Mansa Musa's brother Kanku Musa raids Fouta Djallon

1316

As Mali consolidated its imperial reach, the royal armies conducted raiding expeditions into the gold-rich upper Senegal and Niger headwaters, capturing slaves for Saharan trade and tightening tributary relationships with Mandinka and Fulani chieftains. These campaigns secured the gold sources of Bure and Bambuk that underwrote the empire's wealth. The gold that fed Musa's legendary hajj came from these frontier wars.