Zeinab Badawi

to try and engage the reader to say, look, this is why this matters, you know, and to say, look, you know, this idea that there are those who make history and those who stand on the sidelines of history with the Africans very much being relegated to the sidelines is not supported by the evidence. You have to break down prejudice, not with fairy tales, but with facts. And

you know, if you could indulge me by, I just give you one example of that. If you look at King Mansa Musa I, Mansa is the title of the king and Musa was his name, Musa I of the empire of Mali in West Africa, a broad part of, you know, the Sahel, which covers West Africa today. There was this massive empire. Mansa Musa was born in 1218, died in 1332. So he lived a very long time ago. And, um,

you know, if you could indulge me by, I just give you one example of that. If you look at King Mansa Musa I, Mansa is the title of the king and Musa was his name, Musa I of the empire of Mali in West Africa, a broad part of, you know, the Sahel, which covers West Africa today. There was this massive empire. Mansa Musa was born in 1218, died in 1332. So he lived a very long time ago. And, um,

you know, if you could indulge me by, I just give you one example of that. If you look at King Mansa Musa I, Mansa is the title of the king and Musa was his name, Musa I of the empire of Mali in West Africa, a broad part of, you know, the Sahel, which covers West Africa today. There was this massive empire. Mansa Musa was born in 1218, died in 1332. So he lived a very long time ago. And, um,

You know, he embarked on a pilgrimage in 1324 to Mecca, and he went with a massive entourage because the Mali Empire was such a wealthy empire. You know, at a time when Europe was beginning to enter, a few decades later after his death, the Black Death, when it's, you know, the plague which decimated populations in Europe. Here was this empire flourishing, you know, with gold.

You know, he embarked on a pilgrimage in 1324 to Mecca, and he went with a massive entourage because the Mali Empire was such a wealthy empire. You know, at a time when Europe was beginning to enter, a few decades later after his death, the Black Death, when it's, you know, the plague which decimated populations in Europe. Here was this empire flourishing, you know, with gold.

You know, he embarked on a pilgrimage in 1324 to Mecca, and he went with a massive entourage because the Mali Empire was such a wealthy empire. You know, at a time when Europe was beginning to enter, a few decades later after his death, the Black Death, when it's, you know, the plague which decimated populations in Europe. Here was this empire flourishing, you know, with gold.

You know, he had gold literally coming out of his ears. And he embarked on this pilgrimage to Mecca with 60,000 personal servants, 12,000 members of his household, 600 personal attendants, 100 camels bearing between 10 to 15 tons of gold.

You know, he had gold literally coming out of his ears. And he embarked on this pilgrimage to Mecca with 60,000 personal servants, 12,000 members of his household, 600 personal attendants, 100 camels bearing between 10 to 15 tons of gold.

You know, he had gold literally coming out of his ears. And he embarked on this pilgrimage to Mecca with 60,000 personal servants, 12,000 members of his household, 600 personal attendants, 100 camels bearing between 10 to 15 tons of gold.

He stopped in Cairo on the way to Mecca and on the way back, and he spent so much gold and gave away so much gold that the global price of gold plunged by 25% and did not recover for more than a decade. And by some accounts, he is the richest individual to have ever lived in the world, worth about 435 billion US dollars.

He stopped in Cairo on the way to Mecca and on the way back, and he spent so much gold and gave away so much gold that the global price of gold plunged by 25% and did not recover for more than a decade. And by some accounts, he is the richest individual to have ever lived in the world, worth about 435 billion US dollars.

He stopped in Cairo on the way to Mecca and on the way back, and he spent so much gold and gave away so much gold that the global price of gold plunged by 25% and did not recover for more than a decade. And by some accounts, he is the richest individual to have ever lived in the world, worth about 435 billion US dollars.

What the story of Mansa Musa tells you is that the actions of this medieval African king were such that they had an impact on the international economy, on the price of gold, which of course was the main trading currency as it were then. So the idea that Africa was somehow dislocated from the rest of the world is not borne out by just the illustration of this one story. And a Catalan cartographer

What the story of Mansa Musa tells you is that the actions of this medieval African king were such that they had an impact on the international economy, on the price of gold, which of course was the main trading currency as it were then. So the idea that Africa was somehow dislocated from the rest of the world is not borne out by just the illustration of this one story. And a Catalan cartographer

What the story of Mansa Musa tells you is that the actions of this medieval African king were such that they had an impact on the international economy, on the price of gold, which of course was the main trading currency as it were then. So the idea that Africa was somehow dislocated from the rest of the world is not borne out by just the illustration of this one story. And a Catalan cartographer

In 1375, several decades after the death of Mansa Musa, when he drew four panels of the world, Mansa Musa was there as the third panel. Such was his significance, you know, wearing a golden crown, clad in silk, holding a golden staff and a golden orb in the other hand. And that just shows you that African history

In 1375, several decades after the death of Mansa Musa, when he drew four panels of the world, Mansa Musa was there as the third panel. Such was his significance, you know, wearing a golden crown, clad in silk, holding a golden staff and a golden orb in the other hand. And that just shows you that African history

In 1375, several decades after the death of Mansa Musa, when he drew four panels of the world, Mansa Musa was there as the third panel. Such was his significance, you know, wearing a golden crown, clad in silk, holding a golden staff and a golden orb in the other hand. And that just shows you that African history

It's not something that is just of interest to the connoisseur or somebody who might be interested in Africa. It is part of our global story. And it is something which anybody who wants to say that they're educated should know about. And it's not history that starts with the transatlantic slave trade. There is an extraordinary history that far predates that.