Transcription
The Empire of Mali was made legendary in the 1300s by Mansam Musa. This emperor is frequently cited as the richest person to have ever lived. While calculating a precise net worth across 700 years is impossible, historians generally agree that his wealth derived from the empire's absolute control over the world's largest golden salt production at the time was essentially limitless.
Emperor Mansam Musa is best known from his 1324 pilgrimage. Mansam Musa pulled the attention of the world toward himself in Mali with his hajj to Mecca. He traveled across the Sahara with a caravan of about 60,000 thousands of soldiers, heralds, and enslaved persons alongside dozens of camels loaded with hundreds of pounds of pure gold.
This black emperor handed out gold so generously and purchased so many goods along his route, especially in Cairo, that this massive influx of gold devalued the currency, single-handedly tanking the local Egyptian economy and driving runaway inflation. By 1375, European map makers included him in the Catalan Atlas, the most important map of medieval Europe, drawing him seated on a throne in the middle of Africa, holding a giant gold coin. This cemented Mali's status as a global economic powerhouse.
This wealthy black emperor established the University of Sanor in Timbuk 2. Under his direction, Timbuk 2 transformed from a simple trading post into a premier international center for science, literature, and Islamic scholarship. Leo Africanis wrote one of the best known early descriptions of the city. Hinrich Bart, a German explorer and scholar, visited Timbuktu in the 1850s and documented its history and manuscript tradition.
Islam originally reached the fringes of West Africa between the 8th and 10th centuries via Berber and Tuareore merchants traveling the transaharan trade routes. In the 11th century, a militant Islamic confederation known as the Almoravids rose to power in present-day Morocco. The Empire of Ghana was to the south of the Almoravids. The Empire of Ghana was the precursor of the superpower Mali. Prominent historians like J. Spencer Trimingham recount that 1076 CE, the Al-Maravids launched a violent holy war, jihad, against the Ghana Empire. According to this older historical consensus, the Al-Maravids sacked the capital city of Kumbisale, subjugated the local Sona people, and forced the leadership to convert to Islam by the sword. This event was long cited as the primary catalyst for the aggressive, coercive spread of Islam into the region that would eventually become Mali.
We see that for centuries, outsiders have captured the black mind and spirit. Most of you know Masa Musa for his wealth. We even see white supremacists engaging in revisionist history, trying to dispute what is historical consensus. Was the black emperor Mansam Musa the richest person ever? Yes.
While modern estimates sometimes throw around numbers like $400 billion, contemporary historians argue that trying to quantify his wealth in modern dollars misses the point. As the emperor, he had literal absolute ownership of the state's gold supply during a period when Mali produced roughly half of the old world's gold. There was no distinction between the treasury of the empire and his personal wallet, making his purchasing power practically incomprehensible by modern standards.
European respect for Monsamusa was driven entirely by his staggering wealth and power, which became legendary in Europe after his famous 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca. Because his empire controlled the gold that backed many European currencies, European map makers and rulers viewed him as one of the most important monarchs in the world. The most famous piece of evidence is the Catalan atlas, a masterpiece of medieval mapmaking created by Jewish cgrapher Krescus Abraham in Mayorca, Spain. Instead of drawing West Africa as an empty wilderness, the mapmaker placed Mansam Musa front and center. Sitting on a regal Europeanstyle throne wearing a magnificent gold crown. He holds a royal scepter and a massive gleaming nugget of gold. The text written next to his image reads, "This negro lord is called Muse Melly, Mansa Musa, Lord of the Negroes of Guinea. So abundant is the gold which is found in his country that he is the richest and most noble king in all the land."
Throughout the 1300s and 1400s, Italian navigators from Genoa and Venice created highly practical navigation charts called Portolan charts. These maps frequently included portraits of Mansa Musa or banners of the Mali Empire flying over major trade cities. For European merchants, his name was synonymous with stability, massive trade volume, and top tier credit. European kingdoms actively sought to open trade channels with Mali because they needed its gold. Italian merchants established trading outposts along the North African coast specifically to connect with caravan routes originating in Mansamusa's territory. European accounts from the period treat Mali not as a tribal territory but as a sophisticated wealthy superpower.
Historical consensus confirms that the Mali Empire under Mansa Musa actively engaged in the transaharan slave trade, capturing and selling enslaved individuals to North African Berber and Arab traders. A member at peace tothesaints.com asked me if Mansamusa was on code, off code, or against code, referencing the black code, which is the guide for all of the black peoples of the earth. This black emperor was in fact against code as he enslaved black people. He sold black people into the most brutal form of slavery and he followed an alien religion. If people support this lesson using the superthanks button below, Venmo or PayPal, I'd be interested to continue this education and dive into the nature of the Muslim Arab enslavement of Africans.
Under Mansa Musa, Mali's economy relied on three primary pillars of trade: gold, salt, and enslaved people. In his foundational text, African dominion, a new history of empire. In early medieval West Africa, historian Michael Gomez notes that Mali sustained its imperial growth through targeted military expansion and raids against non-Muslim populations to the south. Gomez estimates that the empire captured thousands of individuals annually. Again, pay attention to the fact that non-Muslim countries are targeted and once consumed by Mansam Musa's empire, they are now under Islamic rule, thereby forever imprinting Arab influence.
While many enslaved people, locally known as Jonow were kept within Mali for domestic tasks, agricultural labor, and gold mining, large numbers were integrated into the TransSaharan commercial networks. They were sold to Arab merchants at major imperial trading hubs such as Timbuk 2 and Gao in exchange for manufactured goods, horses, and luxury textiles. The most explicit evidence connecting Mansam Musa to the dealing in enslaved Africans comes from contemporary Arab scholars who recorded details of his famous 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca. The 14th century Syrian scholar Shihab Alin al- Umari interviewed Cairo officials who had hosted Mansam Musa. These records compiled in the corpus of early Arabic sources for West African history by Nhemia Lezion and JFP Hopkins state that Mansa Musa's caravan included an entourage of over 12,000 enslaved attendants dressed in fine silks. Musa used these individuals as currency and diplomatic gifts, trading and gifting them to Mamlook officials and Arab merchants in Cairo to secure provisions and alliances. Writing later in the 1500s, the renowned North African scholar Iben Khalun Kitab al-Ibar preserved testimonies from Malians regarding the scale of the caravan. He specifically noted the presence of thousands of enslaved slave women wearing gowns of brocade and Yemen silk who accompanied the emperor's court on the journey through Arab lands.
Arabs forced Islam on West Africans through the sword many moons before Mansam Musa. Slavery is a respected institution in Islam. For these reasons, we see the so-called Muslim Mansa Musa following the Arab Muslim tradition of trading in human flesh.
In conclusion, Mansu Musa remains a legendary black leader who made the world know Mali as a superpower. He made Timbuk to a center of learning, but his reputation is marred by having traded black humans as slaves to the Muslim Arabs. He was undoubtedly against the black code. I teach you your history because if we leave it up to Matt Walsh, you will be taught propaganda and white supremacy. I have created the black code for all of the melanated peoples of the earth so that they may understand the enemy. and more importantly so that they know how to thrive individually and collectively. You can get the black code at skol.com/markwet/classroom. May we rise and shine like Mansam Musa but with a greater black consciousness. Peace to the saints.