Our daughter asked if Timbuktu was ever a real place. Oh, yes! I rushed to the internet and quickly got distracted by the story of the man who annexed the legendary but real city of Timbuktu. King Musa Keita I, crowned in 1312, ruled an empire that stretched about 2,000 miles. He was a good king. He conquered 24 cities with surrounding villages and estates, but he traveled far and wide, giving away so much gold, the market value of gold temporarily declined. He ruled with kindness and wisdom. He should be more familiar to us than King Solomon.

(image courtesy of curionic.com)

Black History Month starts next week. Time to remind the world that African King Musa Keita I – the richest person of all time — “richer than anyone could describe” — ruled all (or parts) of modern day Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad.

Why do the evil conquerors live on in history,

but Asoka (aka Ashoka), the first Buddhist king, and good King Musa Keita I, are unheard of by most people?

--Granted, King Musa Keita had thousands of slaves. Even if he treated them well, who wants to be a slave?
Thomas Jefferson, hundreds of years later, had slaves.
Still, both these esteemed leaders and visionaries did more good for others than ill, right? (Right??)

Good deeds are worthy of comic books, action adventure movies, and thrillers. Just toss in an evil villain, and bring to life, in graphic novels and illustrated children’s books and Disney movies, the GOOD GUYS.

I'd love to see video footage, if not 14th Century comic books (ooh, fun!) of King Musa's 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca, in which he crossed nearly 4,000 miles. He traveled with 60,000 men, including 12,000 slaves and silk-dressed heralds who carried gold bars, organized horses, and handled bags. Musa gave away gold to the poor he met along the way.

From Business Insider:

… Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage boosted Islamic education in Mali by adding mosques, libraries, and universities. The awareness of Musa by other Islamic leaders brought increased commerce and scholars, poets, and artisans, making Timbuktu one of the leading cities in the Islamic world during the time when the most advanced nations from Spain to central India were Muslim. Timbuktu was clearly the center of Islamic Sub-Saharan Africa.

Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca brought Mali to the attention of Europe. For the next two centuries Italian, German, and Spanish cartographers produced maps of the world which showed Mali and which often referenced Mansa Musa.

...Various East and West African ethnic nations lay verifiable claim to their Jewish ancestral heritage. Almost 300,000 “of those black Falasha Jews live in the modern State of Isreal as practising Jews. True black history.”

---

Our grandson, Winslow, is the son of a native of Liberia (next door to Ghana). If I believed in reincarnation, I’d swear that Winslow is a great emperor who’s come back as a 21st Century American citizen.

Below: Winslow at the age of one week (in tux), then one month (with his paternal grandpa), then 2 months (his maternal great-grandpa is a farmer of German descent)

---

If I can locate a good children's book about King Musa Keita I, I'll buy it for him.
If not, I may have to write it myself.

---

Help Me! Authors, Artists of Steemit,

Help me launch a series of illustrated children's books that enlighten them with tales of great people, history that our public schools are failing to teach.

We have writers from all over the world at Isle of Write.

If you'd like to wash up on our shore, a click of the map brings you straight to our door!

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics