Mansa Musa Dbq Essay

Mansa Musa was one of the wealthiest person in human history; famous for his pilgrimage from Niani (the capital city of Mali) to Mecca. Several historians have called into question whether Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage was for religious reasons or not over the years, so was he a Devout Muslim, Or a Opportunist that used his own religion for personal gain? Mansa Musa was a preposterous sultan who used two of the Pillars of Islam as an excuse to make a journey to Mecca to increase his own personal glory in order to insult his enemies by awwing their people with vast quantities of gold and refusing to visit their leaders as he supposedly had to lead one of the largest and most wasteful caravans in human history that held no other purpose than to demonstrate the wealth, splendor, unity, and determination of the mostly non-Muslim people of Mali, in order for Mansa Musa to engrave a fake legacy throughout Northern Africa.

There is significant evidence that Mansa Musa did several things that would not make sense for a devout muslim to do on a pilgrimage. On his pilgrimage, Mansa Musa visited Cairo (the capital city of Egypt) even though he did not need to, in order to reach Mecca. Cairo was a major and very important center of trade,(Document B), and he traveled
The Opportunistic Sultan, Mansa Musa, attempted to create a false legacy of himself for future generations, that he was an extremely generous man, the “richest and most king in all the land” (Document F), who made the most exotic pilgrimage of all time just for his religion, as he would have not been remembered at all if he did not make his hajj, and making it would gain trade partners (which would gain Mali money in the long-run). Mali Sultan Mansa Musa, is another historical figure that is only remembered because of misconceptions he created, in order to glorify