Mansa Musa, the monarch of the 14th century Mali is most remember for b) his conversion to Islam and his pilgrimage to Mecca. Mansa Musa was a devout Muslim and since he had a long pilgrimage from Mali to Saudi Arabia, many eyewitnesses saw his pilgrimage complete with a huge number of men (numbering high into the thousands) and the gold he gave away to the poor in the cities he encountered.