Mali Empire (below)
8. Sondiata
Sundiata Keita (c. 1217–1255), founder of the Mali Empire, legendary national hero of the Mandinka people.
Sondiata was born around 1212 to Niani under the control of the Keita family. According to legend, Sondiata could not walk as a child and learned to waddle with the help of the branches of a sacred bread tree. Sondiata has a half-brother, King Dankaran. Sondiata was exiled from his family in his early years and returned when Niani was threatened by Sumangulu, the Susu chieftain. At his call, the Mandingo forces united and defeated the Susu at the Battle of Kirina in 1235. After the war, Sondiata was officially called "Mansa" and founded the Mali Empire. Sondiatayo died around 1255.
(1) Character biographies
According to legend, Sondiata was the son of Nare Maheel, King of Mander in southern Ghana, and after the death of Nare Mahe, Sondiata went into exile and was used in the country of Mema. Around 1200, the sultanate of Sumangulu expanded and threatened Mandeh. King Mander was defeated and the kingdom was dying, and Sondiata returned with the help of King Mema. He united the people of Mandingo against the invaders. Around 1230 (1235), he defeated Sumangulu's army at the Battle of Kirina and was proclaimed king.
After assuming the throne, he formed a powerful army and successively annexed Warrata, Timbuktu and Gao, making Mali a great power in Western Sudan after Ghana. According to legend, Sundia Tower built the capital Niani. He established the administration and set up governors to rule over the localities. Around 1255, Sondiata was killed by an arrow in a ceremony ( one said to have died by falling into a water near the capital ) .
(2) Historical merit
Mali was originally a small emirate in the Sankarani River region, a tributary of the Niger River, made up of the Mandingo-speaking Keita clan, which had always belonged to the Kingdom of Ghana and was known for its gold trade, which grew stronger by the mid-11th century.
Around 1235, Sondiata united the Mandingos in the course of a revolt against the Susu invasion, defeated the army of Susu king Sumangulu, and became the Great Empire of Western Sudan after the Kingdom of Ghana. Sondiata's reign laid the foundation for the Mali Empire, and his son continued his conquests after he succeeded to the throne, expanding the kingdom's territory. The 9th king, Mansa Musa, reigned with unprecedented territory, entering the golden age of the empire.
9. Mansa Moussa
Musa, also known as Mansa Musa, was a 14th-century Malian monarch who reigned from about 1312 to 1337 and was known for his pilgrimage to Mecca and his sponsorship of Islamic scholarship.
His Mali Empire was at the peak of its power, with the world's largest gold production, and Mansa was extremely wealthy. In 2012, Celebrity Net Worth estimated the 25 richest people in human history, and Moussa ranked first. In 2015, Time magazine published the "Top 10 Richest List in History", and Moussa ranked first on the list, and the editor called him "immeasurable wealth".
(1) Birth
The date of Mansa Moussa's birth is unknown, but it is believed that he was born between 1300 and 1310; He was the grandson of Sundiata, the pioneer of the Malian dynasty.
He had a brother, Mansa Sulayman, who finally took over the dynasty in 1336.
The Mali Empire in West Africa became the largest and richest region in Africa under Mansa Moussa.
(2) Pilgrimage
The Mali Empire ruled the Mandinka plateau region of present-day West Africa from the 14th to the 17th centuries AD. At that time, Mali produced half of the world's gold, and Musa, who ruled Mali, was thus rich.
Moussa made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324, and it is said that his profligacy in Cairo even led to the depreciation of gold for two decades. Along the way, Moussa was accompanied by countless people, including 60,000 cargo handlers alone. Known as "The Magical Moussa".
Mansa is also known for his intelligence and piety. He incorporated the prominent Timbuktu and Gao into Mali. After taking the throne, Musa became an avid Muslim, ordering the construction of numerous mosques everywhere and making Islam the official faith, but he also did not suppress other religions in the country.
Moussa was committed to expanding Mali's trade with the world, using its abundant resources of kola nuts, ivory, salt and gold to exchange goods with countries on three continents.
Moussa also had a great respect for knowledge, and he established Timbuktu as an important academic and artistic center, and the local Sankore University is one of the most famous institutions in the Muslim world. Students everywhere can get their education here for free.
Musa died in 1337, reigning for 25 years.
(3) Period of domination
Mansa Moussa's reign (1312-1337) was the height of the Kingdom of Mali, with an army of more than 100,000 men, including 10,000 cavalry; food self-sufficiency; Cotton fabrics are sold abroad; Transportation was developed, there were six trade routes with the Mediterranean, and in 1400 no less than 12,000 camels passed through a trade route, and transit taxes became a large amount of national revenue; foreign trade further prospered, it controlled trade across the Sahara Desert, and established extensive trade links with Morocco and Algeria in the north and Egypt in the east.
