Some Rights Reserved (2009-2023) under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license unless otherwise noted. Mansa Musa (Musa I of Mali) was the ruler of the kingdom of Mali from 1312 C.E. The exact date of Musa's accession is debated. In the event of conquest, farins took control of the area until a suitable native ruler could be found. [g] Faga Leye was the son of Abu Bakr, a brother of Sunjata, the first mansa of the Mali Empire. Musa's name Kanku Musa means "Musa son of Kanku", but the genealogy may not be literal. [119], It would be the Mandinka themselves that would cause the final destruction of the empire. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. Wali was succeeded by his brother Wati, about whom nothing is known,[82][83] and then his brother Khalifa. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Available from http://incompetech.com. Lange, Dierk (1996), "The Almoravid expansion and the downfall of Ghana", Der Islam 73 (2): 313351. The only major setback to his reign was the loss of Mali's Dyolof province in Senegal. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. From at least the beginning of the 11th century, Mandinka kings known as faamas ruled Manden from Ka-ba in the name of the Ghanas.[68]. [45] He would have spent much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire. 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. [100], Arabic writers, such as Ibn Battuta and Abdallah ibn Asad al-Yafii, praised Musa's generosity, virtue, and intelligence. Mansa Mahmud Keita II came to the throne in 1481 during Mali's downward spiral. The ton-tigi belonged to an elite force of cavalry commanders called the farari ("brave men"). Longman, 1995. [12][h] Ibn Battuta, who visited Mali during the reign of Musa's brother Sulayman, said that Musa's grandfather was named Sariq Jata. In addition, Mansa Ms had a baggage train of 80 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold. Mansa Souleyman Keita died in 1360 and was succeeded by his son, Camba Keita. [76] 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. Timbuktu became a major Islamic university center during the 14th century due to Mansa Musas developments. [92] He was one of the first truly devout Muslims to lead the Mali Empire. Contemporary sources claim 60 copper bars traded for 100 dinars of gold. [70] Manden was split in half with the Dodougou territory to the northeast and the Kri territory to the southwest. Alternate titles: Kankan Ms, Mansa Musa, Mousa, Musa. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. Mansa Musa developed cities like Timbuktu and Gao into important cultural centers. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms. The history of the Mandinka started in Manding region. Mansa Ms, either the grandson or the grandnephew of Sundiata, the founder of his dynasty, came to the throne in 1307. He left Kanku Musa, a grandson of Sunjata's brother Mande Bori, in charge during his absence. [60] The anglicised version of this name, Sunjata, is also popular. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. Like the Great Mosque, a contemporaneous and grandiose structure in Timbuktu, the Hall was built of cut stone. Mansa Musa brought architects and scholars from across the Islamic world into his kingdom, and the reputation of the Mali kingdom grew. [18], 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". The Twelve Doors of Mali were a coalition of conquered or allied territories, mostly within Manden, with sworn allegiance to Sundiata and his descendants. The next great unit of exchange in the Mali Empire was salt. At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of its language, laws and customs. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Mali's Timbuktu was known for its schools and libraries. Mansa Fadima Musa Keita, or Mansa Musa Keita II, began the process of reversing his brother's excesses. [137], Copper was also a valued commodity in imperial Mali. A dknsi performed the same function except with slave troops called sofa ("guardian of the horse") and under the command of a farimba ("great brave man"). [83] He is criticized for being unfaithful to tradition, and some of the jeliw regard Musa as having wasted Mali's wealth. ", "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. [91] Historians such as Hadrien Collet have argued that Musa's wealth is impossible to accurately calculate. [98], The wealth of the Mali Empire did not come from direct control of gold-producing regions, but rather trade and tribute. Research/Artwork: From Nothing Team. [70] These men had to be of the horon (freemen) caste and appear with their own arms. Combined in the rapidly spoken language of the Mandinka, the names formed Sondjata, Sundjata or Sundiata Keita. [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. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. But the Mali Empire built by his predecessors was too strong for even his misrule and it passed intact to Musa's brother, Souleyman Keita in 1341. [70] Gbr Keita was crowned Mansa Ouali Keita II and ruled during the period of Mali's contact with Portugal. Ibn Battuta comments on festival demonstrations of swordplay before the mansa by his retainers including the royal interpreter. Musa stayed in Cairo for three months, departing on 18 October[k] with the official caravan to Mecca. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. That same year, after the Mandinka general known as Sagmandir put down yet another rebellion in Gao,[93] Mansa Musa came to Gao and accepted the capitulation of the King of Ghana and his nobles. These conflicts also interrupted trade. 