The Empire of Mali

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2015

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Empire of Mali which flourished from 1200 to 1600 and was famous in the wider world for the wealth of rulers such as Mansa Musa. Mali was the largest empire in west Africa and for almost 400 years controlled the flow of gold from mines in the south up to the Mediterranean coast and across to the Middle East. These gold mines were the richest known deposits in the 14th Century and produced around half of the world's gold. When Mansa Musa journeyed to Cairo in 1324 as part of his Hajj, he distributed so much gold that its value depreciated by over 10%. Some of the mosques he built on his return survive, albeit rebuilt, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Great Mosque of Djenne. With Amira Bennison Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge Marie Rodet Senior Lecturer in the History of Africa at SOAS And Kevin MacDonald Professor of African Archaeology Chair of the African Studies Programme at University College, London Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time for more details about In Our Time
0:04.0	and for our terms of use, please go to bbc.co.uk slash radio 4.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:10.7	Hello, the Empire of Mali flourished during the European Middle Ages.
0:14.6	It was larger than any empire in West Africa before or since.
0:18.1	And drew its power from what were then the largest gold mines in the world.
0:22.8	Europeans knew relatively little of Mali relying on Arab and Burba traders to bring the
0:27.2	gold north over the Sahara.
0:29.4	There was classic contact between Mali and Muslim culture, as Mali's rule is converted
0:33.6	to Islam.
0:34.6	When the 10th Emperor, Mansa Musa, made the pilgrimage to Maka in the 14th century, he brought so
0:40.1	much gold, he lowered its value in Cairo, a sometimes being called the richest man the
0:45.2	world has ever known.
0:46.9	Knowledge of Mali's empire today though is hard one.
0:49.7	Victorian explorers assumed its physical remains like the great mosque of Jen were signs of
0:54.6	Arab settlement.
0:56.0	Which we know now has been pieced together from archaeology, from epic poems and from
1:00.1	the writings of Islamic scholars and geographers.
1:02.7	With me to discuss the empire of Mali are Amira Benison, reader in the history of culture
1:07.5	of the migrab at the University of Cambridge.
1:10.0	Kevin McDonald, professor of African archaeology and chair of the African Studies program at
1:14.4	University College London.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.