Sadly for Sundjata, this did not occur before his father died. All gold was immediately handed over to the imperial treasury in return for an equal value of gold dust. The Mali Empire began in and was centered around the Manding region in what is now southern Mali and northeastern Guinea. The University of Sankore in Timbuktu was restaffed under Musa's reign with jurists, astronomers, and mathematicians. The 1375 Catalan Atlas portrayed a "city of Melly" (Catalan: ciutat de Melly) in West Africa. The third great account is that of Ibn Khaldun, who wrote in the early 15th century. UsefulCharts, . 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. [44] Niani's reputation as an imperial capital may derive from its importance in the late imperial period, when the Songhai Empire to the northeast pushed Mali back to the Manding heartland. Musa went on hajj to Mecca in 1324, traveling with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. The final incarnation of the Gbara, according to the surviving traditions of northern Guinea, held 32 positions occupied by 28 clans. UsefulCharts, . The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Mansa Ms, either the grandson or the grandnephew of Sundiata, the founder of his dynasty, came to the throne in 1307. [43] Djibril Tamsir Niane, a Guinean historian, has been a forceful advocate of this position in recent decades. His administration and military work allowed the empire to survive through the 16th century, solidifying him, his empire, and his family into the imaginations of storytellers around the world. Despite this disunity in the realm, the realm remained under Mandinka control into the mid-17th century. the descendants of the nearly 1,000-year-old objects made in Africa. With trade being disrupted by wars, there was no way for the economy to continue to prosper. Gao had already been captured by Musa's general, and Musa quickly regained Timbuktu, built a rampart and stone fort, and placed a standing army to protect the city from future invaders.[70]. [13][12] In the Manding languages, the modern descendants of the language spoken at the core of the Mali Empire, Manden or Manding is the name of the region corresponding to the heartland of the Mali Empire. Thank you for your help! 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. Your email address will not be published. He encouraged his subjects immersion in scholarship, the arts, and the Qurn. [128] Nevertheless, the mansa managed to keep tax money and nominal control over the area without agitating his subjects into revolt. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. After the publication of this atlas, Mansa Musa became cemented in the global imagination as a figure of stupendous wealth.After his return from Mecca, Mansa Musa began to revitalize cities in his kingdom. Imperial Mali's horsemen also used iron helmet and mail armour for defence[146] as well as shields similar to those of the infantry. No single Keita ever ruled Manden after Mahmud Keita IV's death, resulting in the end of the Mali Empire. [40] Seemingly contradictory reports written by Arab visitors, a lack of definitive archaeological evidence, and the diversity of oral traditions all contribute to this uncertainty. [115] The breakup of the Wolof Empire allowed Mali to reassert authority over some of its former subjects on the north bank of the Gambia, such as Wuli, by 1576. [91] Historians such as Hadrien Collet have argued that Musa's wealth is impossible to accurately calculate. [75] This victory resulted in the fall of the Kaniaga kingdom and the rise of the Mali Empire. There was also a palace conspiracy to overthrow him hatched by the Qasa (the Manding term meaning Queen) Kassi and several army commanders. Combined in the rapidly spoken language of the Mandinka, the names formed Sondjata, Sundjata or Sundiata Keita. The Rock art in the Sahara suggests that northern Mali has been inhabited since 10,000 BC, when the Sahara was fertile and rich in wildlife. [16] However, al-Umari gives Mali as the name of the capital province and Ibn Khaldun refers to Mali as a people, with each giving different names for the capital city itself. In 1330, the kingdom of Mossi invaded and conquered the city of Timbuktu. Omissions? Kangaba, the de facto capital of Manden since the time of the last emperor, became the capital of the northern sphere. [g] Faga Leye was the son of Abu Bakr, a brother of Sunjata, the first mansa of the Mali Empire. The date of Mahmud's death and identity of his immediate successor are not recorded, and there is a gap of 65 years before another mansa's identity is recorded. [108] Alvise Cadamosto, a Venetian explorer, recorded that the Mali Empire was the most powerful entity on the coast in 1454. Musa took out large loans from money lenders in Cairo before beginning his journey home. [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. . [98] Musa's hajj, and especially his gold, caught the attention of both the Islamic and Christian worlds. Running a website with millions of readers every month is expensive. He did however, maintain contacts with Morocco, sending a giraffe to King Abu Hassan. Historians who lived during the height and decline of the Mali Empire consistently record its standing army peaking at 100,000, with 10,000 of that number being made up of cavalry. Mansa Musa ruled over the Mali empire in the 14th Century, and his incredible access to gold made him arguably . This style is characterised by the use of mudbricks and an adobe plaster, with large wooden-log support beams that jut out from the wall face for large buildings such as mosques or palaces. This region straddles the border between what is now southern Mali and northeastern Guinea. Ibn Khaldun claims Musa reigned for 25 years, so his accession is dated to 25 years before his death. [84] Then an enslaved court official, Sakura, seized power. He brought a large entourage with him which impressed people everywhere they went. Wagadou and Mema became junior partners in the realm and part of the imperial nucleus. At the local level (village, town and city), kun-tiguis elected a dougou-tigui (village-master) from a bloodline descended from that locality's semi-mythical founder. He brought back with him descendants of Mohammed, Islamic scholars, and architect Abu Es Haq es Saheli, who went on to create the Djinguereber mosque. [40], Various sources cite several other cities as capitals of the Mali Empire, some in competition with the Niani hypothesis and others addressing different time periods. In Niani, Musa built the Hall of Audience, a building communicating by an interior door to the royal palace. He attempted to make Islam the faith of the nobility,[93] but kept to the imperial tradition of not forcing it on the populace. It is not known if this was an attempt to correct the depreciation of gold in the area due to his spending,[7] or if he had simply run out of the funds needed for the return trip. His religious devotion contributed to the spread of Islam across West Africa. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. In the 17th year of his reign (1324), he set out on his famous pilgrimage to Mecca. [15], Musa ascended to power in the early 1300s[i] under unclear circumstances. Sundiata Keita is the first ruler for which there is accurate written information (through Ibn Khaldun). [125] Farin was a general term for northern commander at the time. But more reasoned analysis suggests that his role, if any, was quite limited. The only major setback to his reign was the loss of Mali's Dyolof province in Senegal. Still, by the time of Mansa Musa Keita II's death in 1387, Mali was financially solvent and in control of all of its previous conquests short of Gao and Dyolof. Alternate titles: Kankan Ms, Mansa Musa, Mousa, Musa. It was during Suleyman's 19-year reign that Ibn Battuta visited Mali. It wasn't long before the new kingdom of Great Fulo was warring against Mali's remaining provinces. That same year, Mahmud II sent another envoy to the Portuguese proposing alliance against the Fula. [60] In return for their submission, they became "farbas", a combination of the Mandinka words "farin" and "ba" (great farin). To his parents' dread, the prince did not have a promising start. This is the least known period in Mali's imperial history. 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. Imperial Mali is best known through three primary sources: the first is the account of Shihab al-'Umari, written in about 1340 by a geographer-administrator in Mamluk Egypt. [42] Another source of income for Mali during Musa's reign was taxation of the copper trade. [80] Ibn Khaldun regarded Wali as one of Mali's greatest rulers. Musa not only gave to the cities he passed on the way to Mecca, including Cairo and Medina, but also traded gold for souvenirs. The people of the south needed salt for their diet, but it was extremely rare. Corrections? Certainly, his descendants were Muslim, and many went on pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj), and Keita's most famous descendent, Mansa Musa, dazzled Egypt and the Islamic world on his lavish pilgrimage east. During his reign, the Mossi emperor Bonga of Yatenga raided into Mali and plundered Macina. Mansa Musa returned from Mecca with several Islamic scholars, including direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad and an Andalusian poet and architect by the name of Abu Es Haq es Saheli, who is . In search of a status discourse for Mande". [74] The combined forces of northern and southern Manden defeated the Sosso army at the Battle of Kirina (then known as Krina) in approximately 1235. Contemporary sources claim 60 copper bars traded for 100 dinars of gold. All rights reserved. [83] He is criticized for being unfaithful to tradition, and some of the jeliw regard Musa as having wasted Mali's wealth. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [26][17] Ibn Khaldun said that he "was an upright man and a great king, and tales of his justice are still told."[101]. World History Publishing is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. by UsefulCharts. [79][80], Musa's reign is commonly regarded as Mali's golden age, but this perception may be the result of his reign being the best recorded by Arabic sources, rather than him necessarily being the wealthiest and most powerful mansa of Mali. Like two mansolu (rulers of Mali) before him, Ms I undertook the hajj as an act of devotion in line with Islamic tradition. [78] Nehemia Levtzion regarded 1337 as the most likely date,[72] which has been accepted by other scholars. "[65], It is recorded that Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of Timbuktu and Gao on his way to Mecca, and made them a part of his empire when he returned around 1325. Although this time in the kingdom was prosperous, Mali's wealth and power soon declined. The Bamana, likewise, vowed not to advance farther upstream than Niamina. [132], The Mali Empire flourished because of its trade above all else. 4. [70] Two noble brothers from Niani, of unknown lineage, went to Dioma with an army and drove out the Fula Wassoulounk. [49] It has been suggested that the name given in the Arabic sources for the capital of Mali is derived the Manding word "bambi", meaning "dais", and as such refers to the "seat of government" in general rather than being the name of a specific city. [60] The anglicised version of this name, Sunjata, is also popular. He built mosques and large public buildings in cities like Gao and, most famously, Timbuktu. During the peak of the kingdom, Mali was extremely wealthy. The mansa could also replace a farba if he got out of control, as in the case of Diafunu. Mansa Musa brought the architect back to Mali to beautify some of the cities. Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca happened between 1324 and 1325. ", "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. Mansa Ms left a realm notable for its extent and richeshe built the Great Mosque at Timbuktubut he is best remembered in the Middle East and Europe for the splendour of his pilgrimage to Mecca (1324). Ms Is pilgrimage caravan to Mecca in 1324 comprised some 60,000 people and an immeasurable amount of gold. Kankan Musa, better known as Mansa Musa probably took power in approximately 1312, although an earlier date is possible. The ton-tigi belonged to an elite force of cavalry commanders called the farari ("brave men"). [93] Dyamani-tiguis had to be approved by the mansa and were subject to his oversight. Every year merchants entered Mali via Oualata with camel loads of salt to sell in Niani. The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. The Sankor University was capable of housing 25,000 students and had one of the largest libraries in the world with roughly 1,000,000 manuscripts.[100][101]. His descendants migrated to the land of Mali and established the Mandinka clan of Keita. [99] The gold Musa brought on his pilgrimage probably represented years of accumulated tribute that Musa would have spent much of his early reign gathering. [19], Much of what is known about Musa comes from Arabic sources written after his hajj, especially the writings of Al-Umari and Ibn Khaldun. This was due to the tax on trade in and out of the empire, along with all the gold Mansa Musa had. After the loyalty or at least the capitulation of an area was assured, it was allowed to select its own dyamani-tigui. Lange, Dierk (1996), "The Almoravid expansion and the downfall of Ghana", Der Islam 73 (2): 313351. It was common practice during the Middle Ages for both Christian and Muslim rulers to tie their bloodline back to a pivotal figure in their faith's history, so the lineage of the Keita dynasty may be dubious at best,[62] yet African Muslim scholars like the London-based Nigerian-British cleric Sheikh Abu-Abdullah Adelabu have laid claim of divine attainments to the reign of Mansa Mousa: "in Islamic history and its science stories of Old Mali Empire and significance of Mansa Mousa by ancient Muslim historians like Shihab al-Umari, documenting histories of African legendaries like Mansa Kankan Musa did actually exist in early Arabic sources about West African history including works of the author of Subh al-a 'sha one of the final expressions of the genre of Arabic administrative literature, Ahmad al-Qalqashandi Egyptian writer, mathematician and scribe of the scroll (katib al-darj) in the Mamluk chancery in Cairo[63] as well as by the author of Kitab al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik (Book of Highways and Kingdoms) Ab Ubayd Al-Bakri, an Arab Andalusian Muslim geographer and historian emboldened Keita Dynasty", wrote Adelabu. By the beginning of the 14th century, Mali was the source of almost half the Old World's gold exported from mines in Bambuk, Boure and Galam. He was the son of Niani's faama, Nare Fa (also known as Maghan Kon Fatta meaning the handsome prince). [93], Following Musa Keita III's death, his brother Gbr Keita became emperor in the mid-15th century. Who would native Malians have considered their greatest ruler? After the reigns of two more emperors, Musa Keita became mansa in c. 1312. The kingdom of Mali was relatively unknown outside of West Africa until this event. It is known from the Tarikh al-Sudan that Mali was still a sizeable state in the 15th century. Ibn Battuta had written that in Taghaza there were no trees and there is only sand and the salt mines. The Manding languages were spoken in the empire. [69] The university became a center of learning and culture, drawing Muslim scholars from around Africa and the Middle East to Timbuktu. To Musa, Islam was "an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean". [99] Mosques were built in Gao and Timbuktu along with impressive palaces also built in Timbuktu. His equipment furnishings were carried by 12.000 private slave women (Wasaif) wearing gown and brocade (dibaj) and Yemeni silk []. Much of the history is oral, given by professional "historians". In addition, Mansa Ms had a baggage train of 80 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold. When Musa departed Mali for the hajj, he left his son Muhammad to rule in his absence. [93] Sandaki Keita should not however be taken to be this person's name but a title. Mali flourished especially when Timbuktu came under Mansa Musa's control. CREDITS: Chart/Narration: Matt Baker Research/Artwork: From Nothing Team Editing: Jack Rackam Intro animation: Syawish Rehman Intro music: "Lord of the Land" by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0. Rulers of West African states had made pilgrimages to Mecca before Mansa Ms, but the effect of his flamboyant journey was to advertise both Mali and Mansa Ms well beyond the African continent and to stimulate a desire among the Muslim kingdoms of North Africa, and among many of European nations as well, to reach the source of this incredible wealth. [59] Those not living in the mountains formed small city-states such as Toron, Ka-Ba and Niani. Musa I (known more commonly as Mansa Musa) was the tenth Mansa (a Mandinka word for "emperor") of the Mali Empire. Also, Sundiata divided the lands amongst the people assuring everyone had a place in the empire and fixed exchange rates for common products[127]. [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. While this was probably an exaggeration, it is known that during his pilgrimage to Mecca one of his generals, Sagmandia (Sagaman-dir), extended the empire by capturing the Songhai capital of Gao. In the early 15th century, Mali was still powerful enough to conquer and settle new areas. [59], On his return journey, Musa met the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, whose eloquence and knowledge of jurisprudence impressed him, and whom he convinced to travel with him to Mali. The architectural crafts in Granada had reached their zenith by the fourteenth century, and its extremely unlikely that a cultured and wealthy poet would have had anything more than a dilettante's knowledge of the intricacies of contemporary architectural practice. 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].
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