Mansa Musa makes his pilgrimage to Mecca

Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali Empire, traveled to Mecca in 1324 with a huge caravan. Reports said he gave away so much gold that prices in Cairo were affected.

Accounts of the amounts come from later writers and may be exaggerated.

Context

Mansa Musa made the hajj in 1324, the 17th year of his reign, and reached Cairo in July of that year. Arab chroniclers described a very large caravan. Britannica mentions about 60,000 men, while World History Encyclopedia reports only that the entourage ran to tens of thousands, and counts of camels and gold differ between accounts.

In Cairo, Musa gave away and spent so much gold that its value fell against silver. One account has the gold dinar losing about 20% against the dirham, and the market is said to have taken about 12 years to recover. Later writers such as al-Maqrizi record the story, and the historian al-Umari heard it in Cairo years afterward.

The journey put Mali on the map for Mediterranean and Middle Eastern readers, and Mali's gold supply later appeared on European maps. The pilgrimage is also associated with Musa bringing scholars and builders back to Mali.

Musa's reign is known mostly from outside writers, because Mali's own written records from the period do not survive in the same quantity. That is why modern accounts hedge phrases like 'said to have' when describing his wealth. The claim that he was the richest person in history is a popular modern one, and historians say his fortune cannot be measured in modern terms. Mali controlled major gold-producing regions and trade routes across the Sahara in the 14th century.