Author: Patrina Ayamba (Page 5 of 10)

Richard Austin. “The Golden caravan”. Published October 19th 2022 https://richardaustinwriter.com/2020/10/19/the-golden-caravan-a-poem/

Summary : “The Golden Caravan” by Richard Austin is a poem that dives into Mansa Musa’s journey to Mecca. Mecca is the birthplace of prophet Muhammad, it is considered the spiritual center of islam.  All muslims make the journey to Mecca a pilgrimage known as (Hajj) at least once in their lifetime. The prom Goes into depth on Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage, it talks about the  thousands of camels he had by his side, his sixty thousand men marching by his side dressed in the finest clothing. Mansa Musa was a powerful king and he wanted that to be known all over the world. He did not ever hesitate to show his true wealth, to the extent that on his journey to Mecca each and every single camel he had would carry “Over 130kg of Gold”(Austin).

Key Quotes: 

“Gold by the ton through foreign lands.

As Mansa Musa makes his way,

To holy Mecca day after day,

Sixty thousand men they march,

Hunger aches and lips they parch.”

“Gold he sprinkles on every town,

Enough to bring them crashing down,

Leaving chaos in his wake,

Generous but destructive mistake.”

“Eyes look on around the globe,

Fixed on this man in his golden robe,

Mansa Musa; King of kings,

Whose reign will pass as do all things.”

Rhetorical Analysis:

The Author of this poem is Richard Austin. The Authors attitude towards the subject is very neutral not really positive or negative. I say this because while some of the stuff he said did portray Mansa Musa in a good light there where also certain stuff he said in the poem that didn’t. In the poem he talked about Mansa Musa Being generous and giving out A lot of Gold in the countries and towns he passed, while this shows Mansa Musa in a Good light, Richard also goes on to say that due to Mansa Musa giving out so much gold that it was “enough to bring them crushing down”(Austin). This is because when he gave out so much Gold the Value of Gold decreased and it ruined economies. This poem is for the general audience and anyone who wants learn more about Mansa Musa’s Journey to hajj. This poem is a really Good way for people who know nothing about Mansa Musa or his Journey to be able to gain some new insight on him. The occasion and purpose of this article was to educate people more on Mansa Musa’s trip to Mecca. The Genre of this poem is Historical because it talks about a Historical figure from the past. The Tone of this poem is very direct and non biased because the author was not leaning to one side and either trying to portray Mansa Musa in a bad or good way, but simply to educate us about the actual events that took place.

Quote Sandwich:

In “The Golden Caravan” Richard Austin writes “Gold he sprinkles on every town, Enough to bring them crashing down, Leaving chaos in his wake, Generous but destructive mistake.” What Austin references in this quote is one of the most talked about things Mansa Musa was known for. This quote talks about Mansa Musa making a “generous but destructive mistake”. What Austin meant by this was while what he did came from a place of good intentions and good will, it ended up causing Damage.  While Mansa Musa did not intended for his is please Good deed to become such a huge problem I still believe that he did a Good thing. He was a generous emperor and he was helping people by giving out gold. He changed so many lives for the better because he chose to share his wealth instead of being Greedy and keeping it all to himself. He gave out so much Gold in Cairo Egypt during his pilgrimage to Mecca that it almost ruined Egypts economy. He didn’t mean for that to happen and that wasn’t his intention for that to happen. He was Just a rich king who wanted to share his wealth with the rest of the world.

John Kuroski. “How Mansa Musa Became The Richest Person In History”. All That’s Interesting.  Published September/19/2021. https://allthatsinteresting.com/mansa-musa

Summary: “How Mansa Musa Became The Richest Person In History” by John Kuroski is an article that Talks about Mansa Musa’s Lasting Impact on his kingdom and all the things he did that set his empire up for success years after his death. Mansa Musa was not a Greedy person that Kept all that wealth to himself, instead he was a very generous emperor that would often give out so much Gold that the value of Gold would decrease. Aside from handing out Gold to people that needed or simply just giving away Gold because he Had so much, he used his Wealth to do much more. The Article Goes into detail on how Mansa Musa used his wealth to help his empire and help raise his empire as a whole. Mansa Musa was a strong advocate for Education and islamic education. During his reign he built a great number of mosques and universities in Mali. This later lead to Timbuktu Mali becoming one of the most “Prominent cities in the Islamic world”(Kuroski).

Key Quotes:

“Ultimately, he used most of it to build a great number of mosques (legend says he built one every Friday during his reign), the most famous of which is the Djinguereber Mosque. He also commissioned several universities throughout the kingdom.”

“While Mansa Musa was alive, his investment in Islamic education in Mali drew scores of Muslim scholars, poets, and artisans to his empire. They congregated in Timbuktu, which quickly became known as one of the most prominent cities in the Islamic world.”

“In addition, Musa quite literally put himself, and his empire, on the map. His caravan during his Mecca pilgrimage had attracted so much attention that Europeans — who were thousands of miles away — heard about the trip.”

Rhetorical analysis:

The author of this Article is John Kuroski, the article was published by the “All things interesting digital publisher”.  This article is for the general audience or students and scientists that want to learn more about Mansa Musa’s impact on his empire. The occasion was stop bring light to Mansa Musa’s  impact and all the things he did to help his empire prosper. The Genre is a Historical non fiction because it is biased on real events that occurred in the past. The tone is a neutral tone, there is no bias because this is purely biased on facts.

Quote Sandwich:   In “How Mansa Musa Became The Richest Person In History” John Kuroski writes,”Ultimately, he used most of it to build a great number of mosques (legend says he built one every Friday during his reign), the most famous of which is the Djinguereber Mosque. He also commissioned several universities throughout the kingdom.” In short John Kuroski emphases the idea that Mansa Musa was a strong believer in islamic education and saw the importance of having a place where people could come together and learn more about the islamic religion and to also gain new found knowledge. Mansa Musa Felt so strongly about this that he Built so many Mosques all around his empire during his reign. This further proves to me how great of an emperor Mansa Musa was. Not only was he generous and would had out Gold to anyone who needed, but he also brought people together through religion. He was a strong believer in education and religious education because he himself was a devout muslim. He could have been selfish and kept all his wealth to himself and did as he pleased but instead he used his wealth to not only help people but to also help his empire as a whole by providing them easier access to education and religious education.