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Digital
History>eXplorations>The
World Before 1492> Timbuktu>Mansa
Musa's Visit to Cairo
This account of Mansa Musa's visit to Cairo in 1324 was
written by Al-Umari, an Arab historian:
From the beginning of my coming to stay in Egypt I heard talk of
the arrival of this sultan Musa on his Pilgrimage and found the
Cairenes eager to recount what they had seem of the Africans’ prodigal
spending.
I asked the emir Abu…and he told me of the opulence, manly virtues,
and piety of his sultan. “When I went out to meet him {he said}
that is, on behalf of the mighty sultan al-Malik al-Nasir, he did
me extreme
honour and treated me with the greatest courtesy. He addressed
me, however, only through an interpreter despite his perfect ability
to speak in the Arabic tongue. Then he forwarded to the royal treasury
many loads of unworked native gold and other valuables. I tried
to
persuade him to go up to the Citadel to meet the sultan, but he
refused persistently saying: “I came for the Pilgrimage and nothing
else.
I do not wish to mix anything else with my Pilgrimage.” He had
begun to use this argument but I realized that the audience was repugnant
to him because he would be obliged to kiss the ground and the sultan’s
hand. I continue to cajole him and he continued to make excuses
but
the sultan’s protocol demanded that I should bring him into the
royal presence, so I kept on at him till he agreed.
When we came in the sultan’s presence we said to him: ‘Kiss the
ground!’ but he refused outright saying: ‘How may this be?’ Then
an intelligent man who was with him whispered to him something we
could not understand and he said: ‘I make obeisance to God who created
me!’ then he prostrated himself and went forward to the sultan. The
sultan half rose to greet him and sat him by his side. They conversed
together for a long time, then sultan Musa went out. The sultan sent
to him several complete suits of honour for himself, his courtiers,
and all those who had come with him, and saddled and bridled horses
for himself and his chief courtiers….
This man [Mansa Musa] flooded Cairo with his benefactions. He left
no court emir nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a
load of gold. The Cairenes made incalculable profits out of him and
his suite in buying and selling and giving and taking. They exchanged
gold until they depressed its value in Egypt and caused its price
to fall.” …
Gold was at a high price in Egypt until they came in that year.
The mithqal did not go below 25 dirhams and was generally above,
but from that time its value fell and it cheapened in price and has
remained cheap till now. The mithqal does not exceed 22 dirhams or
less. This has been the state of affairs for about twelve years until
this day by reason of the large amount of gold which they brought
into Egypt and spent there. …
Source: Corpus of Early
Arabic Sources for West African History, Edited by Nehemiah
Levtzion & J. F. P. Hopkins (Cambridge University Press, 1981) pp.
269-273.
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