In Timbuktu, the exclusive residence of foreign merchants, occupies a whole block. Timbuktu was not only a transit point for the exchange of goods between the Suninkes and the Upper Sudanese at that time. Moreover, Islamic scholars from all over the world gathered here to give lectures and preaching, and skilled craftsmen flocked to show their talents. The solemn and magnificent Musa Mosque was designed and built by the famous Islamic architect and poet Abu Doudji in 1325-1330. Timbuktu was as famous as Cairo, Baghdad and Damascus, and was one of the famous centers for Islamic academic research.
Mansa Musa was the most famous king of the Kingdom of Mali. During his reign, agriculture and animal husbandry flourished, handicrafts developed, and cotton cloth produced in the capital was sold throughout the country and became an important commodity for export trade. In the capital and big cities, Islamic buildings have sprung up, gradually replacing the thatched huts of the past. Mansa Musa respects knowledge and talents, and accords high courtesy to judges, doctors, professors and other scholars. and encourage the establishment of schools, paying attention to attracting foreign scholars to serve Malian construction. Timbuktu's famous Senghor University has many white students among its thousands of students.
From 1324 to 1326, Mansa Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca, whose deeds shocked Europe and the Arab world. The huge camel caravan and gorgeous costumes passed through Cairo, and the local people were stunned to see such a grand pomp and circumstance. At the front of the procession were 500 men with gold ceremonial staffs, each carrying 6 pounds of gold. This was followed by a gold convoy of 100 camels, each carrying up to 300 pounds of gold. Behind them were 1,000 camels carrying food, gifts, and a large entourage of 8,000 concubines, attendants, and others dressed in gold ornaments. Mansa Moussa's purchases and handouts along the way led to a decline in the price of gold in Egypt, which fell by 1/5 at the time, and only recovered after 12 years. Mansa Musa invited many Muslim scholars to join him on his return home to work for the further development and construction of Mali. At this time, the kingdom of Mali reached its peak.
In the 15th century, due to the constant struggle for the throne, the Kingdom of Mali weakened, and later only Kangaba remained, and was finally destroyed by the Songhai Empire.
(4) Life merits
In order to strengthen his country's religious and cultural ties with the Islamic world, land and houses were purchased in Cairo and Mecca to house pilgrims from the West Sudan region. When he returned home via Cairo, many Egyptian merchants accompanied him to Mali; He also brought back Andalusian architect Ishak al-Tuedjin, who designed and built a large mosque in Timbuktu and Gao, a royal palace in Timbuktu, and the audience chamber in Niani. The structure of the two large mosques he designed is flat-roofed, with pheasant moats, and pyramid-shaped watchtowers.
Mali reached its heyday during his reign. At this time, Mali had an army of 100,000 men, including 10,000 cavalry. Regarding the empire's territory, the contemporary Arab historian Earl-Omari quotes Mansa Moussa's conversation with a jurist in Cairo in his book Africa Beyond Egypt that the length of the empire's territory was "equivalent to walking for about a year." During the pilgrimage of Mansa Musa I, his famous general Saran Madian extended the empire deep into the Sahel, forcing the Saharawi nomads, who often plundered and rebelled, to submit. In this way, Mali's territory extended northward to the edge of the desert, controlling the trade routes to the salt producing regions of Teghazza; extended southward to the edge of the forest, controlling the gold-producing areas on the edge of Sudan; It is bounded by the Atlantic coast in the west and the copper mines and caravan gathering centers of Takedda in the east. The sheer size of Mali made it one of the largest countries in the world at the time.
(5) Social evaluation
After taking the throne, Mansa Musa strengthened his centralization and continued to expand his territory and open oasis roads to the rest of the world. With the largest standing army in West Africa, he proudly enjoyed the title of "King of Kings", and his extravagant pomp made him known as the "King of Goldmines" by foreigners. The gold-sprinkled pilgrimage to Mecca, which began in 1324, made Europeans and Middle Easterners fully aware of the prosperity of this West African country, greatly promoting trade and cultural exchanges across the Sahara. His greatest legacy was Timbuktu, a city that became a major cultural center of the Islamic world under Mansa Musa.
A historian of the time once said of Mansa Moussa that among the leaders of West Africa, he was "the strongest, richest, luckiest man, the man who could frighten enemies the most, and who could help his friends." ”
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