1. Substantiate the piety and moral virtue of Mansa Musa. In the book Medieval West Africa, Al- ‘Umari (1301–1394) described many actions of Mansa Musa that reflect him as a pious Muslim, and a person of high moral virtue. Many of these actions occurred during Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca in 1312. However, even before then Mansa Musa readily accepted the religion of Islam and did everything in his power to be a pious Muslim. For example, when Mansa Musa is told that it is not permissible to have concubines even if you are a king he immediately replies “By God I did not know that. I hereby leave it and abandon it utterly!” (page 59). This provides evidence to his piety as he immediately accepts this belief with complete devotion, and his …show more content…
When compared to the exorbitant rate that Mansa Musa gave the tradesmen of Cairo it clearly indicates his massive wealth and provides testimony to the fact that he was indeed the richest man in history. Moreover, the actual rate may have been even higher as the book, Medieval West Africa, says that Mansa Musa “paid them back amply” (p.61). Many may say that Mansa Musa was wrong to give such a high rate, however, we clearly see the benefits of it from the accounts in the book given about him. Those who cam into contact with Mansa Musa praise him highly and that praise, prestige, and wealth would have been extended to his people and kingdom as well. Therefore, the kingdom of Mali would become better known around the world and start to appear on more maps. Especially, in Europe where there was great interest in this kingdoms wealth. The business men of Cairo clearly took advantage of Mansa Musa when he had spent all his gold on them by marking up their prices. As a result, he had to borrow back a large amount at the ridiculously high interest rate. Another reason for this lending rate would have been to adjust the devaluation of gold and the inflation of prices on goods. Because Mansa Musa gave away so much gold on his journey to the pilgrimage it devalued the metal for the next decade in the cities he visited like Cairo. Therefore, on his way back from Mecca he borrowed all the gold back at the …show more content…
He was so secure in his power and rule that he did not hesitate to leave his kingdom in the rule of another while he preformed his pilgrimage. Even while on his journey he managed to command a large group of travelers with “100 loads of gold” (p. 60) on an incredibly long walk to Mecca. Today, there aren’t any leaders who could boast about having the same command, or being able to affect the price of a precious metal like gold. During his stay in Egypt Al-Umari writes that Mansa Musa “left no court amir nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a load of gold. The Cairenes made incalculable profits out of him and his suite in buying and selling and giving and taking.” (p. 62) flooding the region with his gifts. However, Mansa Musa was also very generous to his people as Al-‘Umari documents that “The emirs and soldiers of the king have fiefs and benefices, Among their chiefs are some whose wealth derived from the king reaches 50,000 mithqals of gold every year.” (p.56) Al-Umari further goes on to say that the kings whole ambition is to give his people “fine clothes and to make his town into cities” (p. 56). Hence, Mansa Musa was very concerned with the development of his people and kingdom by distributing his wealth, establishing trade, and creating a progressive reputation about the kingdom of Mali to the
This paper is about the usefulness of Sundiata as a primary source document for studying trade and commerce in ancient Mali, by comparing and contrasting secondary sources accounts of trade and commerce, and the account given in the Epic of Sundiata, to prove that the book the epic of Sundiata is a useful primary source document for studying trade and commerce in Ancient Mali. When talking about trade in Ancient Mali, knowing about the Dyulas is paramount. A large amount of trade in ancient Mali was done by the trader caste of the Dyulas, who are tangentially mentioned in the Epic of Sundiata, on Page 82 " Dyulas became numerous. "
Well definitely not for religious purposes. Mansa Musa took the difficult journey here strictly to trade lots of gold for salt and set up a trading bond for future trading. If the city Taghaza had so much salt and Mansa Musa had more gold than he knew what to do with and not a lot of salt, it was the perfect trade bond for Mansa Musa. This was the perfect trade bond since salt was worth its weight in gold and used for many things, and Mansa Musa had tons of
In North Africa the Berber merchants were one of the major groups that traded with Sub-Saharan West Africa through the Trans-Saharan trade routes. The Berber merchants played an essential part in dispersing the Islam and its traditions into Sub-Saharan West Africa since they frequently used the Sahara to trade. When Islam made its way into Sub-Saharan West Africa, it was absorbed into their society but unlike in other societies, Islam merged with the existing animistic culture. A majority of the Sub-Saharan West African population didn’t convert to Islam but remained animistic. The people who converted were merchants and elite rulers.
