Mansa Musa's Lost City: The Legend of the Mint

This episode explores one of the great mysteries of the Mali Empire: the fabled lost city of Niani's royal mint, where some historians believe Mansa Musa struck gold coins that never entered the historical record. Lucas and Luna sift through the evidence—from Al-Umari's descriptions of Mali's gold trade to the complete absence of Mansa Musa's own coinage in archaeological finds—and ask whether the mint ever existed or was a legend born from European wishful thinking. They examine the farba system of controlled gold distribution, the role of the dyula merchants, and the practical reasons why Mali may have deliberately avoided minting coins. Along the way, they discuss the one possible exception: a mysterious gold dinar that surfaced in 19th-century Morocco, now lost. What does the absence of coinage tell us about Mansa Musa's economy? And what would the discovery of his mint mean for African history? #MansaMusa #MaliEmpire #GoldCoins #Mint #Niani #Farba #Dyula #AlUmari #AfricanHistory #SaharaTrade #Wangara #Currency #GoldTrade #MedievalAfrica #IslamicNumismatics #LostCity #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo