Lesson video

Hi, and welcome back.

I'm Miss Cusworth.

We are going to do our second lesson of four about Mansa Musa.

And you'll remember that our inquiry question is what does the life of Mansa Musa reveal about mediaeval Mali? And today we are going to look at when Mansa Musa travelled to Mecca.

You remember Mansa Musa from our last lesson, this image of him that we used sitting on his throne with this huge piece of gold and his golden crown.

We talked about what his life revealed.

And we use that word reveal, which I said meant show, about Mediaeval Mali because Mediaeval Mali is a society that maybe feels really far away from us both in time, this 100 years ago, hundreds of years ago, sorry.

And also it's thousands of miles away.

So by using the life of Mansa Musa, it kind of lets us like peer behind the curtain and find out something, quite a few things, in fact, about this society, Mediaeval Mali.

Now last lesson we looked at who Mansa Musa was, what he did, where he did it, where he ruled and when, and then you might remember that I asked you to write a sentence to kind of summarise that as a challenge.

So what I'd like you to do now is just as a bit of a recap, think about what you can remember from last lesson is I'd like you to write down for me who we were learning about, the picture is a clue, what he did, where he did it, when he did it, and then if you're feeling confident, you can write that all out, all of your notes out into a sentence.

So what I'd like you to do is pause the video, complete this task, and then resume when you're finished and I will give you the answers.

Okay, so welcome back.

Who were we learning about last lesson? Well, obviously we were learning about Mansa Musa.

What did he do? You could have written a few different things for this.

I put down, he ruled an empire.

Where did he do it? West Africa.

You might have also put Mediaeval Mali.

When? A couple of different right answers for this.

Maybe you put in the 14th century, maybe you put in the Mediaeval Era, or maybe you put the exact dates that we think he ruled, either of those answers would be absolutely fine.

And then perhaps you were feeling confident and you added all of those notes together in a sentence.

Okay, so now we've kind of just clear, did a little recap who we're learning about.

Let's think about just recapping on the idea of mediaeval.

So by the Mediaeval Era, we're sort of talking about from after the Romans left Britain through to the sort of 15th century, really.

And today we're in the 21st century.

Mansa Musa was ruling and was living in the 14th century.

So within the Mediaeval Era, kind of towards the end of it.

Now, our question, what does the life of Mansa Musa reveal about mediaeval Mali? Last lesson, we looked at how he became emperor and what that showed us, what that revealed about Mediaeval Mali.

We looked at how he was made the deputy while the old emperor went on this incredible journey to see if he could find the end of the Atlantic Ocean.

And he took loads of gold on this journey with him on these ships.

And so that story showed us a few things, revealed a few things about Mediaeval Mali.

One being that, Mediaeval Mali had a lot of gold.

And so it was quite wealthy, had quite a lot of money, had quite a lot of gold.

Today, we're going to be looking at where Mansa Musa travelled to Mecca and thinking about what that reveals.

So we're looking at this period of Mansa Musa's life here, maybe about 12 years after he became the emperor.

And we're going to look at how he took a really long journey across the Sahara Desert.

You would've used camels to carry a lot of the baggage that they had and a big part of that baggage that they took with them on this long journey to Mecca was gold.

Okay, so shown here by those gold bars and they travelled to Mecca, which is a holy place, a very sacred place for Muslims and worshipped there in Mecca.

Went on a pilgrimage, a religious journey to Mecca, and then once they made that journey, they returned, travelled back through the desert and travelled to Mali.

And so let's just pause for a second and think about what I mean by maybe pilgrimage and the more specifically Hajj.

So the Hajj is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and that word pilgrimage is like a religious journey.

So the Hajj is an Islamic pilgrimage religious journey to Mecca and that's in Saudi Arabia and it happens every year.

Mecca is a very holy, sacred, special place for Muslims. And the Hajj, Muslims believe, should be carried out at least once in a lifetime, by every Muslim who is able to make the journey.

So if you've got the like enough finances, and if you're physically able to go, Muslims believe you should make this journey to Mecca because it's a really holy place.

We can see a photo of it here, of people gathering at the end of their long journey in a really special, sacred place for Muslims and Mansa Musa went on that journey.

So he travelled thousands of miles through this, which is the Sahara Desert, and he started off from the centre of his empire.

And we think the first place he stopped was a place called Walata.

And then he travelled up through the desert, all the way to Cairo, which is in Egypt.

