Growing up as a student of history, during the many times in the lessons that Mansa Musa name comes up, this for me was a thing of great note, and was something of a constant talking point for the enthusiasts. It's important to note that at the time most of us was saying positive things about the Emperor.

Wow! This ruler was awesome, amazing, incredible e.t.c

Let's get straight into and arrive at your conclusion.

According to history, Mansa Musa also known as Mansa Musa (I) was a fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire, a medevial ruler mostly known for being in coalition with the continents outside of Africa. i.e Asia and Europe.

Emperor Musa's elaborate pilgrimage to the city of Mecca in 1324 introduced him to the rulers in Arabia and Europe.


Mansa Musa leadership of Mali, an Empire that stretched across two thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad; their aim was to conquer and Arabianise the entire continent.


The Emperor's pillgramage to boosted Islamic education in Mali by the introduction of mosques, Islamic Libraries and Islamic universities.

Naturally, there ought not to be the need for anyone to learn a foreign language in the first instance, however, for those history enthusiasts, its better to learn Arabic than it is to learn Islamic studies.

The awareness of Emperor Musa by other Arabianised nations on the continent (Egypt, Morocco e.t.c) brought Arabian scholars, poets and artisans, making Timbuktu one of the leading cities in the Islamic world (Not in the Arabic world but the Islamic world, again, better to learn Arabic than it is to learn Islamic studies).

Apart from the obvious flow of Arabian delegates and scholars, it was said that for the next couple of centuries, European scholars and cartographers visited Mali. i.e Rene Caillie

The images on the maps that had Mali were outrageous, they would have Mansa Musa holding a golden nugget sitting on the points to Mali on their map.

Mansa Musa not manda

After further study, it becomes obvious that Mansa Musa isnt richest man in history, his net worth wasn't $400 billion dollars in gold.

Now that the mathematical part of the propaganda is sorted, let's investigate the historical significance.

Mansa Musa was a toxic ruler.

In a sense, he completely and utterly sold us out.

The Emperor took a huge amount of our gold reserves and began to spray then to the enemy.

That's exactly what he did.

His infamous trip to Arabia ende up costing the continent nothing short of $100 billion in gold.

It was said that the gold the Emperor gave the Arabs in Egypt crashed the gold markets at that time and that it took Egypt a few years to fully recover their markets.

Furthermore, he became a puppet ruler for the Arabian fundamentalist and began to partake in their biddings.

I have nothing nice to say about Mansa Musa.

He was great at the start of his reign but turned out to be one of the worst African leaders in recent history.

Those 25 years of his diabolic reign are something I wish we could have back.

Ikillbrokehoes:
Mansa Musa not manda

Thanks for the correction.

I'm not going to hold brief for Mansa Musa or any other absolute monarch for that matter. Most of them were not nice folks. But to label Mansa Musa's entire legacy as negative is wrong.

What people fail to understand about Musa's gold splash on his visit to the Arab World is that the man was on a mission to market his kingdom to the world. Granted he could have turned it down a notch (or 200 notches) but he achieved his purpose. For the first time in history, a West African kingdom was put on the world map, literally. People everywhere, from the Middle East to Europe heard about this kingdom that was supposedly rich in gold and other resources, and trade flowed into Mali. Urbanization grew, and with it scholarship and intellectual activity. It was this same Mansa Musa that built the Sankore University in Timbuktu, the first University anywhere in black Africa, which drew scholars from everywhere.

Hate his "extravagance" all you want, that's fair. But give respect where respect is due.

Interesting discussion.

@Amujale

But I read that it was the French who stole the wealth of Mali?

ABULARdotCOM:
@Amujale

But I read that it was the French who stole the wealth of Mali?

Precisely, you’re correct about France, although the Arabian fundamentalists exploited the region first.

The Dutch, French, Germans, Spanish all flocked to Timbuktu pretending to manufacture maps but instead we’re merely weighing up our defences, knowing that they would be back to steal the precious metals.

RedboneSmith:
I'm not going to hold brief for Mansa Musa or any other absolute monarch for that matter. Most of them were not nice folks. But to label Mansa Musa's entire legacy as negative is wrong.

Mansa Musa was a sell-out.

He was directly responsible for the attempted Arabianisation of Western Africa.

As stated earlier, Mansa Musa became a puppet for the Arabian fundamentalists warmongers and began to take up their biddings.

According to history, it was Mansa Musa who was said to pave the way for the launch of Jihad on the West of the continent. i.e Uthman Dan Fodio (Senegambia and Mali)

Historians go on to say that assuming the Emperor didn’t sell out in such a horrendous way, perhaps the continents defences would’ve been in a more healthier position so as to repel the horrific transAtlantic campaign that would occur a few centuries later.

All the gold that we could’ve used to stock up in munition ended up in the hands of the enemy.

In certain locations, our armies had to fight on two fronts, one from the Arabian fundamentalists warmongers, and the other from the Eurocentric warmongers.

RedboneSmith:

It was this same Mansa Musa that built the Sankore University in Timbuktu, the first University anywhere in black Africa, which drew scholars from everywhere.

Are you over looking the Nile Valley?

Timbuktu was the first Islamic University on the continent, and that isn’t something to make us proud.

That suggest some sort of occupation, not nice.

The first well known university in all of history was that of the Nile Valley, was said to have been facilitated during the times of the multi-genius Imhotep; students include Plato, Strabo, Pythagoras, Euclid e.t.c