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  1743 French Map of Northwest Africa, depicting the areas covered in this curriculum unit.
Courtesy of American Memory at the Library of Congress.

 

Subject Areas
Art and Culture
   Anthropology
   Architecture
History and Social Studies
   World History - Africa
   World History - Ancient World
   World History - Asia/Far East
 
Time Required
 Activity 1: 2 class periods (1 for lesson; 1 for assessment)
Activity 2: 2 class periods
Activity 3: 2 class periods
Activity 4: 2 class periods
Activity 5: 2 class periods
Activity 6: 2 class periods
Activity 7: 2 class periods
Activity 8: indeterminate
 
Skills
 Map skills
Observation and description
Historical interpretation and analysis
Critical Thinking
Information gathering
Visual analysis
Communication
 
Curriculum Unit
Trekking to Timbuktu—Teacher Version
 
Additional Data
 Date Created: 10/15/03
 
Author(s)
  Suzanne Art

,

Date Posted
 10/28/2003
 
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Trekking to Timbuktu: Mansa Musa Takes a Trip — Teacher Version

Lesson Four of Curriculum Unit:
Trekking to Timbuktu

Click Here for Student Version—

Introduction:

Mansa Musa, an ardent Muslim, was the first emperor of Mali to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. He certainly left a powerful impression among the people he encountered in Cairo, Mecca, and Medina, opening their eyes to the dignity of the Malian rulers as well as the great wealth of their empire. When he returned home, he brought with him a Muslim architect, al-Sahili, who introduced a new style of architecture to West Africa. The mosques built at this time would become centers of scholarship as well as worship.

Guiding Questions:

How did Mansa Musa travel to Mecca?

What was he like? How was he received in Cairo?

What decisions did the ruler make about his own realm during and after his pilgrimage?

In what ways was Mali changed as a result of the pilgrimage?

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:
  • Identify Mansa Musa and discuss his pilgrimage
  • Explain how he related to leaders in the East
  • Describe decisions he made about his homeland
  • Discuss changes brought about in Mali as a result of his pilgrimage

Preparing to Teach This Lesson:

Read through the activities and bookmark appropriate websites for later reference. Additional background information can be found at Mansa Musa.

Suggested Activities:

1. The Pilgrimage

2. Mosques, West African Style

1. The Pilgrimage

One of the obligations of every Muslim is to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. In 1324, Mansa Musa, Mali's Islamic ruler, set out on his journey - with a very large entourage.
  • Access Musa and the Mali Empire available through EDSITEment-reviewed resource Internet Public Library. Read Pilgrimage to Mecca. Discuss with the students the emperor's magnificent entourage. Where did the emperor get all that gold? (See Lesson 2 of this curriculum unit.) How might the people of the Middle East have viewed the West African states before Mansa Musa's visit? How did he almost ruin the good impression he had made, and what does this say about his political savvy? How did this visit influence the way Europeans, Asians, and North Africans thought about the land of the Niger?
  • The route of his pilgrimage can be viewed at A Center for Trade available through African Studies WWW. The pick axes on the map indicate salt mines, while the gold bars mark gold mines. Why might Mansa Musa have taken a slightly more southern route home? (This would have been an excellent opportunity to load up his camels, no longer carrying their burdens of gold, with salt.)
This is when Mali became known as "the Land of Gold." In fact, it has been estimated that it would soon supply two thirds of the gold used for European coins and artifacts.

Mansa Musa's pilgrimage was immortalized in a map of Africa contained in the Catalan World Atlas of 1375.

  • Access The Catalan map. As you view the map with your students, you might explain that Guinea (Mansa Musa is referred to as the Lord of the Negroes of Guinea) was actually the coastal region of West Africa where many of the gold mines were located. At that time, it was also a part of Mali. Have the students describe the various objects they see. In what ways is Mansa Musa presented as a European might have envisioned him? (For example, did he wear a European type of crown and sit upon a throne?).

2. Mosques, West African Style

While Mansa Musa's pilgrimage opened the eyes of Europeans and Middle Easterners to the wealth of Mali, it also convinced the ruler that he should make the cities of his realm a showplace of the Islamic world. His encounter in Mecca with Muslim architect al-Sahili would help him to do this. According to legend, Mansa Musa bribed the architect with about 200 kilograms of gold to return with him to Mali. He later commissioned him to build mosques in the port cities of Gao and Timbuktu, as well as a royal palace.
  • Access Mansa Musa. Scroll to the 8th paragraph beginning "He commissioned." Why was the mosque made of clay? (Stone is not readily available in this region.) Why did the walls have to be replastered annually? Now go to Timbuktu: The Mythical Site and read the paragraphs about the Djingareyber and Sankore mosques. What connection does Sankore have with the Kaaba?
A very practical feature of the new style of mosques was the arrangement of wooden posts (known as toron or "horns") that protruded from the outer walls. They were used to hold scaffolding when the walls were replastered each year. . The Friday Mosque at Djenne, just up the river from Timbuktu, was built slightly earlier than Djingareyber, but it has been reconstructed since then. The present-day mosque is an excellent example of West African Islamic architecture.
  • Go to Djenne, Mali. Scroll down to the third paragraph and continue to the end of the page. Notice the "horns" on the building. What is a secondary function of these supports? (To minimize stress in the building during temperature extremes.) Now go to Great Mosque of Djenne. You can view additional photos of this structure by accessing Mosque in Djenne.

Assessment

View the following photos of mosques built in Europe and Asia in earlier centuries: the Umayyad Great Mosque, Damascus, The Mosque of Gauhar Shad, Mashad, and The Sultan Ahmet Mosque, Istanbul available through Labyrinth. Then write a brief essay comparing the design and construction of these mosques with those built in West Africa.

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Return to Curriculum Unit: Trekking to Timbuktu

Selected EDSITEment Websites

African Studies WWW
[http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/AS.html] Internet Public Library
[http://www.ipl.org] Labyrinth
[http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/] National Geographic Xpeditions

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