Mansa Musa (died 1337), king of the Mali empire in West Africa, is known mostly for his fabulous pilgrimage to Mecca and for his promotion of unity and prosperity within Mali.

Very little is known about the life of Mansa Musa before 1312. In that year he succeeded his father, Abu Bakr II, to the throne and thus gained the hereditary title of mansa. After this point he is fairly well covered in the tarikhs (Moslem chronicles) of North Africa and the western Sudan, which tell of his reign as a golden age. In contrast to his famous 13th-century predecessor Sundiata, Musa is practically forgotten in Malinke oral traditions.

Many modern writers feel that Musa's importance in West African history is exaggerated because of the fame he obtained during his truly impressive pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-1325. Other Sudanese monarchs had undertaken the pious journey in previous centuries, but the...