1325 – Mansa Musa’s Pilgrimage by Sea

Musa I, the tenth Mansa of the Mali Empire, continued the Muslim traditions of his predecessors: professing faith, praying five times daily, donating to charity, and fasting. None of the previous emperors had met the fifth pillar by personally traveling the Hajj to Mecca. Musa vowed to be the first, and he certainly had the resources needed to do it.

Musa is often referred to as the richest man in history. The Malian Empire had grown wealthy from the trade routes of the southern Sahara and the vast gold fields of western Africa. It expanded rapidly through warfare as well as exporting its law and culture to nearby regions, using taxes on trade and the natural resources of salt, copper, and especially gold to finance expansion and effective administration. All gold nuggets in the empire belonged to the mansa, building a tremendous treasury as the people collected nuggets to trade for gold dust or coins that may be used as currency, effectively allowing anyone to journey to the gold fields for work.

A pilgrimage to Mecca would be a difficult one of 4,000 miles across blistering deserts, but Musa became inspired to avoid them altogether. During his studies of the Q’uran, Musa read, “Hast thou not seen how the ships glide on the sea by Allah's grace, that He may show you of His wonders? Lo! therein indeed are portents for every steadfast, grateful” (31:31). Musa could only imagine the sights of God to be seen while at sea, since after all “Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth, and causeth water to descend from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you, and maketh the ships to be of service unto you, that they may run upon the sea at His command, and hath made of service unto you the rivers” (14:32). Musa informed his advisors of his decision, who began to work on a plan to meet their majesty’s wishes.

The journey north to the Mediterranean and then across it would indeed be much quicker than traveling by land. However, it would bring the king unnervingly close to violent Christian nations. Even if the planned fleet stayed close to the northern coast of Africa with its many Muslim harbors, its treasures would be an enormous target for the Iberian kingdoms fighting their Reconquista wars, the Italian city-states with their powerful navies, and the long-time rivals of the caliphs, the Byzantines.

It was suggested, then, that the king should travel south. Scholars had known for thousands of years that the entire world was encircled by a great river Ocean. In fact, Musa’s predecessor had sent two fleets of hundreds of ships to sail west to find Ocean’s edge and never returned. Rather than sailing west, the king could simply travel around Africa and up the Red Sea to make landfall near Mecca. The problem was, much of that corner of the map had not been filled in. On the west coast, ancient mariners had journeyed to dense forests where roamed men completely covered in hair. On the east coast, Arabic traders had long been in contact with Swahili cities. No one knew what lay between the two, however.

Musa built shipyards and dispatched advance ships to map the coast and make contact with locals to establish ports for fresh water and supplies. His efforts made Mali a new center of naval activity, drawing experienced sailors and shipbuilders from all over the Mediterranean and beyond with promises of exorbitant pay. In 1324, Musa himself set out in a fleet of hundreds of ships, stopping at the prepared places along the journey to tour Allah’s wonders and bless the people there. Along with markets in the west, Musa established mosques and universities, which became centers of local learning. Musa toured the enormous stone city of Great Zimbabwe as a guest of the king, who himself controlled the local gold trade and had much more interest in Musa’s gifts of salt than gold, becoming a rich new market for Musa’s merchants. The route took the mansa through numerous other great cities of the African east coast, where he left behind imams to teach on his return journey after completing the Hajj.

The ports established by Mansa Musa proved to be a great boon to the already-rich empire’s growth. Mali came to dominate the vast stretch of Africa from the Senegal River to the Niger with numerous colonies southward and their influence via trade route even further. Adopting the science and religion of Arabia, Africa became known as the Muslim Continent and a center of the world economy, although hit notoriously hard by the bubonic plague.

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In reality, Mansa Musa traveled by land, following the established trade routes across the North African deserts. When his party arrived in Egypt, he was so generous with his gold (80 camels of his baggage train were each dedicated to carrying 300 pounds), that it devastated the Egyptian economy with hyperinflation. It is said that, returning through Egypt, that Musa was apologetic and purchased back much of the gold with goods to reestablish its value. Mali and other African empires would later be eclipsed by European colonialism.