How Did Mali Become A Powerful Empire?

Imagine that you are king of a very wealthy empire. Imagine that you can trade a pound of salt for a pound of gold. Well, if that sounds interesting to you then Mali might be the perfect kingdom for you! Mali was influenced by other parts of the world for many reasons. Mali became a cite of cultural exchange because of them becoming friendly to others by trading, telling legends/ cultural stories, and spreading other important tales through oral tradition. Mali became a powerful learning center. Mali also became powerful because the king was known as Mansa Musa. Because of that, Mali expanded and became one of the most mighty empires there ever was.

One reason why Mali got a great amount of fame was that of Abraham Cresques, who was a Jewish Candle Maker from Palma, Majorca. Abraham sent a map of Mali to the King of France. The map described where Mali was, what was around it, and also it had a drawing of Mansa Musa holding a golden nugget, probably describing the Mali wealth. This lead to the King of France traveling to Mali and taking a look at Mali’s wonderful treasures.

Another example of Mali influencing other parts of the world to visit it was in 1324, Mansa Musa made a Pilgrimage to Mecca. Along the way, he brought gold, which he gave out too many along the journey, like the city of Cairo,

In Mali, salt was just as important as gold. Salt was used to preserve major items like meat. Salt was very important to Mali because they needed to use it in their food since they did not have much in their diet. Items like gold, kola nuts, and slaves were traded for clothes, metal goods, and salt. Mali had also a very important oral tradition. One of the famous stories was the Sundiata Story. The story was an epic poem written by the Malinke people and tells the story of legendary Sundiata Keita, who was also known to have a very famous grandnephew, who is known as Mansa