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. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. Returning with the combined armies of Mema, Wagadou and all the rebellious Mandinka city-states, Maghan Sundiata led a revolt against the Kaniaga Kingdom around 1234. The lands of Bambougou, Jalo (Fouta Djallon), and Kaabu were added into Mali by Fakoli Koroma (Nkrumah in Ghana, Kurumah in the Gambia, Colley in Casamance, Senegal),[70] Fran Kamara (Camara) and Tiramakhan Traore (Tarawelley in the Gambia),[77] respectively Among the many different ethnic groups surrounding Manden were Pulaar speaking groups in Macina, Tekrur and Fouta Djallon. [117], The swan song of the Mali Empire came in 1599, under the reign of Mansa Mahmud IV. Cairo and Mecca received this royal personage, whose glittering procession, in the superlatives employed by Arab chroniclers, almost put Africas sun to shame. World History Encyclopedia. In 1330, the kingdom of Mossi invaded and conquered the city of Timbuktu. 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. Ibn Khaldun claims Musa reigned for 25 years, so his accession is dated to 25 years before his death. Musa was a very successful military leader. It was this pilgrimage that awakened the world to the stupendous wealth of Mali. The oldest brother, Srbandjougou Keita, was crowned Mansa Foamed or Mansa Musa Keita III. He built mosques and large public buildings in cities like Gao and, most famously, Timbuktu. The Cairo that Mansa Ms visited was ruled by one of the greatest of the Mamlk sultans, Al-Malik al-Nir. [86], The name "Musa" has become virtually synonymous with pilgrimage in Mand tradition, such that other figures who are remembered as going on a pilgrimage, such as Fakoli, are also called Musa. Islamic studies flourished thereafter. by UsefulCharts. It was "an admirable Monument", surmounted by a dome and adorned with arabesques of striking colours. [136] One particular source of salt in the Mali Empire was salt-mining sites located in Taghaza. Watch the map animation on From Nothing:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOexUoPc6YUBe sure to subscribe to From Nothing for more African History:https://www.. U UsefulCharts 0 followers More information Mansa Musa Family Tree Rich Man National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. In Ibn Khaldun's account, Sundjata is recorded as Mari Djata with "Mari" meaning "Amir" or "Prince". Editing: Jack Rackam. Each representative or ton-tigi ("quiver-master") provided counsel to the mansa at the Gbara, but only these two ton-tigi held such wide-ranging power. [136] While it was as good as gold in the north, it was even better in the south. Mans third spouse tells court he was a despot, Woman describes treatment in Aguanga torture trial, Social worker: Children in torture case appeared happy, healthy, Calif. torture trial airs family horror stories, Polygamist who tortured his family is sentenced to 7 life terms, Aguanga man to serve seven life sentences, Emerging from a notorious hell of abuse to counsel others, Laura Cowan, Mansa Musa Muhummed: Sex, Torture, Beatings In Muslim Cult, Former Polygamy Wife Speaks Out On Justice By Any Means. [128] Nevertheless, the mansa managed to keep tax money and nominal control over the area without agitating his subjects into revolt. He did however, maintain contacts with Morocco, sending a giraffe to King Abu Hassan. [102], The Songhai settlement effectively shook off Mali's authority in 1375. During this period only the Mongol Empire was larger. 4. [72], According to Niane's version of the epic, during the rise of Kaniaga, Sundiata of the Keita clan was born in the early 13th century. Muhummed's three wivesMarva Barfield, Laura Cowan, and Adrienne Easterwere also sexually assaulted, beaten, and imprisoned; Barfield participated in the children's abuse at Muhummed's instruction, and Cowan has also been accused of participating in the abuse. [60] She was a hunchback from the land of Do, south of Mali. [107] The Gambia was still firmly in Mali's control, and these raiding expeditions met with disastrous fates before Portugal's Diogo Gomes began formal relations with Mali via its remaining Wolof subjects. Via one of the royal ladies of his court, Musa transformed Sankore from an informal madrasah into an Islamic university. During the 17th century, the Mali Empire faced incursions from the Bamana Empire. Imperial Mali's horsemen also used iron helmet and mail armour for defence[146] as well as shields similar to those of the infantry. If the mansa didn't believe the dyamani-tigui was capable or trustworthy, a farba might be installed to oversee the province or administer it outright. 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. It is known from the Tarikh al-Sudan that Mali was still a sizeable state in the 15th century. [34][35] Nonetheless, the possibility of such a voyage has been taken seriously by several historians. Free warriors from the south came armed with bows and poisonous arrows. The Portuguese decided to stay out of the conflict and the talks concluded by 1495 without an alliance.