Who was Mansa Musa?
Musa I, known as Mansa Musa, ruled the Mali Empire in the early fourteenth century, when it controlled vast goldfields and the trans-Saharan trade routes of West Africa.
In 1324 he made the pilgrimage to Mecca with a huge caravan. Chroniclers reported that he gave away so much gold in Cairo that its value there fell for years afterwards.
Returning home, he brought scholars and architects and commissioned building works, including the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu, which grew into a renowned centre of Islamic learning. The 1375 Catalan Atlas depicts him holding a golden nugget.