Up the Niger River Where the Musas Lived Quiz

Answer: Mali

This empire encompassed some 400 cities which were synonymous with prosperity, culture and Islamic scholarship. The tenth Musa, the King of Kings, the Ruler Moses, as he was variously titled, ruled the Malian empire for 25 years. The kingdom stretched from the Atlantic coast in the west to Songhay, far down the Niger in the east, from the salt mines of Taghaza in the north and to the gold mines of Wangara in the south.

Answer: Two years

Musa's entourage totalled 60 000 men and 12 000 slaves, who each carried 6 pounds of gold bars, and 80 camels, carrying between 50 to 300 pounds of gold dust each. All members of the entourage were decked out in brocade and Persian silk and included merchants, clerics and other members of court.

Answer: Gold devalued for the next 10 years in the cities which Musa passed through.

Musa financed the building of a mosque on every spot he spent each Friday, the Islamic day of observance. Musa decided to rectify the gold market which he had destabilised on his way back from Mecca by borrowing all the gold he could carry from money-lenders in Cairo, at high interest.

Answer: Gold and horses

The Malian Empire had 3 goldfields at Bambuk, Boure and Galam. The gold was easy to excavate, from panning to shallow digging. Horses were seen as the second most powerful status symbol in the Empire, as they were difficult to bring into the desert kingdom, and equally difficult to maintain. If the horses survived the ardourous trek accross the Sahara, Musa would have a retinue of six slaves tending one horse.

Answer: Miners were allowed to unionise.

The miners were left with a pittance of the gold they mined, as it was mandatory to hand over all the gold that weighed more than a few grams to the treasury. The Musas thus became the sole owners of all the gold produced in the mines. Mansa Musa however instituted a form of profit sharing with the gold mine operators and a certain degree of autonomy.

He believed that this incentive would deliver bigger yields, and his reasoning proved sound, as gold production increased steadily.

Answer: Timbuktu

Upon his return from Mecca, Musa embarked on a mosque-building programme of breathtaking speed in Timbuktu. Europeans wanted gold and sub-Saharan Africa wanted salt and as the sources of these two commodities were so far apart, strategically located cities like Timbuktu, Gao and Walata became centres where middlemen would cut deals for these commodities.

In addition, Timbuktu was located between the gold mines of West Africa and the fertile Niger river, which proved to be a vital transportation hub along these trade routes.

Answer: 200kg of gold

Al-Sahili also designed and built the Sankore Madrasah, an ancient centre of learning which promoted scholarship amongst thousands of astronomers, mathematicians and Islamic jurists each year. The Jingereber Mosque still stands today and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.

Answer: Hi son, Mansa Maghan

His son, Mansa Maghan, ruled for four years before being ousted by his uncle, Mansa Sulayman. By all accounts, none of the subsequent rulers of the Malian Empire could quite live up to the standards that Mansa Musa had set, and the empire began to wane almost immediately after his death. Abu Bakr II, also named Mansa Qu, was Mansa Musa's predecessor and Irani Kunate was his most senior wife.

Answer: Thirteenth

An estimated 60% of the population lives below the poverty line, most of them being woman and children in rural areas. Mali has participated in International Monetary Fund and World Bank programs such as the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, beginning in 1998 and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.

However, a high percentage of new financing has gone to debt servicing, up to 60% by one estimate, leaving the country with fewer resources to combat poverty than the raw numbers suggest.

Answer: $400 billion

The founder of Standard Oil, John D. Rockerfeller's estimated worth was $340 billion whilst Andrew Carnegie's was estimated at $310 billion.