Author: Patrina Ayamba (Page 4 of 10)

Jessica Smith. “Mansa Musa, one of the wealthiest people to ever live.” Published:  May 18th 2015.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3YJMaL55TM&t=1s

Summary:  “Mansa Musa, one of the wealthiest people to ever live” narrated by Jessica smith, is a ted talk video that talks about the impact Mansa Musa’s Journey to Hajj had on his kingdom and Africa as a whole. Mansa Musa lived a lavish life, he was wealthy and never hesitated to remind people of his wealth. The video goes into depth on how all the things such as the thousands of camels and horses all carrying gold, thousands of soldiers, civilians and slaves all also carrying Gold and dressed in the finest clothes, made his journey heard all around the world.  An encounter with Mansa Musa during his journey to Hajj would have been one nobody could ever forget or be able to keep quite about. So they news of Mansa Musa began to spread to the Far corners of the world. Soon everyone knew about Mansa Musa the African king of Mali with enormous wealth who almost destroyed Egypts economy by giving away so much gold the price of gold became almost worthless. The video also talks about the “1375 Catalan Atlas” which was an important world map of medieval Europe. He had become world known.

Key Quotes: 

“He brought a caravan stretching as far as the eye can see… Chroniclers describe an entourage of tens of thousands of soldiers, civilians and salves bearing Gold staffs and dressed in fine silks and many camels and horses bearing an abundance of gold bars.”

“This journey reportedly took over a year, and by the time Mansa Musa returned tales of his amazing wealth had spread to the ports of the Mediterranean.”

“Mali and its king were elevated to near legendary status, Cemented by their inclusion on the 1375 Catalan Atlas; one of the most important world maps of medieval Europe, it depicted the king holding a scepter and a gleaming golden nugget. Mansa Musa Had literally put his empire and himself on the map.”

Rhetorical Analysis:

The narrator/ author of this video is Jessica smith. The organization in which this video was created is Tedtalk. The audience of this video are mostly young kids because the video is depicted as a cartoon and teaches about Mansa Musa’s journey to hajj using Cartoon drawings and images, so this mostly captures the attention of young teens and students because they are able to learn about Mansa Musa in a Fan and exciting way. The choice in images and tone the author/ editors made was that they made this video very welcoming and entertaining to watch. Just from the cover of the video it already draws your attention to it because it is so colorful and detailed and makes you want to know more on what this video will be about. These choice’s in images and tone will really help further draw in a wide audience and keep them engaged. The purpose of creating this video was that the author/ narrator wanted to bring light to how Mansa Musa put his empire on the map and made it known all around the world. The genre of this video is Historical because it talks about a historical figure.

When I heard the name Mansa Musa what immediately would often come to mind was “Oh Mansa Musa he was the richest person to ever live” but he was so much more than his wealth and he also did so many great things with his wealth. Aside from being extremely wealthy, Mansa Musa was a devout Muslim. He wasn’t always muslim he converted to Islam in the early years of his reign. What surprised me the most during my research was Mansa Musa’s impact on his empire and the events that took place during his journey to hajj. Mansa Musa was a huge activist for education and islamic education, he wanted his people to be able to freely and openly learn about and practice the islamic religion. So during his reign he built some of the oldest mosque’s( still standing today) and universities all over his empire. This was surprising to me because I did not expect someone of his status and wealth to really be interested in religion like he was or even interested in the welfare and accessibility his people had to religious education because most of the other wealthy kings around this same time never did half of the things Mansa Musa did for his kingdom, they were greedy and selfish kings who wanted to keep all their wealth to themselves so I assumed Mansa Musa would be the same but I was proven wrong.

Mansa Musa’s journey to hajj can truly go down in history as one of the most iconic pilgrimages ever. On his pilgrimage, Mansa Musa brought with him Sixty thousand men all dressed in the finest silk, Horses and camels all carrying approximately 130 kg of gold and so much more. His 3 month stay in Cairo is most talked about when anyone mentions “Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage”. This is because during his 3 month stay he handed out so much Gold in Cairo that the value of Gold had tremendously decreased causing Egypts economy to severally plummet for the next 12-15 years. What I have learned is important because it has thought me not judge historical figures  without getting the full story, because before this research project I had assumed that because Mansa Musa was immensely wealthy he would be greedy. The only reason I thought this way was because I noticed a pattern with a lot of kings or leaders in history being greedy and hungry for more power and wealth. But Mansa Musa was different he actually cared about his kingdom and his people, making sure they would be ok years after he was gone.  It would be beneficial for young Muslim  girls and boys to know about this information. It is important that they are educated on Mansa Musa’s impact of the Islamic religion in Africa being that he was one of the first emperors in Africa to build mosques and really care about islamic education, because he wanted future generations to have a place where they can come together, to learn and embrace the islamic religion.