The Emperor Whose Pilgrimage to Mecca Amazed the World — and Made Timbuktu Shine
مَنسا موسى
The emperor whose pilgrimage to Mecca amazed the world — and made Timbuktu shine.
The ruler of the Mali Empire in the fourteenth century, Mansa Musa is often cited among the wealthiest people in history.
His pilgrimage of 1324, crossing the Sahara to Mecca, astonished chroniclers with his immense caravan and extraordinary generosity — to the point of inscribing Mali on the maps of the known world.
On his return he built up mosques and learning, contributing to making Timbuktu a centre of Islamic scholarship for the centuries that followed.
Power in service of knowledge · Generosity · Civilisation