And he stopped in Cairo.

And we have a lot of information about what he did while he was there and we're going to look at that in a moment.

Then after he'd left Cairo, he continued his pilgrimage.

He continued his Hajj to Mecca, that really holy place.

And so what we're going to do this lesson is we're going to think about what does Mansa Musa's Hajj, his journey, his pilgrimage, reveal about Mediaeval Mali.

And I think it reveals three main things.

So we know that he gave out loads of gold when he was in Cairo.

And so that makes me think his journey reveals that Mediaeval Mali was wealthy.

The fact that he went on a Hajj, went on this religious journey shows or reveals that he was Muslim and because he's the ruler of Mediaeval Mali, it reveals that, to some extent, Mediaeval Mali itself was Muslim.

The other thing that his Hajj reveals, I think, is that he was, that Mediaeval Mali, sorry, was ambitious.

That Mansa Musa wanted to make such a long and like quite difficult journey.

It kind of reveals to us that he was ambitious.

He was determined.

You might also, as we go through this lesson, have other ideas.

And so you can note those down underneath your table.

So what I would like you to do is I would like you to just copy this table down into your exercise book or onto a piece of paper, if that's what you're using.

And so what I'd like you to do is to pause the video, create and kind of copy out this table and add in those details that are on the slide.

Once you've done that, you can resume the video and we'll get it going again.

Okay, so now you've got your table ready to go.

Let's start learning a bit more and getting some other examples we can add in.

So before you make a massive journey from Mali all the way to Mecca, you need to do some preparation, right? One does not simply go through the Sahara Desert without having made some preparation.

Historian, Michael Gomez, and that's him there in the hat.

He's tried to work out how long it would have taken Mansa Musa to prepare for this long journey to Mecca and the amount of gold that Mansa Musa had with him on this journey.

And also the number of enslaved people, because we know that he took a large number of slaves with him.

It suggests that this journey took years and years to prepare for.

Michael Gomez thinks that to get that many enslaved people, Mali would have spent years fighting with neighbouring groups and then taking people as slaves when they won.

And so we can add some things then to our table.

Maybe those details don't really fit in under our headings.

So maybe we put them down here under other ideas.

So Mansa Musa's Hajj and what he would've had to do to prepare for it reals that Mediaeval Mali used slaves, that slavery was a feature of that society.

It reveals the Mediaeval Mali would fight other neighbouring groups.

And it also reveals that they're organised.

That they got a lot of resources together for this journey.

So maybe you would like to pause the video and add those other ideas at the bottom of your table.

Okay, hopefully you've done that and we'll move on.

So Mansa Musa prepares for the journey.

We're not really certain why Mansa Musa decided to go on the Hajj.

Mansa Musa was Muslim.

So maybe it just reveals that he was a really committed follower of Islam.

He was a really committed Muslim.

Other historians have argued that maybe Musa might have gone because he wanted to show the world how wealthy Mali was.

Others believe that Musa was really ambitious.

He was determined and he wanted to raise Mali's status by going outside of his empire and showing the rest of the world his wealth, and in that way, raising his status.

So there are three possible reasons historians have given for why Mansa Musa went on the Hajj, on this religious pilgrimage.

What I would like you to do is pick three options and you've got four here to choose from.

So you can pick option one, he was a committed Muslim.

Or option two, he wanted to show the world how wealthy Mali was.

Option three, he went on the Hajj because he was forced to go.

Option four, he went partly because maybe he wanted to raise Mali's status.

I would like you to write down the numbers of the options that you are picking.

Do that now.

Okay, now I'm going to show you the answers.

So option one, option two, option four.

It kind of reveals or possible reasons he went on the Hajj was because maybe he was a committed Muslim.

He wanted to show the world how wealthy Mali was and he wanted to raise Mali's status.

So we might put this as an addition on your table under ambitious, you might put, wanted to raise status.

So maybe you want to pause the video now and add wanted to raise status onto your table.

Okay, let's keep going.

So Mansa Musa sets off for Mecca.

Now the journey across the Sahara, the desert, would've been long and it would have been difficult.

It's not easy to cross the Sahara Desert.

Although we know from all of these different trade routes, that it was something that was common.

So although it's very hard to cross the desert, people did it regularly, and they did it to trade things between Mali and North Africa.

And then some of these trade routes went on over to Europe.

You might remember, we talked about how Mediaeval Mali had gold and it traded that gold for other goods and items. So the journey across the Sahara would've been long.

