So what's so important about the story of Mansa Musa? Well, first, it tells us that there were African kingdoms ruled by fabulously wealthy African kings, which undermines one of the many stereotypes about Africa, that its people were poor and lived in tribes ruled by chiefs and witch doctors. Also, since Mansa Musa was making the Hajj, we know that he was A, Muslim, and B, relatively devout. And this tells us that Africa, or at least Western Africa, was much more connected to the parts of the world we've been talking about than we generally are led to believe. Mansa Musa knew all about the places he was going before he got there, and after his visits, the rest of the Mediterranean world was sure interested in finding out more about his homeland. Mansa Musa's pilgrimage also brings up a lot of questions about West Africa, namely, what did his kingdom look like and how did he come to convert to Islam? The first question's a little easier, so we'll start with that one.