Jean-Louis Roy

A pioneering work, full of detail and depth of knowledge about Africa ... a must read! Two powerful forces converged to shift global development in the last three decades from the West to the East and Asia. These same forces now make Africa the "construction site of the century." Africa in the decade 2040- 2050 will have a population of 2.5 billion people. Together with China and India, Africa will surely affect our planet's future! "Africans are and will continue to be the beneficiaries of two dramatic global transformations: first, the shift of wealth from the West to the East and the South; second, the impact of the universalization of the digital age. The OECD stated that the first transformation is " ... the most important shift in the history of humanity; "the second marks the emergence of new forms of human civilization ... This book documents these transformations now taking hold in Africa, however incomplete , unequal and difficult. But these changes are robust and decisive. In Africa, like everywhere else in the world, strategies and actions must be put into place to seize the moment which is so unique in global history." —Jean-Louis Roy, from the Introduction

Mansa Musa I - Kankan Moussa: from Niani to Mecca vividly recounts, in an intense and almost cinematic manner, the unique story of the young West African ruler Mansa Musa I, the King of Mali, who ruled over a massive territory from 1312 - 1337. Mansa Musa's territory of rule stretched across two thousand miles, spanning the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad. Under his rule, his state prospered and it is estimated that he was the wealthiest man in the world. In 1324-1325, he undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca with a massive retinue of twelve thousand men. The voyage, at that time was without precedent - crossing the deserts of the Sahara all the way to Arabia, a distance of some four thousand kilometres. His intent was to bring the very best of the Arabic world, scholars, government bureaucrats, architects, educators, commercial know how, poets, artisans to his massive kingdom. Effectively, he was to transform his kingdom to become a leading force in the world at that time. He succeeded, indeed, and his pilgrimage brought his Malian kingdom to the attention of Europe. For the next two centuries, Italian, German and Spanish cartographers produced new maps of the world showing the vital routes which connected Africa to Arabia.