Editing Mansa Musa (section)

==Early life and accession to power==
The date of Musa's birth is unknown, but he appears to have been a young man in 1324.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|p=104}} The ''Tarikh al-fattash'' claims that Musa accidentally killed Kanku at some point prior to his hajj.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|p=109}}

Musa ascended to power in the early 1300s{{efn|The exact date of Musa's accession is debated. Ibn Khaldun claims Musa reigned for 25 years, so his accession is dated to 25 years before his death. Musa's death may have occurred in 1337, 1332, or possibly even earlier, giving 1307 or 1312 as plausible approximate years of accession. 1312 is the most widely accepted by modern historians.<ref name="Bell 1972">{{harvnb|Bell|1972}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Levtzion|1963|pp=349–350}}</ref>}} under unclear circumstances. According to Musa's own account, his predecessor as Mansa of Mali, presumably [[Mohammed ibn Gao|Muhammad ibn Qu]],<ref>{{harvnb|Fauvelle|2018}}</ref> launched [[Atlantic voyage of the predecessor of Mansa Musa|two expeditions]] to explore the [[Atlantic Ocean]] (200 ships for the first exploratory mission and 2,000 ships for the second). The Mansa led the second expedition himself and appointed Musa as his deputy to rule the empire until he returned.<ref>{{harvnb|Al-Umari|loc=Chapter 10}}</ref> When he did not return, Musa was crowned as mansa himself, marking a transfer of the line of succession from the descendants of Sunjata to the descendants of his brother Abu Bakr.<ref>{{harvnb|Ibn Khaldun}}</ref> Some modern historians have cast doubt on Musa's version of events, suggesting he may have deposed his predecessor and devised the story about the voyage to explain how he took power.<ref>{{harvnb|Gomez|2018}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Thornton|2012|pp=9,11}}</ref> Nonetheless, the possibility of such a voyage has been taken seriously by several historians.{{sfn|Gomez|2018|p=101}}{{sfn|Devisse|Labib|1984|p=666}}{{sfn|Thornton|2012|p=13}}