Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa
1) http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?ammem/wtc:@field(NUMBER+@band(wtc+
4a02883))
2)
http://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/query/r?pp/matpc:@field(NUMBER+@band(matpc+
04657))
4)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/afr-encounters.html
5)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/afr-encounters.html
3)
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mali/mali-exhibit.html
6)
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mali/mali-exhibit.html
#1
Mecca. Close-up of the Kaaba
#2
Sayyid Ahmad ibn Amar al-Raqadi al-Tumbukti
al-Kunti.
Shifa' al-Asqam al-Aridah fi al-Zahir wa-al-Batin
min al-Ajsam
(Curing Diseases and Defects both Apparent and
Hidden).
Loaned by the Mamma Haidara Commemorative
Library, Timbuktu, Mali
#3
#4
This map shows the trip to Mecca made in A.D. 1324 by the fabulously wealthy king Mansa Musa (reigned,
1312?-37) of the Mali Empire. With the map is an explanation of some of the symbols it uses.
#5
Life in a Box- Mansa Musa
Note on the Map of Africa:
This map shows the region of western Africa where the Mali empire flourished. The notation “Aethiopia” is a
Latin term used in the 18th century to refer to West Africa, not to the present day country of Ethiopia.
#6
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#1
Around the World in the 1890's: Photographs from the World's Transportation Commission, 1894-1896
A camel train on the desert - Sinai (?).
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942, photographer.
CREATED/PUBLISHED[1894]
NOTES
Egypt (?).
Gift; William P. Meeker; 1971.
Forms part of: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. World's Transportation Commission photograph collection
(Library of Congress).
SUBJECTS
Camels.
Caravans.
Lantern slides--Hand colored.
Egypt.
MEDIUM1 slide : lantern, hand colored ; 3.25 x 4 in.
CALL NUMBERLC-W7- 141
SPECIAL TERMS OF USE
No known restrictions on publication.
PART OF
Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. World's Transportation Commission photograph collection (Library of
Congress)
REPOSITORY
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20450 USA
DIGITAL ID
(intermediary roll film) wtc 4a02883 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/wtc.4a02883
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SEARCH
TITLE:
HELP
ABOUT
COLLECTION
#2
Mecca, ca. 1910. Close-up of the Kaaba.
CALL NUMBER:
LC-M32- 13773[P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER:
restrictions on publication.
MEDIUM:
LC-DIG-matpc-04657 (b&w digital file from original glass negative) No known
1 negative : glass, dry plate ; 5 x 7 in.
CREATED/PUBLISHED:
ca. 1910.
CREATOR: American Colony (Jerusalem). Photo Dept., photographer.
NOTES:
Title from: list, Matson Collection negative numbers 12961-13944.
Caption continues from catalog: copy neg.
On negative sleeve: 4/90.
Gift; Episcopal Home; 1978.
SUBJECTS:Saudi Arabia--Mecca.
FORMAT:Dry plate negatives.
PART OF:
G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection
REPOSITORY:
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
DIGITAL ID: (b&w digital file from original glass negative) matpc 04657
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/matpc.04657
CARD #:
mpc2004003593/PP
#3
Disease and Cure in Timbuktu
This compilation of cures instructs the reader about
methods of diagnosing and medicating the sick. The
author also explains the use of animal, plant, and
mineral substances as medications. Prayers and
Koranic verses that are helpful against illness are
included. Displayed are instructions for writing prayers,
helpful to the sick, for use in amulets.
Recto
Sayyid Ahmad ibn Amar al-Raqadi al-Tumbukti al-Kunti.
Shifa' al-Asqam al-Aridah fi al-Zahir wa-al-Batin min al-Ajsam
(Curing Diseases and Defects both Apparent and Hidden).
Loaned by the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library,
Timbuktu, Mali (16)
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mali/mali-exhibit.html
Verso
African Peoples' Encounters With Others
#4
Throughout the centuries, peoples born in the area known as sub- Saharan Africa have interacted on many
levels with peoples from elsewhere. The Library of Congress Africana collections are rich in primary
documents, facsimiles, and secondary sources in a variety of languages and formats that describe these
experiences. Texts, maps, visual images, artifacts, and recordings document the observations of non-Africans
as they traveled to parts of the continent and of Africans who encountered them willingly or under coercion.
These materials also describe the resistance and adaptation of Africans to the cultural and political onslaught
of non-Africans. Diverse resources are available to study the development of commercial and diplomatic
relations; the creation and dissolution of colonial governments; and the reestablishment of sovereign nations.
This map shows the trip to Mecca made in A.D. 1324 by the fabulously wealthy king Mansa Musa (reigned, 1312?-37) of
the Mali Empire. With the map is an explanation of some of the symbols it uses. This facsimile of the Catalan Atlas,
probably by Abraham Crèsques (d. 1387), edited and with commentary by Georges Grosjean, was published as
Mapamundi, the Catalan Atlas of the Year 1375 (Dietikon-Zurich: Urs Graf; sole distributor in the United States and
Canada: Abaris Books, 1978). (Copyright © 1978 by Urs Graf, Publisher, GmbH, 1978. Used by permission of Abaris
Books.)
