Mansa Musa, Timbuktu, and Mali's Golden Age

Mansa Musa, the tenth mansa of the Keita dynasty, ruled the Mali Empire from roughly 1312 to 1337 and is considered its most celebrated ruler. Under his reign Mali reached its greatest territorial extent and international prestige, controlling the gold trade from the Bure and Bambuk mines as well as the Saharan salt trade, and extending Malian authority over Timbuktu and Gao, incorporating former Songhai territories. He actively promoted the Islamization of the court, commissioning the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu — the work of the Andalusi architect Abu Ishaq al-Sahili — along with the mosque at Gao and other religious buildings, and he drew scholars from the Maghreb and Egypt to Timbuktu, turning it into a significant center of Islamic learning.