Mansa Musa and the Great Hajj

Mansa Musa Embarks on a Journey to Mecca

Mar 10, 1324

Mansa Musa, a powerful ruler of Mali and a devout Muslim, made the hajj in 1324, traveling to the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
From Mali to Mecca was a distance of more than 2,800 miles, mostly across the Sahara desert. On the journey with him were family members, doctors, teachers, friends, soldiers, and around 60,000 slaves. Hajj is a highly important trip for Muslim believers to make.
(World History: Our Human Story: page 360)

Caravan Travel

Mar 11, 1324

Mansa Musa, riding a majestic horse, led a caravan of a hundred camels, every one of them carrying three hundred pounds of gold dust. A second group of one hundred camels carried supplies, food and water for Mansa Musa and everyone else on the caravan.
(World History: Our Human Story: page 360)

Mansa Musa Nearly "Ruins" the Value of Currency.

Mar 12, 1324

The caravan stopped at the Islamic capital of Egypt, Cairo, after crossing the Sahara desert. While in Cairo, Mansa Musa gave out gold currency to the people of that city in return for nothing. He had given out so much gold, that he nearly ruined the value of money in that area. Gold was no longer as rare as it had been before, and no longer had much value. The prices of goods and services of all sorts grew due to supply and demand.
(World History: Our Human Story: page 360-361)

Return to Mali and Timbuktu

Mar 13, 1324

When Mansa Musa returned from his hajj, he had been inspired by the religious beauty of Mecca and wanted to make Mali a powerful Muslim empire.
Timbuktu was a city on the north-south trade routs on the edge of the Sahara, north of the Niger River. Mansa Musa decided to turn Timbuktu into a city featuring marvelous mosques, and an Islamic university that scholars from everywhere would one day travel to see. Timbuktu attracted many visitors and became known as the "Pearl of Africa".
(page 361)

Timbuktu's Fame

Mar 14, 1400

Timbuktu had stunningly beautiful mosques and at one time had more than 20,000 scholars studying at the Islamic university there. The city had a population or over 100,000 people, and was where many artisans were born who made gloriously artistic volumes of the Quran, the Muslim scriptures. Timbuktu's fame caused Islam to grow through all of West Africa.
(World History: Our Human Story: page 361)