Lesson video

Welcome, thanks so much for watching this video.

I'm Miss Cusworth.

I'm a history teacher in Southeast London, and I'm really excited that I have four lessons to talk to you about my favourite period in history.

So before we get going, you are going to need a pen, you're going to need something to write on.

That might be a piece of paper or an exercise book.

So if you haven't got that, pause the video and go and get it now.

Okay, so let's get started.

We are going to be learning about this man.

And for four lessons, we are going to be focusing on him and his life.

Now, he is often described as being the richest man who ever lived, and we know him as Mansa Musa.

What we're going to be thinking about is what does Mansa Musa reveal to us, tell us, show us, about mediaeval Mali? And I just want to focus on that word, reveal.

So what does the life of Mansa Musa reveal about.

So it let's us, that word reveal, it's kind of like it's pulling back the curtain, revealing what's behind it.

And in our case, that's mediaeval Mali.

Now that's quite a big question, so I'm going to give you some examples using me to hopefully explain what I'm trying to get at here.

So imagine you wanted to find out about 21st century Britain, right? Imagine you're living 500 years in the future and you're looking back to 21st century Britain, and you want to find out about it, but it's an odd place, right? Because you've not been there because it's like 500 years ago.

So you're going to look at one person, Miss Cusworth, you're going to look at her life and you're going to try and work out, what does it reveal? How does Miss Cusworth's life let you peek behind the curtain at 21st century Britain? So as you've probably guessed, or I told you, I am a teacher.

And what does the fact I am a teacher reveal to you about 21st century Britain? Does it reveal to you, option one, that Britain is multiracial? Does the fact I'm a teacher reveal to you that Britain is democratic? Or maybe the fact I'm a teacher reveals that Britain has education, or perhaps it reveals Britain is violent.

What I would like you to do is pause the video and write down one of those options.

Okay, so the fact I'm a teacher reveals really that Britain has education.

Now let's do another one.

I have the right to vote.

Does the fact I have the right to vote reveal that 21st century Britain is multiracial, democratic, has education or is violent? I want you to pause the video and choose, write down your option.

Okay, so hopefully you wrote down that the fact that I have the right to vote reveals that 21st century Britain is democratic.

Final one.

So I have Caribbean heritage, my grandma's from Antigua.

What does the fact that I have Caribbean heritage reveal about 21st century Britain? Does it suggest that 21st century Britain is multiracial? Does it suggest it's democratic? Does it suggest it has education? Or does it suggest that Britain is violent? What I would like you to do is, for the final time, write down your option, pause the video, do that now.

Okay, so hopefully you wrote down the fact I have Caribbean heritage, so we're looking at me and my life, what it reveals about 21st century Britain.

And what maybe that reveals is that Britain is multiracial.

So I hope that gives you an idea of what we're trying to do with this inquiry about Mansa Musa.

We're trying to use the life of Mansa Musa, supposedly the richest man who ever lived, and we're using his life to help us peek behind the curtain of mediaeval Mali.

Now I've given you a little bit of an idea about who Mansa Musa is, but just so we're all 100% certain, Mansa Musa was an emperor.

You can see him here with his crown and in his hand he's holding what looks like an absolutely huge piece of gold.

That's going to become important later.

So Mansa Musa ruled over a big empire.

He controlled a lot of land and people from different groups.

It is often said he is the richest man that ever lived.

The massive bit of gold kind of gives us that clue.

So Mansa Musa was an emperor.

Now, where did he rule? I've been telling you about, or saying, Mansa Musa's life helps us reveal something about mediaeval Mali, right? So Mansa Musa ruled over an empire in mediaeval Mali.

Now Mali is a place in West Africa.

So we've got the UK here.

This continent, big continent here of Africa.

Got North Africa, East Africa, South Africa, or Southern Africa, and West Africa, and mediaeval Mali was in West Africa.

And we can see a bit of a better map of it here.

So I want you to tell me, or write down, three things you can see in this map.

So I'm going to give you an example.

One thing I can see on this map is that mediaeval Mali was on the side of the Atlantic Ocean.

It boarded the Atlantic Ocean.

So pause the video for me and write down three things you can see in the map.

Okay, so maybe you picked out that there are several gold fields, and mediaeval Mali was wealthy because it had control over these gold fields.

