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The Mali Empire's Tax on Salt: A Grain of Gold
In episode 212, Lucas and Luna dig into an overlooked engine of Mansa Musa's empire: the salt tax. Long before the hajj that made him famous, Mali's rulers levied a transit tax on the salt caravans that crossed their lands. Lucas explains how this tariff, collected by the farba, turned a simple mineral into a stream of gold flowing into Niani. He traces the route from Taghaza's salt mines through Timbuktu and Djenne, and recounts how al-Umari and Ibn Battuta recorded these practices. The episode also considers the human cost—the enslaved workers in the mines—and the long shadow…
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