Page 64 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 2

AFRIKA’S HEROES

MANSA MUSA 1

OF MALI EMPIRE

RESEARCHED BY CHIOMA PHILLIPS
ART SOURCE: AFRICAN GLOBE

Rich beyond description. That of gold in the Egyptian economy. sail with a large entourage on an
seems to sum up Mansa Musa I of According to some, it took 12 expedition to discover the limits
Mali’s great abundance of material years for Egypt to recover. It is also of the Atlantic Ocean, leaving
wealth. (Mansa means King) said that his lavish spending also Musa Keita to act as regent of the
caused ripples in the economies of kingdom in his absence. Abubakr
The African ruler, described as Medina and Mecca. didn’t return though, and so, in
young and handsome, had vast the year 1312 Musa took over the
wealth resources that caused the But Mansa Musa 1 didn’t start throne in line with the existing laws
riches of Egypt and Europe to out that way. Historical accounts of the Mali Empire.
pale in comparison. So vast that state that his grandfather was
he disrupted Egypt’s economy as the brother of Sundiata Keita The new Mansa inherited an
he passed by on his pilgrimage who founded the Empire of Mali, already rich empire, Mali was
to Mecca, making gifts of alms to but the throne never came to his extremely wealthy, with an
the poor, and making such great grandfather or his father. So, how abundance of copper and pure
purchases of textiles and other did he come to be Mansa? In the gold resources, the demand for
goods as to cause the devaluation early 1300s, Mansa Abubakr II set which was high. Under Musa, the