Editing Mansa Musa (section)

==Later reign==

===Construction in Mali===
Musa embarked on a large building program, raising [[mosques]] and [[Madrasah|madrasas]] in Timbuktu and [[Gao]]. Most notably, the ancient center of learning [[Sankore Madrasah]] (or University of Sankore) was constructed during his reign.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://muslimheritage.com/the-university-of-sankore-timbuktu/ | title=The University of Sankore, Timbuktu | date=7 June 2003 }}</ref>{{bsn|date=March 2025}}

During this period, there was an advanced level of urban living in the major centers of Mali. Sergio Domian, an Italian scholar of art and architecture, wrote of this period: "Thus was laid the foundation of an urban civilization. At the height of its power, Mali had at least 400 cities, and the interior of the [[Inner Niger Delta|Niger Delta]] was very densely populated."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/africanlegends.htm#mansa|title=Mansa Musa |publisher=African History Restored|year=2008|access-date=29 September 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081002094536/http://www.africanholocaust.net/africanlegends.htm#mansa|archive-date=2 October 2008|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2024}}

===Economy and education===
[[File:Djingareiber cour.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|The [[Djinguereber Mosque]], commissioned by Mansa Musa in 1327]]
It is recorded that Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of [[Timbuktu]] and [[Gao]] on his way to [[Mecca]], and made them a part of his empire when he returned around 1325. He brought architects from [[Andalusia]], a region in Spain, and Cairo to build his grand palace in Timbuktu and the great [[Djinguereber Mosque]] that still stands.{{sfn|De Villiers|Hirtle|2007|page= 70}}

Timbuktu soon became the center of trade, culture, and Islam; markets brought in merchants from [[Hausaland]], Egypt, and other African kingdoms, a university was founded in the city (as well as in the Malian cities of [[Djenné]] and [[Ségou]]), and Islam was spread through the markets and university, making Timbuktu a new area for Islamic scholarship.{{sfn|De Villiers|Hirtle|2007|page= 74}} News of the Malian empire's city of wealth even traveled across the Mediterranean to southern Europe, where traders from [[Venice]], [[Granada]], and [[Genoa]] soon added Timbuktu to their maps to trade manufactured goods for gold.{{sfn|De Villiers|Hirtle|2007|page= 87–88}}

The [[University of Sankore]] in Timbuktu was restaffed under Musa's reign with jurists, astronomers, and mathematicians.<ref>{{harvnb|Goodwin|1957|p=111}}.</ref> The university became a center of learning and culture, drawing Muslim scholars from around Africa and the Middle East to Timbuktu.

In 1330, the kingdom of [[Mossi Kingdoms|Mossi]] invaded and conquered the city of Timbuktu. Gao had already been captured by Musa's general, and Musa quickly regained Timbuktu, built a rampart and stone fort, and placed a standing army to protect the city from future invaders.{{sfn|De Villiers|Hirtle|2007|page= 80–81}} While Musa's palace has since vanished, the university and mosque still stand in Timbuktu.