During his era the Ottoman Empire experienced spectacular economic growth and that lead up to the golden age of the Ottoman empire(Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. 1). This age was filled with knowledge and wisdom and the culture was mixed with different backgrounds of people and religion. Sultan Suleyman had a lot of nicknames and one of them is the lawmaker as Suleyman was the first sultan to create law and rules, before Suleyman other Sultans would follow the rules of the Holy Quran only, but Suleyman saw that creating new rules that are mixed with the sharia and it was called Kanun. During the golden age of the Ottoman Empire experienced new arts, different cultures and religions which shaped the empire in a way that it can interact with the people in a positive way by letting everyone live in peace and by their beliefs(Yalman, Suzan
The attitudes of Christianity and Islam towards merchants and trade are different from one another in the beginning stages, but as time progress each moderate their earlier views. In the beginning Christians found it unfit to be a rich merchant, while Islam’s judgment on trade was acceptable as long as they were honest and the trading was just. As time went by over a couple hundred years, the followers if each belief changed their views on trade, though it was acceptable, merchants were expected to trade geniuses. In the beginning Christians found it unfit to be a rich merchant, while Islam’s judgment on trade was acceptable as long as they were honest and the trading was just.
An Arab judge wrote a book of Islamic law for the caliph. A caliph is a spiritual ruler, selected to lead the Muslim community. One of the laws in the book is,”To defend the lands of the Islam and to protect them from intrusion so that people may earn their livelihood and travel at will without danger to life or property”(Document E). Guaranteed protection for practicing Islam would appeal to more followers. Force contributed a broad amount of people to practice Islam.
King Midas was a very rich man, perhaps the richest in the world. Midas had loved nothing more than gold, except maybe his daughter Marygold. This already had made him a very greedy man; he literally had an entire vault full of gold valuables. When a mysterious stranger granted him a wish, Midas asked that everything he touch be turned to gold. He had all he could ever want, more than he could ever use and yet wished for more.
Mansa Musa, king of the Malian empire, in specific was a large influence on the religion of the population. Other pieces of Muslim architecture, such as the great Mosque of Djenne, are evidence of the religion’s dominance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Along the Indian Ocean trade routes, we also see Islam as a dominant religion, but there is much more of a variety. Evidence of Islam in Eastern Africa can be found in the language itself. Swahili, the dominant language of the region, is influenced heavily by Arabic.
There are 5 pillars of Islam, one being a Hajj to Mecca, that Muslims take part in to prove that they are good Muslims. Mansa Musa went on a Hajj for his religion, but he had other intentions for participating in this journey. Mansa Musa was a very wealthy leader of Mali who decided to go on this pilgrimage to Mecca to complete one of the 5 pillars of Islam, and he gave some of his gold to people who lived in the cities along the way where salt was abundant and gold was very valuable. Mansa Musa went to Mecca for his religion, but had other motivating factors. Mansa Musa could have gone through Timbuktu, but instead he decided to go the longer route, through Taghaza and Walata.
Colonialism and Imperialism affected our world both positively and negatively. On one hand, Imperialism has often been linked with racial segregation, manipulation, and hardship. On the other, it has been said that many colonial powers contributed much in terms of schools, roads, railways, and much more. Whether this time period was constructive or harmful, it has played a large part in shaping our lives today. European Imperialism started long before the 1800’s.
Mali and Ghana Essay Ghana and Mali were one of Africa’s greatest ancient civilizations. The Ghana kingdom was founded around the year 750, and developed between the Senegal and Niger River, while the Mali kingdom came about in 1240 after taking over Ghana. Rich in trade and supplies, their empires flourished under their rulers. The Ghana and Mali empire had a series of key similarities and differences throughout their years as a civilization, such as education, their culture, and their resource for trade.
The king of Mali and they called him Mansa Musa. His original name was Musa 1 but once he became king his people started to call him Mansa Musa and Mansa means “Sultan” or King. Mansa Musa ruled over Mali and Mali was a nation with fabulous wealth, during his rule he has built many monuments, mosques, and also schools all over his empire. He mostly famous from his 1324 pilgrimage and
Wallerstein described how Cairo’s “economic crisis was accompanied by a breakdown of its monetary system.” The dramatic drop in the value of gold, which people majorly depended on as currency, showed that the economy there had clearly declined tremendously due to Musa’s distribution of gold in Egypt. Just as Alkhateeb stated, “the effect that Mansa Musa’s visit had on Egypt clearly shows the wealth and importance of the Mali Empire, even when it encountered far-off lands.” By the end of the fourteenth century CE, the economy in Egypt experienced a depreciation due to the substantial decline of the currency system. Although Mansa Musa set out on the Hajj in order to help others in need by generously giving out bountiful amounts of gold, the results ironically turned out to have a significantly negative impact that lasted for as long as 12 years—over an entire decade—until the Egyptian economy could gradually and finally recover from the damage Mansa Musa had
Immediately, he made his army stronger. Trade had fallen off during the war between Ghana and Mali. Sundiata wanted the trade to continue. The northern part of the Niger River, where plenty of gold came from, was in Mali. Therefore, the people had a lot of gold, but they lacked salt.
Mansa Musa helped Islam spread by leaving to pilgrimage and introduced the empire to the Islamic World. He encouraged learning to read the Arabic language to read the Qur’an. He hired architects to build mosques as well. Another example is the Songhai empire. Songhai leaders were Muslims as well.