Maybe you picked out that it had control of the gold fields.

Maybe you picked out that a little bit of it was desert.

Maybe you picked out that some of it was rainforest.

Maybe you picked out the different trade routes, right? Mali became wealthy through trade.

Maybe you picked out some of the rivers.

So Mansa Musa ruled an empire in West Africa.

And part of the reason he was so wealthy was these gold fields.

But when did he rule? You might have heard me giving you a clue about when he ruled.

So just to give us a bit of a timeline so we can put it in context, the Romans left Britain in about 400, 410, and the Norman invasion happened about 600 years later in 1066.

You might've learned about the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and that's the 11th century.

And between about 400 and about 1500, we call that big chunk of time the mediaeval era.

So now we're in the modern era, we call that chunk of time, between about 400 and 1500, the mediaeval era.

Today, we are in 2020, and Mansa Musa ruled in the mediaeval era around about 1312 to 1337.

So we say he ruled in the 14th century as part of the mediaeval era, a couple of hundred years after the Norman conquest, just to give you a sense of when he was alive.

So now it's over to you.

I've told you a little bit about Mansa Musa.

And so what I would like you to do is I want you to take some clear notes.

So on one side of your paper, maybe in the margin if you've got an exercise book, I want you to write down who, and then leave a line, then write down what, and then leave a line, and then write down where, and then leave a line, and then write down when.

And I have given you a clue for what.

So who have we been talking about? You're going to write down his name.

What did he do? He ruled an empire.

Where was that empire? Write it down for me, and when was it? I'm going to ask you now to pause the video to complete that note taking task.

And there is a challenge to turn it into a full sentence.

Give it a go.

Okay, so hopefully you've had a go at doing that.

Let's now check your answers.

So who are we talking about? Obviously, we're talking about Mansa Musa.

What did he do? He ruled an empire.

You can see him there with his crown.

He was in control of a big bit of land with different people.

Where was it? Well, you could've said a lot of different things.

You could've said where, West Africa.

If you put where, mediaeval Mali, I would have given you that one.

If you'd put Mali, I would have given you that.

And when, you could have some different answers for this.

So you could have, that little c.

stands for circa, about, because we don't know 100% for certain.

So you could have put circa 1312 to 1337.

You could have put mediaeval era.

You could have put 14th century.

All of those answers would have been good.

And this is, maybe if you did the challenge, what your sentence would have looked like.

From around 1312 to 1337, Mansa Musa ruled an empire in West Africa.

That would be an excellent sentence to summarise what we've learned about Mansa Musa so far.

So this is our question that we're working towards for the next four lessons.

What does the life of Mansa Musa reveal, show us, about mediaeval Mali? And we're going to begin part way through Mansa Musa's life when he becomes the emperor.

And we're going to look at kind of a story about how Mansa Musa became emperor, and we're going to see maybe what that could tell us about mediaeval Mali.

So there was an Arab historian.

He was born in Damascus, which is now in modern-day Syria.

And there is this historian called Al-Umari, and he made a journey to Cairo, which is in Egypt.

And he made that journey not long after Mansa Musa had visited there.

And Al-Umari, he wrote down things that people had told him about Mansa Musa, things that Mansa Musa had said or he had done.

And this included a story about how Mansa Musa said he had become the emperor.

And we now call that account written by Al-Umari a source because it's a source of information for historians.

And when we asks questions about the source, it can become evidence for us.

So we're going to have a look at what Al-Umari recorded and wrote down about what Mansa Musa said about his journey to being emperor, 'cause it's an incredible story and it tells us a lot, if we look at it carefully.

It can tell us a lot, it can reveal a lot about mediaeval Mali.

So here we go.

This is what apparently Mansa Musa had said about how he became emperor.

You got to imagine Mansa Musa talking here.

"The emperor before me thought it was possible "to reach the end of the Atlantic Ocean.

"So he equipped," he got ready, "200 ships filled with men, "and the same number of ships filled," or equipped, "with gold and water and supplies." "Enough to last them for years.

"They departed and a long time passed "before anyone came back.

"Then one ship returned and we asked the captain "what news they brought." So loads of ships went.

They had piled them with gold and the emperor had asked gold to be put on them, water, for men to go on this journey, and only one came back.

