ECONOMICS (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -After his return from Mecca, Mansa Musa continued to support the Trans-Saharan trade routes and encouraged the growth of trade and commerce in his empire. He is remembered as a great ruler and a patron of learning and culture, and his reign is considered a golden age in the history of the Mali Empire.

Detailed explanation-2: -During his life, Mansa Musa also gained control of Timbuktu which stood at the crossroads of the Niger, an important means of transport, and the Saharan desert trade routes. This was the city where the Saharan salt merchants and the gold laden caravans converged.

Detailed explanation-3: -Two main trade routes developed. The first ran through the western desert from modern Morocco to the Niger Bend, the second from modern Tunisia to the Lake Chad area. These stretches were relatively short and had the essential network of occasional oases that established the routing as inexorably as pins in a map.

Detailed explanation-4: -While in Cairo, Mansa Musa met with the Sultan of Egypt, and his caravan spent and gave away so much gold that the overall value of gold decreased in Egypt for the next 12 years.

Detailed explanation-5: -Trans-Saharan Trade, also known as the Gold-Salt Trade, was an extensive network of trade routes that linked the Mediterranean world with West Africa during the Middle Ages. The trade routes facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas, and cultures between the people of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.