca was home to the Ka’ba, a holy pagan shrine that many people the follows the Five pillars make a pilgrimage to sometime during their life. Many cities were easily reached from Mecca because of several surrounding trade routes, land and sea, that connected Mecca to multiple nearby locations. Mecca was a central location of the Arabian Peninsula and was very easy to get to. Not only this, Mecca also had surrounding bodies of water that were very important for trade that led to cultural diffusion. The Surrounding large empires, once conquered would add large additions to the current Islamic empire of the time. This could cause the fast spread of Islam since they were such big areas. (Doc A) Islam stretched across several regions. In the 600’s it spread North to France and out East towards India. Islam was the fastest spreading religion ever and it’s military was able to conquer many areas within a very short period of time. Followers of islam were not only devoted to sharing their religion but they were also well-organized and skilled in fighting. (Doc C) The Byzantine and Persian Empires were nearby and the Muslims were able to take over those areas because the empires were weak from their own battling. (Doc D) The Byzantine Empire tried to resist the expansion of Islam however, the people of the Hims in

Mali: Gold and Salt trade; reached its peak in 14th century; Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca; Islam

The journey of Mansa Musa on his hajj made everyone wonder if he went on the journey simply for his religion, or if there were other underlying factors for his journey. Mansa Musa traveled along his journey through Africa for his religion. Mansa Musa was a muslim Mali empire who went on a trek through Africa to complete one of the five pillars, which his religion obligated him to do.

When Manchester first built its big mechanized cotton machine, it became the leading textile manufacturing city in the whole world. Much of its population in 1850s was made up with the working class and immigrants from parts of Britain and even Europe. In 1851, it was granted a royal charter after Queen Victoria's visit. The Reform Bill granted Manchester representation in parliament and middle-classmen the right to vote. All this was due to the exponential growth of Manchester during the Industrial Revolution. According to the Encarta World English Dictionary, Industrial Revolution was the period when U.K. went through social and economic changes that involved widespread adoption of industrial methods of production. The specialization of

A map created from numerous sources suggests Mansa Musa took a different route on his hajj to visit Taghaza compared to previous routes taken by past kings. Compared to these other routes, Musa’s was about a quarter longer (Doc B). Since Mansa Musa went completely off track to visit Taghaza, Musa’s main drive behind taking the long route to Taghaza was to show the people what a special ruler he was. Because of the extremely different route taken, Musa’s main focus of his hajj was to expand his

It had easy access to the Red Sea and other populated cities, such as Aden, Alexandria, and Muscat. The city began as “the crossroads of the lucrative caravan trade” and grew into an even busier area for vendors to prosper (Document A). Merchants from throughout the region carried merchandise, such as spices, perfumes, precious metals, ivory, and silk, in and out of the city (Document A). Mecca was not only a significant trade center, but became the home of the Ka’ba, the holy site of Islam. As visitors stopped by the area and the holy shrine, they became exposed to the religion and its teachings. Traders then brought Islam’s teachings along trade routes to areas beyond the peninsula. As ideas spread, a variety of people from all over the western world either learned about or experienced Islamic culture. The trade routes, on both land and sea, brought goods and the religion of Islam to areas as far as India, East Africa, China, and Spain (Document

Imagine being one of the most powerful and richest ever in the entire world, that was the case for Mansa Musa. Additionally, Musa was an emperor of the wealthy West African Mali Empire in which he was and still is, the richest man in the world with an estimated four-hundred billion. Moreover, he was devoted to the religion Islam and made a pilgrimage to Mecca from West Africa to worship. Therefore, Mansa Musa’s had reasons that demonstrated his devotion to Islam, which are his pilgrimage to Mecca, his elected religion while though his empire, it was populated by a mixture of people with different religions, and with money since he did not need to have a religion or follow one with power and money like he had, yet he believed in it and stayed with it until death.

The “Qur’an” had a great importance to Mansa Musa as it states “God loves the charitable” (Document D). When Mansa Musa was giving gold away, he was following 2:195 of the “Qur’an” which is also known as the holy Muslim book. If Mansa Musa was going to establish trading partners, he would take the trade route all the way to Mecca which he didn't because he

Lastly, according to the map, The Spread of Islam, it displayed how and where Islam developed and grew over time. With more land and territory, Islam could have had an easier access to other good and merchandise from other cultures and civilizations. With more territory, Islam is able to preach about the idea of Allah and the importance of giving to charity to more of a variety of people. Trading became an important reason for Islam spreading so

Mansa Musa brought over ten thousand personal slaves as well as entertainers, flag bearers, guards, and other extravagant people (Document A). One does not need even over a thousand personal slaves for an estimated 2,000 miles long journey. Nor does one need flag bearers or musicians. Mansa Musa brought so many slaves and servants to show common folk how rich he was and how much power he held. The poorer people who saw him on his hajj would then spread the word of Mansa Musa’s wealth and power. Mansa Musa went on the journey to establish trade partners, such as with a village called Taghaza. Taghaza was a village far north of the original trade route. Mansa Musa went out of his way to a small village that consisted of slaves and mines. The salt mines were precisely the reason why Mansa Musa stopped at Taghaza. Salt was “needed for taste, nutrition, dehydration, and food preservation. It was literally worth its weight in gold” (Document B). Because salt was such a valuable import, Mansa Musa was willing to travel out of his way to become trade partners with a small village. Mansa Musa went on his hajj to give alms to the poorer people of the