BELL WORK1. If the president gave you 1 million

dollars in gold, what are the first 3 things you would buy?

2. What if the President gave every person in America 1 million dollars in gold?

Challenge Question:Who was Mansa Musa?

STANDARD & OBJECTIVEI can analyze the significance of Mansa Musa by experiencing a real life scenario via reading a comic.

7.17 Explain the importance of Mansa Musa and locate his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324.

WHO WAS MANSA MUSA?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/mansa-musa-of-mali-the-richest-man-ever/14207.html

Background SummaryMansa Musa ruled Mali from 1312 to 1337. He expanded its empire to twice its original

size and also gained control of trade routes throughout Africa. Mali’s two most valuable trade goods,

gold and salt, reached the ends of the continent on these routes. In 1324 Mansa Musa, who was a

Muslim, decided to go on a pilgrimage, or hajj, to Makkah. The king assembled a huge caravan that

traveled with him on his journey. The immense size of the caravan and the power and wealth

needed to collect such a group greatly impressed everyone who saw it. This caravan helped Mansa

Musa establish an important position for himself and Mali in the Muslim world.

Mansa Musa’s caravan included thousands of soldiers and servants, along with 80 camels

carrying over two tons of gold. On his way to Makkah, Mansa Musa stopped in Cairo where the

Sultan of Egypt received him. While there, Musa spent large sums of money and gave many gifts of

gold. He brought so much gold with him that he made the value of gold fall. Mansa Musa then

contin- ued on to Makkah. The sights he saw in Makkah inspired him to create great mosques,

libraries, and universities in Mali. When Mansa Musa returned to Mali, he brought back many Arab

scholars, architects, and poets who helped build his home city of Timbuktu into a center for Islamic

studies.

In this graphic novel, a young boy describes how Mansa Musa’s visit to Egypt personally

affects him. The gold necklace for which he had saved is nothing compared to the items that Mansa

Musa has giv- en the boy’s friends. The boy cannot even sell his necklace because the value of gold

has fallen so much.

MANSA MUSA

Before the Story What changed? During the Story

Teacher Instructions

Making Connections

Discuss the law of supply and demand using the boy’s experience. Draw three columns on

the board (previous slide).

QUESTIONS: BEFORE THE STORY STARTED

What did the boy want so much that he saved a long time to get it?

What was probably true about the price of the necklace?

Why do you think it was expensive?

QUESTIONS: DURING THE STORY

During the story, how does the boy feel about the necklace?

What is he trying to do with the neck- lace by then?

QUESTIONS: WHAT CHANGED?

Next, have volunteers describe what happened between the two time periods. Finally,

explain the terms supply (how much of a good, resource, or service is available) and

demand (how much of a good, resource, or service is wanted). Help students apply these

terms to the graphic novel. Elicit from them the law of supply and demand: When

supply is greater than demand, price decreases. When demand is greater than supply,

price increases.

LEVEL UP:Level Up based on what you learned about Mansa Musa.

You must either Super Level or Hero Level. No Flash Levels.