It would've been difficult.

So at some points it would've been dangerous, but the guides knew the desert really well, partly from doing lots of trade.

eventually, Mansa Musa and his team arrived in Cairo in Egypt and several accounts from the time suggest he arrived in Cairo with over 15,000 people, right? So you would've been able to see them coming for miles.

Many people wrote about Mansa Musa's stay in Cairo, which at the time was one of the world's most important, wealthiest cities.

And we can see an image here of some architecture from or in Cairo.

And you have to imagine it in mediaeval times, incredibly wealthy, really well known about city in Egypt.

And according to one account of Mansa Musa's visit to Cairo, he had 500 slaves and each of them had a golden rod.

So you've got to think about like how much each of those rods of gold would have been worth.

In total, he might have brought about 18 tonnes of gold with him to Cairo, an absolutely astonishing amount.

In fact, Mansa Musa had brought so much gold to Cairo, that he actually caused a crash in the price of gold in Egypt for years afterwards, that's how much he brought with him.

And here we can see some gold coins that were minted that were made in Cairo.

So you might remember al-Umari from our previous lesson, he was the person who wrote down that account of how Mansa Musa said he had become emperor.

And we have some more.

Al-Umari wrote down some more information about Mansa Musa.

And this is what he said.

So, "From the beginning of my," al-Umari's, "Stay in Egypt, "I heard talk of the arrival of the Sultan Musa "on his pilgrimage and I found the Cairenes," people who live in Cairo, "Very eager to tell what "they had seen of the Africans' spending.

"I asked the emir Abu and he told me of the wealth, "manly virtues, and piety of this sultan." So Abu said, "I tried to persuade Mansa "to go up to the citadel to meet the sultan." So the kind of ruler of Cairo.

"But he refused saying, "I came to the pilgrimage and nothing else.

"I do not wish to mix anything else with my pilgrimage." Maybe think about what that reveals, he's really focused on this pilgrimage.

And then Abu be realised that Mansa Musa hated the idea of meeting the sultan because he would be required to kiss the ground and the sultans hand kind of out of respect.

And so Abu continue to try and persuade Musa and Mansa Musa continued to make excuses, "But the sultan's rules demanded "that I should bring him into the royal presence." Take him to see the ruler of Cairo.

And so he kept on at him until finally Mansa Musa agreed.

Maybe think about what that reveals.

He didn't want to go to see the sultan because he didn't want to have to kind of maybe like get down on the floor, maybe on his hands and knees and kiss the floor in a way like pay respect but also maybe Mansa Musa might have felt like he was like lowering himself.

Maybe he felt like he was kind of above that.

So maybe we'll think about what that reveals about Mediaeval Mali in a moment.

So they all came into the sultan, the leader of Cairo's presence.

"And we said to Mansa Musa, kiss the ground, "but he refused right away saying "how may this be? "Then a clever man of Mansa Musa's whispered something "we could not understand.

"And then Mansa Musa said, "I pay respect to God who created me.

"And then he bowed and went forward to the sultan." And we have to imagine he kind of kissed the ground in front of the sultan.

And, "The sultan half rose to greet him "and sat by Mansa Musa's side.

"They talked together for a long time "and then Mansa Musa went out.

"The sultan sent him great gifts to Mansa Musa, "his courtiers, and all those "who had come with him." So a happy ending to the story.

Now this bit here is important.

It reveals something to us.

So someone in Mansa Musa's kind of team, whispered something in Mansa Musa's ear and then Mansa Musa said I pay respect to God who created me.

And then he went forward and kissed the ground.

And so this is quite clever because what it meant was he was able to do what he needed to do, like pay respect to the sultan, do the kissing of the ground, but he was saying that he was doing it to God rather than doing it to the sultan.

And I think that's quite revealing about Mediaeval Mali.

So what I would like you to do here is we're going to add some things into our table about what we've just read.

So I'm going to ask you to pause the video to add some ideas, some extra examples to your table, and then we'll go through some potential answers once you've had time to do that.

So pause the video now.

And when you're done writing down your extra examples, play again, and we can go through some answers together.

Okay, so you might have, you might have some answers that I don't have, but what I've got written down.

We had this one before, gave out loads of gold in Cairo in terms of examples of Mediaeval Mali being wealthy.

Well, apparently there were 500 gold staffs, rods, held by slaves.

Apparently there were 18 tonnes of gold.

