Q 01/05

Besides gold, Mansa Musa's empire grew rich taxing the trade in which mineral from the Sahara?

A) Tin

B) Sulfur

C) Salt

D) Iron

Answer · why

C) Salt

Salt was dug in thick slabs at desert mines such as Taghaza, where even the houses were built of salt blocks, and a camel-load fetched far more gold i...

Q 02/05

What does the title 'Mansa' mean in the Mandé language?

A) Ruler or king

B) Pilgrim or holy man

C) Golden one

D) Warrior

Answer · why

A) Ruler or king

Ruler or king is the usual translation: a visitor to Mali in 1352 simply glossed mansa as 'sultan', while modern books often promote Musa to 'emperor'...

Q 03/05

Mansa Musa's personal name is the Islamic form of which biblical prophet's name?

A) Moses

B) Solomon

C) Abraham

D) Joseph

Answer · why

A) Moses

Moses is Musa in Arabic. His brother, who later held the same throne, was a Sulayman, the Arabic Solomon, and one visitor to Mali called him a miser b...

Q 04/05

In oral tradition Musa is called Kanku Musa; what does the prefix signify by Mandé custom?

A) It means 'the golden'

B) It is his birthplace

C) It is his mother's name

D) It is his clan totem

Answer · why

C) It is his mother's name

It is his mother's name: Kanku Musa means 'Musa, son of Kanku'. A Timbuktu chronicle spelled it Kankan, which is why many older histories call him Kan...

Q 05/05

Which seashells served as small change in the markets of Mansa Musa's empire?

A) Conch shells

B) Cowrie shells

C) Scallop shells

D) Oyster shells

Answer · why

B) Cowrie shells

Cowrie shells did the buying and selling in Mali's towns, a visitor noted in the 1350s, even though the money cowry is a shell of the far-off Indian O...