page_title: Mansa Musa
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Mansa Musa / Death
caption_attribution_description: English: The Medieval Mali Empire at the end of Mansa Musa's reign (1337 CE) Map Sources: Physical elevation representation comes from public-domain SRTM data. Coastlines follow the Barrington Atlas of the Ancient World (Princeton University Press, 2000)--while Mali hardly falls within the time period covered by this atlas, these coastlines omit major harbor construction in the modern period, and are accurate at the scale of the map. Rivers adapted from ESRI user contributions, or traced from satellite imagery. Ecological zones based on "A New Map of Standardized Terrestrial Ecosystems of Africa" (Association of American Geographers, 2013). Historical data drawn from Robert Collins and James Burns, "A History of Sub-Saharan Africa" (Cambridge University Press, 2007) (see esp. p. 86). Adapted and expanded based on lecture materials from Dr. Lisa Lindsay at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and from this map by wikimedia user Aa77zz: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trans-Saharan_routes_early.svg
context_page_description: Musa I, or Mansa Musa, was the tenth Mansa of the Mali Empire, an Islamic West African state. He has been described as the wealthiest individual of the Middle Ages.
  At the time of Musa's ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which Mali had conquered. The Mali Empire consisted of land that is now part of Mauritania and the modern state of Mali. During his reign, Musa held many titles, such as "Emir of Melle", "Lord of the Mines of Wangara", and "Conqueror of Ghanata".
  Musa conquered 24 cities, along with their surrounding districts. During Musa's reign, Mali may have been the largest producer of gold in the world, and Musa has been considered one of the wealthiest historical figures. However, modern commentators such as Time magazine have concluded that there is no accurate way to quantify Musa's wealth.
  Musa is generally referred to as "Mansa Musa" in Western manuscripts and literature. His name also appears as "Kankou Musa", "Kankan Musa", and "Kanku Musa". Other names used for Musa include "Mali-Koy Kankan Musa", "Gonga Musa", and "the Lion of Mali".
context_section_description: The death date of Mansa Musa is highly debated among modern historians and the Arab scholars who recorded the history of Mali. When compared to the reigns of his successors, son Mansa Maghan (recorded rule from 1337 to 1341) and older brother Mansa Suleyman (recorded rule from 1341 to 1360), and Musa's recorded 25 years of rule, the calculated date of death is 1337. Other records declare Musa planned to abdicate the throne to his son Maghan, but he died soon after he returned from Mecca in 1325. According to an account by Ibn-Khaldun, Mansa Musa was alive when the city of Tlemcen in Algeria was conquered in 1337, as he sent a representative to Algeria to congratulate the conquerors on their victory.
caption: The Mali Empire at the time of Mansa Musa's death.
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