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Mansa Musa's Lost Canal The Niger Irrigation Project of 1326
In 1326, Mansa Musa launched one of his most audacious projects: a canal to bypass the Niger River's treacherous rapids at Koulikoro and irrigate the dry plains of the Sahel. This episode explores the engineering, politics, and legacy of the Canal of the Mansa — a massive ditch that would have transformed West African agriculture. We discuss the role of farba (provincial governors), the forced labor of Songhai captives, the technical challenges of digging through laterite, and why the project was abandoned after Musa's death. Drawing on Arabic sources like al-Umari and the Tarikh…
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