That's an example of Mediaeval Mali being wealthy.

And apparently Mansa Musa gave out so much gold that the price crashed in Egypt because he's like flooded the market with gold.

Some examples which reveal to us that Mediaeval Mali was Muslim.

We've got this one from before that Mansa Musa went on the Hajj.

He refused to kiss the floor for the sultan.

And now that might be for two reasons.

It might be because he didn't want to kiss the ground for anyone but God, because he was really, really, really religious and we'll come back to maybe the other reason in a second.

Mansa Musa also said he didn't want to mix anything with his pilgrimage.

So he was just in Cairo to like stop off.

And then he didn't want to like meet the sultan.

Again, he didn't want to like get involved in stuff that wasn't to do with his pilgrimage.

Again, maybe suggesting that he was a really committed Muslim.

Now ambitious, wanted to make such a long journey.

We had that one from before.

Refused to kiss the floor for the sultan.

Now you'll notice I've got this one in there twice.

So it could show he was super religious because he didn't want to pay respect to anyone but God.

It could also show that he was really ambitious because he didn't want to like get down on the floor in front of the sultan, because that would make maybe him look weak or not as important as the sultan.

Also maybe his Hajj reveals Mediaeval Mali's ambitious because Mansa Musa wanted to be seen in one of the world's most important cities, seen with all his wealth, with all of his team.

Now you, I should just say, might have other ideas.

Sadly I can't check them, but well done if you've come up with different ideas, other ideas that I haven't got down here.

So after a few months in Cairo, it was time to leave for Mecca, to continue the Hajj, to get to the holy city of Mecca.

And next lesson, we will be looking at what happened when Mansa Musa was in Mecca and then his return journey.

For now to wrap up this lesson, I would like you to answer the following questions and I would like you to do it in full sentences with as much detail as possible.

So the questions are who was Mansa Musa? What is the Hajj? In Cairo, how did Mansa Musa show off how wealthy he was? Question four, Mansa Musa is reported to have refused to kiss the ground in front of the sultan, al-Nasir, of Cairo.

What could this reveal about Mansa Musa? And then final question, what does Mansa Musa's journey to Mecca reveal about Mediaeval Mali? So pause the video here and I will see you in a few moments to go through some answers.

Okay, so welcome back.

Let's go through those answers.

Who was Mansa Musa? You could write a king.

That's an acceptable answer, but a good answer would be Mansa Musa was a 14th century West African emperor.

What is the Hajj? You could've put a journey to Mecca.

A stronger answer would be an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Hajj should be carried out at least once in a lifetime, by every Muslim who is able to make the journey.

Question number three, in Cairo, how did Mansa Musa show off how wealthy he was? An acceptable answer would be just gold, but in a full sentence, maybe you wrote something like Mansa Musa brought huge amounts of gold to Cairo to show off how wealthy he and his empire was.

Question four, Mansa Musa refused to kiss the ground in front of Sultan al-Nasir.

What could this show? What could this kind of reveal? It might reveal he didn't want to kiss the ground, but let's think about why, why didn't he want to kiss the ground? It could reveal several things.

That Mansa Musa was very pious and refused to worship anyone but God.

Alternatively could suggest he didn't want to recognise Sultan al-Nasir as being superior to him because he was proud and he wanted Mali to be seen as equal to Egypt, right? Not below it, but equal to Egypt in terms of status.

Well done if you had some of those words, sort of status, superior, pious.

What does Mansa Musa's journey to Mecca reveal about Mediaeval Mali? It reveals it's Muslim, ambitious and wealthy.

Those were the three boxes you had on your table.

A good answer would be that Mansa Musa was going on the Hajj reveals several things about Mediaeval Mali, such as it was Muslim, ambitious and wealthy as seen by how much gold Mansa Musa brought with him.

So well done on answering those questions.

If you're feeling confident, there's an extension activity.

And this is the question.

What does Mansa Musa's journey to Mecca reveal about Mediaeval Mali? So you're sort of answering today's lesson question.

And you can use the sentence starter below to write a paragraph.

And I've given you some key words there too.

So this is the end of the lesson.

You might want to go back and pause on the extension activity.

Once you've done that, or if you're ready to move on now, go to the end of lesson quiz to check your understanding.

Well done for completing today's lesson.

And I'm looking forward to seeing you for lesson three out of four on Mansa Musa and what his life reveals about Mediaeval Mali.

See you soon.