Latest / Mansa Musa: The Richest Man Who Ever Lived — Fexingo History / Mansa Musa's Lost Voyage: The Mali Empire's Atlantic Expedition
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about Mansa Musa's gold, his hajj, his libraries, his army. But there's one story about him that's so audacious it sounds like fiction — the idea that he sent ships across the Atlantic Ocean. Luna: Wait, like, to the Americas? Before Columbus? Lucas: Exactly. The evidence is fragmentary and controversial, but it comes from a few different sources. The most famous is from the Egyptian scholar Al-Umari, who wrote in the 1340s. He interviewed people who had been in Mansa Musa's court, and he recorded that Musa's predecessor — some say his brother Mansa Muhammad — launched two expeditions west into the Atlantic. The first one returned with news of a great current and land beyond. The second one never came back. Lucas: Al-Umari wrote: 'They equipped two hundred ships full of men, and many others full of gold, water, and provisions for several years. They gave orders to the captain not to return until he had reached the extremity of the ocean.' That's a direct quote. And then he says only one ship returned, reporting that after a long voyage they found a river with a strong current that pulled them along, and then they saw land. Luna: So they actually saw land across the Atlantic? Lucas: According to that account, yes. But then Mansa Musa himself tried to lead the second expedition of two thousand ships — but he pulled back, maybe because he realized he couldn't afford to lose that many men. He stayed and consolidated his empire instead. Luna: That is wild. But how credible is Al-Umari as a source? Lucas: He's generally considered reliable for things he actually saw or heard from eyewitnesses. He was in Cairo during Mansa Musa's visit in 1324, so he had direct access to people from Mali. But the Atlantic expedition story is secondhand — he's reporting what his informants told him. Still, it's not a random legend. There are other hints. Lucas: There's the famous Catalan Atlas of 1375, which shows Mansa Musa sitting on a throne holding a gold nugget. But on the same map, there's an image of a ship off the coast of West Africa, and some scholars think it might represent Mali's maritime activity. Also, the atlas shows a river flowing from West Africa into the Atlantic that looks like it could be the Senegal or Niger. Luna: So the cartographers of Europe knew about this? Lucas: They knew about Mali's wealth and its location. But whether they knew about an Atlantic crossing is another matter. There's also the controversial theory that African crops like yams and certain gourds appeared in the Americas before Columbus. But that's hotly debated — it could be natural dispersal or later introductions. Lucas: Then you have the oral traditions from the Mande griots — the jeliw. Some of them recount stories of a great fleet that sailed west never to return. The griots often speak of a 'river of gold' beyond the ocean, which sounds like a memory of the Americas. But oral traditions are hard to pin down chronologically. Luna: What about the ships themselves? Could Mali have built ocean-going vessels? Lucas: That's a key question. The Mali Empire wasn't a naval power like Venice, but they had a strong riverine tradition on the Niger. They used large dugout canoes and boats made of planks sewn together, capable of carrying dozens of people. The question is whether those could handle the open Atlantic. Some scholars argue that with their knowledge of currents and winds — and the trade winds that blow from Africa toward the Americas — it's plausible they could have made the crossing. Lucas: The trade winds blow east to west across the Atlantic at that latitude. If you set sail from the coast of modern Senegal or Gambia, you'd be pushed straight toward the Caribbean. That's exactly what Columbus used in 1492, but he learned that from Portuguese sailors who'd been exploring the African coast. And those Portuguese sailors, in turn, may have heard stories from African mariners. Luna: So it's possible the Portuguese got the idea from West Africans? Lucas: It's a theory. There are tantalizing clues. For example, the Portuguese chronicler João de Barros wrote in the 16th century that the king of Portugal's caravels learned about the Atlantic currents from 'Moorish' pilots — which could mean Muslim Africans. And there are reports of African-style boats found in the Americas by early European explorers. But none of it is definitive. Lucas: Then there's the work of Ivan Van Sertima, who argued in his book 'They Came Before Columbus' that Africans, including from Mali, reached the Americas. He pointed to linguistic similarities, like the Mandinka word for 'gold' sounding like a similar word in an indigenous American language. But mainstream historians have largely rejected his claims due to lack of hard evidence. Luna: So where does that leave us? Is it a romantic legend or a real possibility? Lucas: I'd say it's an open question. We don't have archaeological proof — no Mali shipwrecks on American shores, no definitive African artifacts in pre-Columbian sites. But the Al-Umari account is specific and comes from a credible source. The griot traditions are consistent. And the oceanography makes it physically possible. It's not impossible that Mansa Musa's Mali Empire reached the New World a century and a half before Columbus. Luna: It would completely rewrite the history of exploration. Lucas: It would. And that's probably why it's so controversial — it challenges the Eurocentric narrative of the Age of Discovery. But as historians, we have to follow the evidence where it leads, even if it's fragmentary. And the evidence, though thin, points in an interesting direction. Luna: You know, this reminds me of why I love this show. We dig into these stories that mainstream history often overlooks. And it's all listener-supported, no ads. Lucas: That's right. We deliberately don't run ads because we want these conversations to stay focused and free. If you appreciate that, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It keeps the show independent and ad-free. Luna: Yeah, every little bit helps us keep exploring these untold stories. Lucas: So back to the Atlantic — even if we never prove the Mali Empire reached the Americas, the very fact that they attempted it tells us something about Mansa Musa's ambition. He wasn't just a rich king sitting on a gold throne. He was looking outward, trying to understand the world, and willing to risk everything to do it. Luna: That's a powerful image — a West African emperor sending ships into the unknown. Lucas: And it fits with everything else we know about him. The hajj, the libraries, the architecture — all of it was part of a grand vision. The Atlantic expedition, if it happened, was just another chapter in that story. Maybe someday we'll find the proof. Until then, it's a fascinating mystery. Luna: I'm definitely going to look into this more. Thanks for bringing it up. Lucas: My pleasure. Next time, let's talk about Mansa Musa's legacy — how his empire crumbled after his death and what that tells us about leadership and hubris.