In the mid-1320s, a massive parade of people arrived in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

At the time, Egypt was controlled by the Mamluk Sultan, Al Malik al-Naseer Muhammad.

The Mamluks had originally been slave soldiers, who over the years had risen through the ranks

of Islamic Egyptian society until eventually they dominated the state apparatus.

By the early 14th century, the former slaves were now kings.

What's more, the Mamluks led Egypt to new heights of power.

Under Sultan Al-Naseer Muhammad, Egypt not only controlled the traditional territory of

the Nile, but a large empire extending into Syria and Arabia.

In the early 1300s, there were few people in the Islamic world as important or impressive

as the Sultan of Egypt.

But the Egyptians were about to have their world rocked.

Sometime around the year 1324, a king arrived in Cairo with the largest entourage that any

Egyptian from that period had ever seen.

His retinue was so numerous, so opulent, and so flush with gold that some Egyptians

started to wonder whether their salt and truly was the greatest ruler in the Islamic world.

Some sources say that this massive train of people moving through the country was 60,000

people strong.

Eventually making this king's entourage a giant moving city.

The ruler at the head of this bespoke mass of humanity was none other than Masha Musa,

the emperor of Mali.

He was merely passing through Egypt on his way to the holy city of Mecca.

He was making the holy pilgrimage the only way he knew how, in style.

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