Mansa Musa of Mali made the pilgrimage to Mecca with a vast retinue, spending so much gold in Cairo that its value fell, spreading Mali's fame across the Islamic world and Europe.
Great Zimbabwe, a city of mortarless stone enclosures, was the centre of a powerful state that prospered from cattle and the gold trade with the Swahili coast.
Qutb ud-Din Aibak establishes the Delhi Sultanate, which dominates much of northern India for over three centuries.
Mamluk slave-soldiers overthrow the Ayyubids and seize power in Egypt, ruling Egypt and Syria for over two and a half centuries.