Is Mansa Munsa the World’s Richest Human being?
According to the 2019 Forbes billionaires list, announced in March 2019, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest individual on the planet. With a fortune of around $131 billion (99 billion), he is the richest man in modern history. He is not, however, the wealthiest individual who has ever lived.
Mansa Musa, a 14th century West African leader who was so wealthy that his charitable donations harmed an entire nation’s economy, is supposed to have had such title. Modern reports of Musa’s fortune are so incomprehensible that it’s practically impossible to get an understanding of just how rich and powerful he had become, (said Rudolph Butch Ware, a professor of history at University of California).
Mansa Musa was “more prosperous compared to anyone could possibly describe.” In 2015, Jacob Davidson covered the African king for Money.com.
The US website ” Celebrity Net Worth ” estimated his riches at $400bn in 2012. However, economic historians acknowledge that his riches are impossible to determine to a number.
The 10 richest men in history.
- Mansa Musa, king of the Mali empire (1280-1337) – immensurable wealth.
- Augustus Caesar, Roman emperor (63 BC-14 AD) – $4.6 tn (₤ 3.5 tn).
- Zhao Xu, emperor Shenzong of Song in China (1048-1085) – immensurable wealth.
- Akbar I, emperor of India’s Mughal dynasty (1542-1605) – immensurable wealth.
- Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919, Scottish-American industrialist) – $372bn.
- John D Rockefeller (1839-1937) American company magnate) – $341bn.
- Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (1868-1918, Tsar of Russia) – $300bn.
- Mir Osman Ali Khan (1886-1967, Indian royal) – $230bn.
- William The Conqueror (1028-1087) – $229.5 bn.
- Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011, long-time ruler of Libya) – $200bn.
The golden king
In 1280, Mansa Musa was born into a family of rulers. His brother, Mansa Abu-Bakr, ruled the empire till 1312, when he relinquished to explore.
According to 14th Century Syrian historian Shibab al-Umari, Abu-Bakr was infatuated with the Atlantic Ocean and what lay past it. He reportedly started an exploration with a fleet of 2,000 ships and thousands of men, women, and servants. They cruised off, never to return.
Like the late American historian Ivan Van Sertima, some consider the concept that they got to South America. However, there is no proof of this.
All the same, Mansa Musa acquired the kingdom he left. Under his control, the kingdom of Mali expanded considerably. He annexed 24 cities, consisting of Timbuktu.
The kingdom stretched for roughly 2,000 miles, from the Atlantic Ocean to modern-day Niger, absorbing parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Ivory Coast.
Having such a big continent comes incredible resources like salt and gold. In the words of the British Museum, during Mansa Musa’s reign, Mali’s realm accounted for approximately half of the Old World’s gold. And it all belonged to the monarch.
“As the leader, Mansa Musa had practically unlimited access to the most highly valued source of riches in the medieval world,” Kathleen Bickford Berzock, curator of African art at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art, told the BBC.
The centers of commerce which dealt in precious metals, as well as other goods, were also within his territory, and he accumulated riches from this business,” she explained.
The trip to Mecca
Although Mali’s gold-rich dominion, the kingdom itself was rarely known. This transformed when Mansa Musa, a devoted Muslim, determined to travel to Mecca with a 60,000-man caravan over the Sahara Desert and Egypt.
He brought his entire royal court, officials, troops, griots (entertainers), merchants, camel drivers, and 12,000 servants, as well as a large train of goats and lambs for nourishment. It was a city on the move across the desert.
A city where everyone, including slaves, was dressed in gold brocade and the finest Persian silk. A hundred camels were still in tow, each carrying several pounds of pure gold. It was an interesting sight to see. In addition, the vista became much more sumptuous once the caravan arrived in Cairo, where they could show off their financial status.
The Cairo gold crash
Mansa Musa made such an indelible mark on Cairo that al-Umari, who visited the city 12 years after the Malian king, noted how highly Cairo residents spoke of him. He lavishly distributed gold in Cairo, causing the price of gold in the region to fall for ten years, and the economy to suffer.
According to the US-based modern technology company SmartAsset.com, Mansa Musa’s trip resulted in around $1.5 billion (1.1 billion) in economic losses throughout the Middle East owing to gold appreciation.
Mansa Musa passed through Egypt once more on his way back home. According to others, he attempted to help the country’s economy by removing some of the gold from circulation by borrowing it back from Egyptian financial institutions at a high interest rate.
Malian griots, who sing history narratives, were especially concerned by him, says Lucy Duran of the School of African and Oriental Studies in London.
He provided so much Malian gold in the process that jelis [griots] don’t like to praise him in their songs because they think he threw away local sources outside the empire, she alleged.
Education at heart
Mansa Musa had effectively put Mali and himself on the map. A 1375 Catalan Atlas map depicted an African ruler sat on a golden throne above Timbuktu, holding a chunk of gold in his hand. Timbuktu became an African El Dorado, and people travelled from far and wide to see it.
The fabled status lasted until the nineteenth century as a shining city of gold on the rim of the world, a magnet for European fortune hunters and explorers. This was primarily owing to the efforts of Mansa Musa 500 years before.
Timbuktu ended up being an African El Dorado, and also, people came from near and far to have a peek.
The legendary status persisted to the 19th Century as a shed city of gold at the edge of the globe, a flare for European fortune hunters and explorers. This was mainly due to the ventures of Mansa Musa 500 years prior.
Mansa Musa got back from Mecca with a group of Islamic academics, including direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad and an Andalusian poet and designer named Abu Es Haq es Saheli, who is widely credited with creating the famed Djinguereber mosque.
The poet was allegedly paid 200 kilograms (440lb) in gold by the king, which would undoubtedly be $8.2 million (6.3 million) in today’s money.
He likewise sponsored the arts and construction, but also works of literature and the construction of educational institutions, libraries, and mosques. Timbuktu quickly became a learning hub, with students coming from all over the world to pursue education at what would later become Sankore University.
Although the wealthy king is frequently credited with establishing the practice of education in West Africa, the story of his empire is mostly unknown outside of West Africa. Victors write history, according to Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II.
When Mansa Musa died in 1337, at the age of 57, his sons inherited the empire, but they were unable to keep it together. The minor states disintegrated, and the empire fell. The subsequent entrance of Europeans in the area was the final blow for the empire.
The story of Mansa Musa, according to Lisa Corrin Graziose, director of the Block Museum of Art, is not generally recognized because medieval history is still mostly viewed as Western history.
“All things would have been different if Europeans had shown up in significant numbers during Musa’s time, when Mali was at the peak of its armed forces and also economic power, rather than a couple of hundred years later,” Mr. Ware allegations.
Originally published on bbc.com. Read the original article.
