the tenth sultan (Mansa), Musa I was the emperor of Mali, a western African Islamic empire. He was very wealthy and his pilgrimage to Mecca had made him prominently known in the northern Africa and the Middle East, and for him his religion was of utmost importance. This journey became immortalized by writers which enhanced the magnificent and elegant journey he took with his procession of men all wearing silk and brocade, slaves who carried gold, and animals who also bore gold dusts.