(Geography and Map Division)
Some of the earliest writings mentioning African peoples describe the relations between the peoples of the
Horn of Africa and peoples living in Egypt, on the Arabian peninsula, or in India, where an active trading
network across the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean was already well established in ancient times. In West
Africa, kingdoms such as Ghana, Mali, and Songhai engaged in trans- Saharan trade with North Africa as early
as A.D. 300, flourishing particularly in the Middle Ages. The Library has many accounts of these historic
encounters in the original languages -- Chinese, Arabic, and others -- of the observers as well as in various
translations.
http://www.loc.gov/rr/amed/guide/afr-encounters.html
#5
To Timbuktu by Sea
This map from the eighteenth century shows clearly the change in trade and travel
that had occurred by 1743. Rather than being viewed as part of the larger
continent, West Africa is presented with a focus on the sea routes that had
replaced the land caravan routes to the area.
Guinea propia, nec non Nigritiae vel Terrae Nigororum maxima pars: geographis hodiemis
dicta utraque Aethiopia inferior, & hujus quidem pars australis
(Guinea Proper, Not Including the Whole of Africa, but Only that Part Known to the
Geographers as Lower Ethiopia).
Nuremberg: Homannianorum Heredum, 1743.
[Enlarged]
Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress (25)
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mali/mali-exhibit.html
#6
Mansa Moussa: Pilgrimage of Gold
In 1312 Mansa Moussa, the most legendary of the Malian kings, came to the throne.
Mansa Moussa was a devout Muslim who built magnificent mosques throughout his
empire in order to spread the influences of Islam. During his reign, Timbuktu became
one of the major cultural centers of not only Africa but of the entire Islamic world.
When Mansa Moussa came to power, the Mali Empire already had firm control of the
trade routes to the southern lands of gold and the northern lands of salt. Under Moussa's
reign, the gold-salt trade across the Sahara came to focus ever more closely on
Timbuktu. The city's wealth, like that of many towns involved in the trans-Saharan trade
route, was based largely on the trade of gold, salt, ivory, kola nuts, and slaves.
Mansa Moussa expanded Mali's influence across Africa by bringing more lands under
the empire's control, including the city of Timbuktu, and by enclosing a large portion of
the western Sudan within a single system of trade and law. This was a huge political feat
that made Moussa one of the greatest statesmen in the history of Africa. Under
Moussa's patronage, the city of Timbuktu grew in wealth and prestige, and became a
meeting place of the finest poets, scholars, and artists of Africa and the Middle East.
Mansa Moussa brought the Mali Empire to the attention of the rest of the Muslim world
with his famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324. He arrived in Cairo at the head of a huge
caravan, which included 60,000 people and 80 camels carrying more than two tons of
gold to be distributed among the poor. Of the 12,000 servants who accompanied the
caravan, 500 carried staffs of pure gold. Moussa spent lavishly in Egypt, giving away so
many gold gifts—and making gold so plentiful—that its value fell in Cairo and did not
recover for a number of years!
In Cairo, the Sultan of Egypt received Moussa with great respect, as a fellow Muslim.
The splendor of his caravan caused a sensation and brought Mansa Moussa and the
Mali Empire fame throughout the Arab world. Mali had become so famous by the
fourteenth century that it began to draw the attention of European mapmakers. In one
map, produced in 1375, Moussa is shown seated on a throne in the center of West
Africa, holding a nugget of gold in his right hand.
Photo Credits:
(top to bottom)
1. E. Condominas/UNESCO
2. Nik Wheeler/CORBIS
3. C. & J. Lenars/CORBIS
After visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on his pilgrimage, Moussa set out to
build great mosques, vast libraries, and madrasas (Islamic universities) throughout his
kingdom. Many Arab scholars, including the poet and architect, Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-esSaheli, who helped turn Timbuktu into a famous city of Islamic scholarship, returned with
him.
Moussa had always encouraged the development of learning and the expansion of
Islam. In the early years of his reign, Moussa had sent Sudanese scholars to study at
Moroccan universities. By the end of his reign, Sudanese scholars were setting up their
own centers of learning in Timbuktu.
He commissioned Abu-Ishaq Ibrahim-es-Saheli to construct his royal palace and a great
mosque, the Djingareyber Mosque, at Timbuktu. Still standing today, the Djingareyber
Mosque consists of nine rows of square pillars and provides prayer space for 2,000
people. Es-Saheli introduced the use of burnt brick and mud as a building material to this
region. The Djingareyber's mud construction established a 660-year-old tradition that still
persists: each year before the torrential rains fall in the summer, Timbuktu's residents
replaster the mosque's high walls and flat roof with mud. The Djingareyber Mosque
immediately became the central mosque of the city, and it dominates Timbuktu to this
day.
During Moussa's reign Timbuktu thrived as a commercial center and flourished into a
hub of Islamic learning. Even after the Mali Empire lost control over the region in the
fifteenth century, Timbuktu remained the major Islamic center of sub-Saharan Africa.