Mansa Kankan Musa was the greatest emperor of the western African empire Mali. The rise of Mali Empire was the result of the overthrowing of the Susu and Ghana kingdoms. The empire was ruled by many different kings, however, the greatest of all the kings was Mansa Musa. During his reign as emperor, Mansa Musa collected a fortune that easily made him the wealthiest person to ever live. However, his wealth alone is only a small glimpse into his legacy as emperor. The two main contributions of Mansa Musa that led to the greatness of the Mali empire were an improvement in trading and his construction of universities and mosques. During the beginning of his reign in 1307, many European countries were in turmoil because of war and famine. In contrast, …show more content…
These contributions were a directly inspired by the hajj. Not only did the hajj establish Mansa Musa as a devout follower of Islam, it allowed him to build mosques in different regions throughout Africa. According to Adu Bohen's essay, Mansa Musa's hajj was a yearlong from 1324 to 1325, because along the way he visited many cities such as Alexandria and Cairo. The pilgrimage allowed him to be recognized in Egypt and throughout Arabia as one of the wealthiest kings in west Africa. Bohen goes on to suggest that his entourage included, "100 camel loads of gold and 500 slaves carrying gold" (67). During his hajj, he was extremely generous with his wealth even Al-Umari of Cairo wrote, "His company gave out so much gold they depressed the value in Egypt and caused the price to fall" (67). After returning from his extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca Mansa Musa was not the same, he inspired to bring change to the Mali Empire. He convinced the architect, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim As-Sahili, to return to Mali and begin reforming the empire. He worked with the architect to build mosques in large cities such as Timbuktu and Gao. Later on, he built a renowned university in Timbuktu that became, "The commercial and educational center of Western Sudan" (68). Under Mansa Musa's reign, the Mali Empire became urbanized with schools and mosques in hundreds of densely populated