Mali

The 
Mali Empire was one that, at it's peek, thrived. Now it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Still, its historic mosques and religious past keep it a thriving historical location. When Gahna's empire collapsed, Mali took it's place, growing a massive trade industry in West Africa and became a brilliant stop on Islams trail of conversions.








The First king of Mali was crippled when he was younger. Sundaita, meaning "king lion" was born weak. The doctors pronounced him as a sickly child and so Sundaita spent most of his adolescents within the house. As he reached his teen years though, the young prince began to build up some strength, and when his father and brothers where all murdered in the night, the prince suddenly found himself the king. After running away and then coming back, Sundaita found his place as the Monarchy of Mali, helping the people to beat the Soso and creating the Mali Empire. Sundaita was who the character of Simba in the Lion King story was based off of.

Being an Empire that spread through a great portion of West Africa, with many villages placed on the coast, Mali became a country of great affluence within the Trans-Sahara trade. Its biggest trading center was the capital village, Timbuktu. The village became the greatest area in all of Mali, a place for trade to be shared and ideas to be formed. Because Timbuktu was near the center of Mali and had 16 mosques and 180 Koranic schools, the village became a hot-spot for travelers.

Salt was one of Mali's biggest trade products. The salt was mined from deep in the Sahara Desert, near Taghaza and Taoudeni. Camels carried the mineral through the Trans-Sahara trade, their travels bringing the salt to places all throughout the route. One camel could carry up to two slabs of salt and travel for thousands of miles.







Mali also traded gold. In fact, gold was their central object of trade. Gold was first mined from Bambuk, then the center moved to the location of Bure, near the Niger River, then it moved again. The location of gold moved like the wind, as more mining location began to pop up the location would change, moving west through Mali as it did so. At one point the king of Mali (or the Mansa as called by Malians) claimed all gold for himself leaving the people to trade only golden dust. Masa Musa at one point played with Malis surplus of gold to the extreme that he lowered the cost of it enormously, so much so that it took generations to get back the original price (more in sections below).


Mali was divided into villages. The king ruling over all of them. In the Mali empire the king was called the Mansa and they sat in the Malian empire's seat, ruling over the people. Each village was required to pay taxes to the Mansa. The taxes paid for the general upkeep of the villages but there were some added taxes because the king wanted more profits in his coffer. Since Mali was based on a Monarch system of government, this meant that each of the rulers where related to the original founder of Mali Sundaita, leading to the wealthiest leader, Mansa Musa, to Muhmud IV,  who's death brought on the fall of the Mali empire.



Mali started as an empire practicing the Muslim religion, and Mali is still a relatively Islamic country. Since the thirteenth century, when Islam came from the Trace-Sahara trade routes to Mali, the empire was smitten, taken the new religion into the culture. From then on Mali began to build mosques and schools for the teaching of the Koran. The Musa's embraced the religion, many going for long Haji's (pilgrimages to Mecca), bring masses of people along with them. Most famously was Masa Musas pilgrimage, one spanning over three thousand miles with a grand total of almost sixty thousand escorts.




Since Mali was divided up into different villages, each village created there own language. As traders came in from the north, they brought in their languages and an alphabet was created that allowed Malians to be able to translate their Koran into comprehensible script. Indigenous to Mali is one of the village languages of Bambara. This language gained popularity among the Malains during the time of Mali's empire and now is one of the most recognizable native languages within Mali. Currently, Mali is claimed as a French country, and French is considered a neutral languige between tribes.





As Mali was a place for the Islam religion to prosper, it was also home of a great deal of mosques. In Timbuktu are the three biggest of the mosques including the Mosque of Djingareyber. The mosques themselves are currently held under the protection of USCO, as they require a great deal of care due to being primarily built of earth. Also, because they are historical artifacts within Islam, they are on watch for attacks. Nevertheless, these mosques are still in use, their longevity combined with their location keep them in use even today. Each of the three are placed within areas that were more or less part of the trade.

 
Mansa Musa was the most lavish of all the Mansas who ruled over Mali. Musa was the great-grandson of the Sundaita, he was also the richest of all the monarchs. He took the longest trip to Mecha, bringing lots of people along with him. On the trip he also brought a caravan full of gold. The caravan dropped so much of the gold that the price of gold went down substantially.
Musa also was the emperor that decided to only allow himself the privilege of owning gold, allowing the villagers to trade only gold dust. Despite his irrational decisions, Musa was one of the most influential leaders that Mali ever had. He expanded trade, grew Timbuktu as a place of intellect and prosperity within the empire, and his leadership outcomes are still seen today.