Now, we can look at this one part of the account and we can think about what does this reveal about mediaeval Mali? The emperor before Mansa Musa had got a ship, 200 ships in fact, ready with men, gold, water and supplies.

So 400 ships in total.

What does that maybe reveal about mediaeval Mali? Well, you might have some good ideas.

One thing that I thought about was maybe it reveals that mediaeval Mali was wealthy, right? It had money, it was quite rich.

You'd need quite a lot of money to be able to get so much gold and to get so many men and supplies.

So maybe it reveals mediaeval Mali was wealthy.

Okay, I'm going to make me a little bit smaller so I don't cover up the story.

So we're going to continue with the account.

So the captain said, "Yes, Oh, Emperor," this is the one guy who came back.

"We travelled for a long time until there appeared "in the ocean." Sorry, "Until there appeared in the open sea, "a river with a powerful current.

"The other ships went on ahead, "but when they reached that place, "they did not return and no more was seen of them.

"As for me, I went about at once "and did not enter the river." Maybe that's why he was the only one who came back, right? He didn't go into the dangerous river, inside the ocean.

So the emperor, after he had heard this story, apparently got ready 2,000 ships.

1,000 for himself and the men he took with him, and 1,000 for water and provisions.

So that's a huge number of ships.

"He left me," Mansa Musa, "to look after the empire for him, "and he sailed on the Atlantic Ocean with his men.

"That was the last we saw of him "and all those who were with him.

"And so I became emperor in my own right." Now, we're going to have a look at some of the things in this impressive, or I find it a fascinating story.

So one bit was that when the lone captain came back, the kind of sole survivor came back, he said that there had been, "in the open sea, "a river with a powerful current." Now, that's quite an interesting kind of description of the ocean.

Maybe it suggests to us that mediaeval Mali, they were quite familiar with the sea.

Let's have a look at something else.

The emperor, after he'd lost 400 ships, got ready another 2,000 ships.

What maybe does that reveal to us about mediaeval Mali? Yeah, maybe it reveals that mediaeval Mali had a lot of money to get all of these ships ready.

And then he sailed on the Atlantic Ocean with his men.

Now, we don't know 100% whether this actually happened.

We don't have enough information to prove it happened for certain, but even if it didn't happen for certain, it reveals something to us about mediaeval Mali.

And I think it potentially reveals that mediaeval Mali and the people who lived there were really ambitious.

They were interested, they wanted to do well, they wanted to do new things, they were ambitious, and they wanted to explore.

I think that's one thing this story about how Mansa Musa became emperor, I think that's one thing it reveals to us.

And the final thing is this point here.

"And so I became emperor in my own right." Now before, he was just looking after the empire for the emperor who'd gone on the journey.

He was kind of like the deputy, right, the deputy.

But once the ships didn't come back and the emperor didn't come back, Mansa Musa stopped being the kind of deputy and became the emperor in his own right.

Now that word, "in my own right," or phrase, is really interesting because it kind of reveals to us that there were rules about who could become emperor in mediaeval Mali.

Couldn't just kind of be any old one.

"In my own right," suggests this idea of legitimacy, right? He had the right to be the emperor after the old emperor had gone.

After it looked like he wasn't going to come back.

Okay, so we're going to kind of play like a similar game that we played at the beginning, but instead of thinking about me and 21st century Britain, we're now going to be thinking about the story that Mansa Musa told, and about what it reveals about mediaeval Mali.

So the previous emperor equipped 200 ships with gold, water and supplies, enough to last them for years.

Does that reveal mediaeval Mali was wealthy? Does it reveal about mediaeval Mali, the journey was going to be long? Does it reveal about mediaeval Mali the old emperor was stupid? Or does it reveal about mediaeval Mali that it was ambitious? I would like you to write down two options.

So pause the video for me now, please, and write down two of those options.

Okay, so hopefully you wrote down what this reveals, the 200 ships, it reveals about mediaeval Mali that it was wealthy and that it was ambitious, 'cause they wanted to go far.

And they were prepared that it might take them a couple of years.

They weren't just like, oh yeah, we'll go for a day and if it doesn't work out, we'll come back.

They were ambitious and they were wealthy enough to have these 200 ships with gold on them.

Okay, let's do another one.

They travelled for a long time.

And then it was said, there appeared in the open sea, a river with a powerful current.

