Mansa Musa

Brief Summaries | About the Hajj

Why not skip the usual web distillations—some good, none perfect—and go right to the major source, Al-Umari's account of Mansa Musa's hajj?

Al-Umari's description of Mansa Musa's 1324 visit to Cairo, the longest, best selection on the web. Also includes shorter selections from Ibn Battuta and Ibn Khaldun, translated by Joseph Kenny, from his The Spread of Islam Through North to West Africa: A Historical Survey with Relevant Arab Documents (2000).

Brief Summaries

Encyclopedia Britannica: Mansa Musa, a good, scholarly entry somehow available through its use on the Carmen Sandiego site. Includes a bibliography.

Wikipedia: Mansa Musa. Short, well-hyperlinked entry.Mali Empire and Tombouctou (Timbuktu).

Good short summary of Mansa Musa's hajj and it's effects, from Black History Pages.

Mansa Musa, An African Builder by Habeeb Salloum. A good summary of his reign.

Good short summary from the History Channel's Timbuktu, Mali . Also has a good timeline

Anecdotage on his hajj.

Mansa Musa: Africa's Wealthiest King by "Morpheus," from Figures in Black History. Decent summary plays him up somewhat.

Brief summary from Mr. Dowling's Electronic Passport to Ancient Africa.

Short ungraded quiz from McGraw Hill.

Mansa Musa and Songhai Empire by Judy Decker.

Columbia Encyclopedia, also here.

Brief bio from Harcourt school.

Mansa Musa Encarta Africana. Short.

Hyperhistory. Small, pink.

Mansa Musa Takes a Trip, a very detailed webquest/acitivy for grades 6–8, part of the larger lesson/activity Trekking to Timbuktu, with sections on earlier and later history, including the manuscripts of Timbuktu.

About the Hajj

Amazon. One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Travelers Writing About the Muslim Pilgrimage, edited by Michael Wolfe.

Journeys of Faith, Roads of Civilization by David W. Tschanz, Saudi Aramco World (2004), on the Hajj through history.

"Caravans To Mecca" by Paul Lunde, Saudi Aramco World (1974)