History

• Mali


  Kingdom ruled by Mansa Musa between 1312 and 1337

  
• Mansa Musa

  • Encouraged people to grow cotton, beans, rice, and onions
  • Encouraged mining of gold
  • Known as 'Musa the Magnificent' and the 'Lion of Mali'
  • Lion is a symbol of royal power, bravery, and strength
  • His people loved him
• Mali was very rich in gold and controlled the salt trade routes
• Islamic culture


  Cultural practices common to Islamic peoples
• Strong economy


  When a country gets wealthy by producing and consuming goods and services
• Education


  The process of receiving a body of knowledge, usually at a school or university
• Decentralised government


  When authority is moved from a single administration to other locations, giving them a degree of independence
• How Mansa Musa made the Mali Kingdom powerful


  1. United Timbuktu and Gao under Malian control

  2. Islam became an official religion, urban areas adopted Islamic culture, but he did not undermine other religions

  3. Built a strong economy through trade with North Africa and Europe

  4. Encouraged education, sent young people to study at Muslim institutions, ordered a university to be built at Timbuktu

  5. Had a decentralised government system, divided empire into provinces each ruled by a governor
• Pilgrimage (hajj)


  The sacred journey to Mecca that all able-bodied Muslims are expected to make at least once
• Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca


  1. Muslim law requires all faithful to visit Mecca at least once

  2. Mali was prosperous and stable, so Mansa Musa decided to make the pilgrimage

  3. In 1324, with a huge number of guards and 80 camels carrying luxurious items and gold, Mansa Musa started his pilgrimage

  4. Along the way he gave away gold freely and paid for mosques to be built
• Mansa Musa's caravan stopped in Cairo


  People quickly found out he was very rich, so prices were increased, but Mansa Musa spent so much gold that it lost its value
• Mansa Musa had to borrow money for his journey home, but everyone wanted to lend him money because he repaid loans generously and was always true to his word
• Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca took about a year and he travelled about 5000km by camel
• While Mansa Musa was away, no one attempted to take over his kingdom because he had brought most of the powerful people with him and left the army in charge
• The people of the kingdom of Mali were impressed by Mansa Musa's pilgrimage, which made them even more loyal to him
• News of Mansa Musa's wealth reached Europe


  European mapmakers began to include Mali on their maps

  
• Mansa Musa's pilgrimage


  Attracted the interest of North African traders who then increased their trade with Mali
• Mansa Musa brought a Muslim architect to design new places and mosques, and many ambassadors from Arabia, Egypt and Morocco came to Mali
• Cities developed in Mali, producing an educated and respected population
• Great Mosque of Djenné


  • Largest mud brick building in the world
  • Destroyed and rebuilt several times
  • Declared a World Heritage Site in 1998, remains a great symbol of the city of Djenné and the kingdom of Mali
• Leo Africanus

  Al Hassan Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi, born in Granada, Spain around 1494
• Leo Africanus


  • Born a Muslim, moved to Fez, Morocco as a refugee
  • His father was Muslim, mother may have been Jewish and converted to Islam
  • Studied at the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Morocco
  • Worked as a scribe at an infirmary for foreign travelers
• Leo Africanus' travels


  1. Traveled to Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Arabian Peninsula

  2. Visited Timbuktu twice in 1510 and 1513
• Leo Africanus' travels and documentation of Africa changed the way Europe viewed the continent in the early 1500s
• Leo Africanus' capture

  Captured by Spanish privateers in 1518, taken to Rome and presented to Pope Leo X
• Leo Africanus in Rome


  • Baptized and converted to Christianity by Pope Leo X, given the name Leo Africanus
  • Taught Arabic and translated Christian books into Arabic for the scholarly community in Rome
• Leo Africanus claimed he was never really a Christian, it was just for pragmatic reasons
• Description of Africa


  Leo Africanus' work providing detailed descriptions of North Africa, West and Central Africa, published in 1550 in Italian, later translated to French, Latin and English
• Description of Africa offered European scholars, explorers, mapmakers and monarchs detailed descriptions of the gold trading kingdoms of Central Africa
• Description of Africa recorded information on how people lived, ate, dressed, their economy, habits and cultural lives
• The English translation of Description of Africa was published in 1600 to coincide with the visit of a Moroccan ambassador to London to negotiate a military alliance
• Description of Africa

  Suggested to be a source for Shakespeare's depiction of Othello
• Leo Africanus played a role in European literature through his connection to William Butler Yeats, who communicated with a spirit claiming to be Leo Africanus in 1912-1917