A detail from the 1375 Catalan Atlas, showing the Malian Emperor Mansa Musa holding a gold coin
Added 2019-08-29 10:25:40 +0000 UTCThis is the lower portion of the sheet and shows the Western Sahara. The Atlas Mountains are at the top and the River Niger at the bottom. Mansa Musa is shown sitting on a throne and holding a gold coin.
The Catalan inscription reads:
aquest senyor negre es appellat musse melly, senyor dels negres de Gineva. Aquest rey es lo pus rich el pus noble senyor de tota esta pertida per labondançia de lor lo qual se recull en la suua terra.
Translation:
This black gentleman is called Mansa Musa and is the ruler of the negroes of Guinea. This king is the richest and noblest gentleman in all the region on account of the abundance of gold that is obtained from his land.
Comments
That's a beautiful manuscript. Thank you as always for going to the effort of posting all this fascinating supplementary material to your podcasts. BTW I first heard of Mansa Musa as a kid playingWhere In The World Is Carmen Sandiego on my PC!π Not your typical academic source LOL!
Sarah O'Donoghue
2019-08-29 12:46:56 +0000 UTC