[110]. He ruled between 707-732/737 according to the Islamic calendar (AH), which translates to 1307-1332/1337 CE. published on 17 October 2020. During his reign, Mali was one of the richest kingdoms of Africa, and Mansa Musa was among the richest individuals in the world. It contained three immense gold mines within its borders unlike the Ghana Empire, which was only a transit point for gold. The army of the Mali Empire used of a wide variety of weapons depending largely on where the troops originated. Mansa Musa Family Tree | Empire of Mali Server Costs Fundraiser 2023 Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. In the 17th year of his reign (1324), he set out on his famous pilgrimage to Mecca. In the 1450s, Portugal began sending raiding parties along the Gambian coast. [57], Modern oral traditions also related that the Mandinka kingdoms of Mali or Manden had already existed several centuries before Sundiata's unification as a small state just to the south of the Sonink empire of Wagadou, better known as the Ghana Empire. Nobody lived in the area except the Musafa servants who worked to dig the salts and lived on dates imported from Sijilmasa and the Dar'a valley, camel meat and millet imported from the Sudan. The Mali Empire (Manding: Mand[3] or Manden; Arabic: , romanized:Ml) was an empire in West Africa from c. 1226 to 1670. Equipped with two quivers and a knife fastened to the back of their arm, Mandinka bowmen used barbed, iron-tipped arrows that were usually poisoned. This led to inflation throughout the kingdom. [48], Parallel to this debate, many scholars have argued that the Mali Empire may not have had a permanent "capital" in the sense that the word is used today, and historically was used in the Mediterranean world. Consequently, the name of Mali and Timbuktu appeared on 14th century world maps. The Joma area, governed from Siguiri, controlled the central region, which encompassed Niani. 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. The Sahelian and Saharan towns of the Mali Empire were organised as both staging posts in the long-distance caravan trade and trading centres for the various West African products. Musa and his entourage gave and spent freely while in Cairo. A manuscript page from Timbuktu showing a table of astronomical information. Mali's wealth in gold did not primarily come from direct rule of gold-producing regions, but rather from tribute and trade with the regions where gold was found. Ms I is widely considered the wealthiest man in history. While the accounts are of limited length, they provide a fairly good picture of the empire at its height. Mansa Musa, also known as Musa Keita I of Mali, was the tenth Sultan of the Mali Empire. Mande bards in the region speak of the Dakajalan site, containing Sundiata's grave, as sacrosanct. Mss rule defined the golden age of Mali. 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 bow figured prominently in Mandinka warfare and was a symbol of military force throughout the culture. [104] He would only reign a year before a descendant of Mansa Gao Keita removed him.[70]. [54] Despite this initial awkwardness, the two rulers got along well, and exchanged gifts. A city called Dieriba or Dioliba is sometimes mentioned as the capital or main urban center of the province of Mande in the years before Sundiata, that was later abandoned. [41] A particular challenge lies in interpreting early Arabic manuscripts, in which, without vowel markings and diacritics, foreign names can be read in numerous different ways (e.g. [43] Perhaps because of this, Musa's early reign was spent in continuous military conflict with neighboring non-Muslim societies. Therefore, Arabic visitors may have assigned the "capital" label merely to whatever major city the mansa was based out of at the time of their visit. His skillful administration left his empire well-off at the time of his death, but eventually, the empire fell apart. The Songhai Empire had fallen to the Saadi Sultanate of Morocco eight years earlier, and Mahmud sought to take advantage of their defeat by trying to capture Jenne. [89] This claim is often sourced to an article in CelebrityNetWorth,[89] which claims that Musa's wealth was the equivalent of US$400 billion. [45] Those animals included 80 camels which each carried 23136kg (50300lb) of gold dust. Mansa Musa also known as Musa I of Mali and was the ninth Islamic ancient Emperor of West Africa in a kingdom known as the Mali Empire. If Dakajalan was, in fact, situated near Kangaba, this may also have contributed to their conflation, beginning with Delafosse's speculation that the latter may have begun as a suburb of the former. After the victory, King Soumaoro disappeared, and the Mandinka stormed the last of the Sosso cities. Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325 spanning 2,700 miles. by Spanish cartographers, shows West Africa dominated by a depiction of Mansa Musa sitting on a throne, holding a nugget of gold in one hand and a golden staff in the other. Grades 5 - 8 Subjects Geography, Human Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations, World History Image Timbuktu, Henrich Barth Painting The fame of Mansa Musa and his phenomenal wealth spread as he traveled on his hajj to Mecca. [115], Mali's fortunes seem to have improved in the second half of the 16th century. Despite the faama of Niani's wishes to respect the prophecy and put Sundiata on the throne, the son from his first wife Sassouma Brt was crowned instead. [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. The buildings were constructed from slabs of salt and roofed with camel skins. Jansen, Jan: "The Younger Brother and the Stranger. [70] However, once Sundiata did gain use of his legs he grew strong and very respected. Malink, also known as Mande, Mali, or Melle, was founded around 1200 CE, and under Mansa Musa's reign . Musa's reign is often regarded as the zenith of Mali's power and prestige.