Mali used to be richest country in the world when Mansa Musa

>>587183
Guns and Moroccans

>>587183
He got involved in a land war in Asia.

>the richest country in the world
When will this meme end? Mali wasn't "the richest country", the king of Mali was the richest person at the time, because the rest of Mali were busy mining gold for him. They had no real economy except, well, gold mines.

Overstretched military, social degeneracy, trade routes by sea killing the saharan trade, foreign invaders, high taxes, etc

>>587223
Degeneracy is rather empty turn isn't it?

>>587223
>social degeneracy

It's not like it appeared later, polyamory was always a part of their society.

It was poor as fuck, it only had the richest guy in the world. So kind of like modern day Mexico.

>>587216
And kola, leather, ivory, feathers, skins, grain, as well as slaves

>>587236
Ibn Battuta said the locals were very rich people

>>587230
term*

>>587232
Not quite. The Mandinka were polygamous, not polyamourus.

One man, many wives.

>black man selling black slaves
>black man gets rich
>white man bans slave trade
>black man becomes poor

Always the fucking whites keeping black people down

>>587254
This is false and the result of later orthodox Islamification

Also they weren't Mandinka, they were Mande.

>>587261
No, prior to Islam you married as many wives as you could afford. Non-virgin brides could be sent back to their families with a demand for the bride-price back.

And Mande isn't an ethnic group or tribe. It's an ethnolinguistic category, like Slavic or Italic.

Mandinka means "of Manden" which is our heartland. Sundiata was Mandinka.

>>587297
You don't know what you're talking about Ibn Battuta spoke on this

>But their women were "not modest in the presence of men" and did not wear a veil. Although people married, "but the women do not travel with the husband, and if one of them wanted to do that, she would be prevented by her family." Each was free to take other sexual partners from outside the "prohibited degrees of marriage" [father, brother, son, etc.]. "One of them would enter his house to find his wife with her companion and would not disapprove of that conduct."

http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/lectures/17battut.htm

Polygamy only became norm after Islamification was complete.

Mande is the umbrella term for the socio-lingusitic populations Mandinka are a part of. The subjects of Mali, not all of whom are Mandinka should be referred to in the collective linguistic term given Mali's expanding borders and power of influence.

>>587183
Mansa Musa gave his entire country's wealth to the Mediterranean Empires like a fucking idiot.

>>587421
He wasn't stupid enough to give all or most of it away.

He was excessive but he did so because he was making Hajj and wanted to spread his prestige.

>>587421
sure you american, only think about profit not about prestige and sharing

>>587183
>mansa Musa was the richest guy ever.
I have never heard in any of the accounts of his wealth something that couldn't be matched by crassus or augustus, and that's not considering that his wealth was a total meme so there's a lot of embellishment

>>587250
by "locals" he meant the local nobles right under musa. do you think the slaves that carried musa's gold to mecca were rich?

>>587183
The central power of the monarchy that controled the mines was rich but was also weak. Mali was not a very centralized empire and relied hard on the social contract with the local powers.

>>587216
>>587244
Also salt.