Mansa Musa

4. Mansa Musa took over 14 provinces and 24 cities during his 25 year reign and he had the largest army which consisted of 100,000 troops and 10,000 cavalrymen.

In this time period there were two major sea trading routes, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and a massive network of land trade called the Silk Roads (World History 272). Muslim merchants used Arabic and money credits called sakks in their deals (World History 272). These trade routes provided optimal environments for Islam to spread because the merchants had personal interactions with people where they could inform them of the religion and provide them an opportunity to convert. Muhammad spread his word directly on his journey from Mecca to Medina known as the Hijrah (World History 265). This was a turning point for the spread of Islam because Muhammad became a political leader as well as a religious leader (World History 269). This change allowed religion to inspire governing which was the starting point of the Muslim Empire controlling the region. The Abbasid family pushed out the Umayyads and murdered most of their members as they took control of the Muslim region, but one prince named Abd al-Rahman escaped and fled to Spain (World History 271). He set up a caliphate in Spain and pushed out the Berbers, a Muslim group from North Africa. The Berbers advanced North into Europe and continued to spread Islam farther from its place of origin (World History 271). This change of rule allowed for the Umayyads to

Abdallah Ibn Battuta was one of the most recognized of medieval travelers. His Rihla, or book of travels tells the story of his travels throughout Africa, Indonesia, Central Asia, India, the Middle East, Russia, and China between 1325 and 1354. Said Hamdun and Noël King have translated those portions of the Rihla, that tells of Ibn Battuta’s travels to East Africa in 1329 or 1331 and his extended travels and visits in West Africa between 1352 and 1354. This small part of his Rihla, solidifies his influence and presents the only written account we have of the East African city-states or the empire of Mali in the fourteenth century.

Battuta journey back to Morocco was extremely grueling eventually he would return to the city of Fez where he settles down. The biggest aspect of Malian society is the economy, which is based on agriculture and gold commodities. The majority of Malians lived in a pastoralist society on the occasion of herding animals is the primary economic activity, for instance, in the epic of Sundiata, Kouyate explains when two hunters kill the Do buffalo in order to receive a woman for the purpose of the king, “I killed the buffalo and cut off its tail. The economy in Mali flourished due to the fact of trade, Mali had trading centers for various West African products within the region. For example, Taghaza was a trading center for the purpose of salt and Takedda was the trading center of copper. Gold and salt were extremely profitable commodities when trading for example, in The Travels of Ibn Battuta, Battuta explains during his journey to Mali his caravan and he stopped in an important salt-mining center in Taghaza after twenty-five days of brutal travel through the

However, the Mali Empire’s power was weakened due to quarrels about orderly succession of the emperors. When the Songhai Empire realized that weakness at the center of Mali, they started rebelling. In 1375, Geo rebelled. Soon Songhai Empire began its expansion at the expense of Mali. They conquered Mema, Timbuktu from the Tuareg. The military commander responsible for these victories, Sunni Ali Ber, was considered the first great ruler of the Songhai Empire. He continued to expand and build the empire by taking control of important Trans-Saharan trade routes as well as other cities and provinces of Mali. Trade had a significant influence on the history of these empires. The riches made through these trades contributed to build larger kingdoms and empires. In order to protect their trade, they build even larger armies. The slave trade was the most important contributor to their economic development. “The Songhai kingdom under the rule of Askia Mohammed used slaves as soldiers. Slaves were trusted not to overthrow their rulers. Sometimes, slaves were given position such as royal advisers because “Songhai rulers believed that slaves could be trusted to provide unbiased advice unlike other citizens who held a personal stake in the outcome of decisions” (Tesfu 2015).

Under Mansa Musa, Mali became the the largest and one of the most renown kingdoms in Africa. Gold was abundant and the empire was prosperous; what more could one ask for? Though as it turns out fame and prosperity can be fleeting. The empire

The History of Africa is very interesting. They had many trade routes and many resources such as salt and gold, their most popular resource was gold. Mansa Musa was their leader and had gone on the Haji as a duty and made their empire known throughout other countries. After that journey the empire had expanded even more that from the start of when their empire first rose up. As you could tell Mansa Musa was a good leader because of the choices he had made to create africa today. In Medieval Africa, Mansa Musa had an Economic impact on Africa because of the duty of islam and the value of gold.

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.

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

West Africa has experienced migration, because of the cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups it contains, and because of the minerals, and goods it can produce. Around the ninth century C.E., in the trans- Saharan route, slave trade became popular. These slaves were used by the Arabs for military service, administration, domestic service, and concubinage. Extensive trade in the region led to urbanization, as well as the introduction of Islam. Muslim Berbers contributed to the expansion of Islam, by controlling the trade routes in Africa, and becoming conduits for economic activities, by the tenth century. During the mid-11th century, cities like Gao and Timbuktu had Muslim scholars traveling the routes, because of the intrusion of the Almoravids, and this resulted in turning these cities into hotspots for study and trade. The eleventh century brought the acceptance of the Islamic culture, and led to conversion of the elites, so they can have legal, political, administrative, cultural, and economic benefits. The Islamic culture did not disrupt indigenous African shamanist and animist beliefs, it united ethnic groups, and led to the development of Islamic states throughout Africa. (Africa, 3000 B.C.-A.D. 1500 / West African Trade /

Changes in political and cultural traditions during the post-classical period occurred in Africa because of intensive Islamic contact. When Arab conquerors introduced the Islamic faith into northern Africa, they expanded the region of commerce. Muslim merchants established trading centers for copper, iron, salts, and cotton textiles. The newly established trade affected traditional social and religious beliefs. After 1000 C.E., the kin-based social structure experienced difficult challenges. Increased conflict between peoples led to the creation of military forces for both offensive and defensive use. This led to the formation of chiefdoms exhibiting more formal structures of governing such as in the kingdoms of Kongo, Ghana, and Mali. Because most traders were Muslim, many African societies converted to Islam to improve their relations with the

Through these actions

Lastly between the brothers: Siga who is sent with Tiekoro as protection to Timbuktu who becomes forgotten by his own brother as they refuse him because he is not Muslim. And Naba, who loses his role model, and grieves on his behalf. As Islam continues to spread and conquer more and more lands, the more families become split as parents send their children to schools to learn how to write and speak Arabic. When Tiekoro left for Timbuktu the Troare family continued to divide and separate due to continuous forces by foreign expansion and hunger for riches. As a son of a slave woman who had drowned herself, Siga isn’t regarded with nearly as high as prestige as Tiekoro is, despite them only being a couple hours apart in age. After being banished away for not being Muslim, Siga adjusted to his environment with the help of a kind boy and, after being a donkey boy for a while, decides to go into trade. Trade goes completely against the respectable income of a Bambara nobleman, which can be made through cultivating agriculture because the Troare family “owned plenty of good land planted with millet, cotton, and fonio, worked by hundreds of slaves” (Conde 4). Especially because the Mali Empire had been on fertile land where many different kinds of crops such as ones of sorghum, millet, and fonio could be maintained and the domestication of animals like sheep, goats, and cattle had been strong (Africa 141). Although the way of a Bambara had been agriculture,

Ibn Battuta, who was both a Muslim teacher and traveler, went on a journey across the Sahara Desert which was both dangerous and challenging. His ultimate goal was to spread the religion of Islam and the Muslim culture all throughout West Africa, and he succeeded in doing that.