Mansa Musa Essay

goldmines in Mali such as the goldmines of Bambuk so, not all of the money was made by growth. The gold from Mali was about half of the entire world's gold (Tschanz). This is especially impressive because he is the only person in extant history that controlled the price of gold in the Mediterranean (Tschanz). Additionally, many other things showed his wealth. His entourage on his way to Mecca was extravagant. When Mansa Musa entered Cairo, he had 80 camels with gold on their backs and thousands of people in his entourage including 500 slaves (Isaacs). This highlights his extravagant wealth. Having such a plethora of wealth is almost implausible. This could be a reason why so many people were interested in the Mali Empire. Gold was a precious commodity in
Having that much gold was and still is beyond belief. Al- Umari, a traveler, arrived in Cairo a decade after Mansa Musa and Cairo still had not recovered from the drop of the price of gold (Gearon). Mansa Musa caused a huge disruption in the Egyptian economy. One that Egypt had still not recovered even ten years later. His wealth was extravagant and was acquired from mines and expansion but was displayed through the hajj. Mansa Musa's importance was so well known that Mali was known as a place of great wealth and education and elicited interest from Africans and Europeans alike for centuries. Mansa Musa made Mali into a place of great Muslim education and created European interest because of his extensive wealth. Timbuktu, a city in Mali, was mentioned in a West African proverb, "Salt comes from the North, gold from the South, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom come from Timbuktu" (Gearon). This West African proverb was agreat result of the effort Mansa Musa put in to make Mali, specifically Timbuktu, a place of Muslim learning. The word of God was referring to the Quran and the treasures of wisdom were referring to education in