In this episode of Travels Through Time, the writer and broadcaster Luke Pepera introduces us to Mansa Musa, a dazzling figure in African history. Mansa Musa was the Emperor of Mali in the fourteenth century. We follow him as he embarks on his spectacular pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325.

It was a journey of epic proportions, involving a procession of tens of thousands of people and the transport of extraordinary amounts of gold, the precious metal on which Mali had built its wealth.

For much more information about this episode - including illustrations of the places and people featured - head to our website, tttpodcast.com

To hear more stories from African history, you can follow Luke on Twitter at @LukePepera and read along with his blog.

Show notes:

Scene One: Early 1325, as Mansa Musa sets off on his extravagant pilgrimage to Mecca.

Scene Two: Mid-to-late 1325, in the court of al-Nasir, the Egyptian sultan, to witness the meeting between the two great leaders.

Scene Three: Late 1325, as a scholar in the Djingeureber Mosque at Timbuktu, which was established by the architects and scholars whom Mansa Musa brought back from his pilgrimage.

Memento: A book of poetry from the University of Timbuktu

People/Social

Interview: Artemis Irvine

Guest: Luke Pepera

Producer: Maria Nolan

Titles: Jon O

 

Check out the amazing colourised images made by our podcast partner, ColorGraph!