Does that reveal about mediaeval Mali it had bad ships? That mediaeval Mali had knowledge of the sea, of the ocean? That mediaeval Malian sailors reached South America? Because if you go from Africa across the ocean, you'd get to South America.

Or does it reveal that mediaeval Mali was ambitious? I would like you to write down your answer, pause the video.

Okay, so this one is quite a tricky one, maybe.

You could have had maybe two.

Mediaeval Mali had knowledge of the sea because you get a sense that they're not just having knowledge of like the bit by the shore, that they kind of had a knowledge of the current that would have existed inside the ocean, once they got out quite far to sea.

Maybe you also wrote down that mediaeval Mali was ambitious because they weren't just going to kind of paddle around the coast, they had this idea of travelling far out to sea.

It kind of shows a bit of like ambition on their part.

Now some people have argued that maybe these sailors from mediaeval Mali, maybe they reached all the way to South America.

Now there's not quite enough evidence for us to say that for certain, okay? There's not quite enough evidence for us to say that for certain, but it does definitely suggest to us that mediaeval Mali was interested in what lay across the other side of the sea, even if we don't have any evidence for sure that they reached South America.

And this is then the last one.

So when the old emperor disappeared, Musa said he became the emperor in his own right, instead of being like the deputy.

What does that reveal to us? Can you write down either option one, mediaeval Mali was wealthy.

Option two, mediaeval Mali had rules about who could be king.

Option three, mediaeval Mali's old emperor died.

Or option four, it reveals to us that mediaeval Mali was ambitious.

Pause the video and write down your option.

Okay, so I think what it reveals is that mediaeval Mali had rules about who could be king.

That phrase "in my own right" suggests that it couldn't just be any old person.

Once the emperor, it was clear he wasn't coming back, that's when he could be king in his own right.

Okay, so we're getting towards the end of our lesson today, and I'm going to ask you to have a go at answering these five questions.

Now, what I would really like you to do is to answer them in full sentences, including as much detail as you can from the lesson.

I would like you to have a go at that now, and when you have finished, you can unpause the video and we will go through the answers together.

Okay, so well done for getting those answers done.

Let's go through some of, well done for getting those questions done, maybe you were getting the, yeah, I suppose you were getting the answers done too.

Let's go through the answers.

So which part of Africa was the empire of Mali in? A good answer would have been West Africa.

A better answer would have been, the empire of Mali was in West Africa, that's a full sentence.

What era did Mansa Musa rule in, the ancient, the mediaeval or the modern? An acceptable answer would have been mediaeval.

A good answer would have been in a full sentence.

Mansa Musa ruled in the mediaeval era.

What natural resource did Mali have that made it wealthy? An acceptable answer would have been gold.

A good answer would have been, it had control of gold fields, which made it wealthy.

And it also had control of salt mines, which increased its wealth.

Gold is the important one.

And you can see that here, see, with the gold fields.

And the trade, so the combination of the two made mediaeval Mali wealthy.

In the source that we looked at, remember the account by Al-Umari? Why did the previous emperor set sail across the Atlantic? An acceptable answer would have been, because he wanted to reach the end of it, or because he was curious.

A good answer would be, according to the source, or according to Al-Umari's account, the emperor before Mansa Musa set sail across the Atlantic because he thought it was possible to reach the end of the ocean.

And then the final question.

In the source, how did Mansa Musa say he became emperor? An acceptable answer would be, the previous emperor never came back from his trip.

A good answer would be, according to the source, when the previous emperor didn't return from his voyage, Mansa Musa went from looking after the empire for the emperor to being emperor in his own right.

So there's an extension activity here for you I'd like you to have a go at, which is writing a paragraph using these sentence starters.

So if that's something that you'd like to do, excellent.

Pause the video and use the sentence starters to help you.

Another thing that's really important that everybody does, whether or not you're doing the extension activity, is that you do the end of the lesson quiz to check your understanding.

So this is the end of the lesson.

Thank you so much for joining me to find out a bit about Mansa Musa.

We have got three more lessons together about Mansa Musa, finding out a bit more about him and what other parts of his life reveal to us about mediaeval Mali? I hope you have a go at the extension activity, make sure you have a go at the quiz, and I'm really looking forward to joining you for our next lesson, see you later, bye.