Musa I of Mali

Musa I became the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire around 1280, inheriting control over territory that stretched across what is now Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and Mali — roughly 1.3 million square kilometers at its territorial peak. His wealth flowed from Mali's monopoly on West African gold and salt trade: the empire produced an estimated two-thirds of all gold circulating in the medieval Mediterranean, drawing from mines in Bambuk and Bure where Malians had invented their own glass-based refining process. In 1324 he set out for Mecca with an entourage so large and gift-giving so…