In a world where every decade, brings forward a new name as the richest person of the world, it would be hard to believe, that the richest man to ever lived, maintains his position, even almost 700 years after his death. Many empires & emperors have risen and disappeared from the face of the world in the last 7 centuries, but the richest man to ever exist, set a standard, that nobody has been able to break till now.
The richest man to live was not born in Europe or even in any fabled kingdom of Asia. The story starts in western Africa, during the Middle Ages. Mansa Musa (Mansa meaning - the emperor), was born in 1280 AD and ascended the throne of the Malian Empire in 1312. It was a time when Europe, was passing through the dark ages, and much of the continent was plagued by famine and civil wars. However, many Islamic kingdoms, including those in Africa were flourishing. It was in this background that the legend of Mansa Musa – The richest man to have ever lived was born.
Although fairly popular in the Islamic world as the richest Muslim that ever lived, Mansa Musa’s rise to fame had both to do with his hard work and destiny. Although born into a royal family in 1280 AD, Mansa Musa became a king by a twist of fate. In 1312, the incumbent ruler & the elder brother of Mansa Musa–Mansa Abu Bakr, left on a voyage to discover the other side of Atlantic Ocean, leaving Mansa Musa in charge of the empire. The huge fleet which consisted of 2000 vessels and thousands of people including men, women & slaves, never returned back from their journey.
The misfortune, however, made Mansa Musa, the official emperor of the Mali Empire, and he used the situation, to further his own interests. He soon set out to increase the boundaries of his empire and soon 24 vital cities, were brought under his domain. Annexing strategically important cities like – Timbuktu and Gao, enabled him to take control over important trade routes, which extended between the West African coast and the Mediterranean.
Under the rule of the new emperor, the Mali empire reached new heights of glory. The new empire, which had grown its size by over 3 times, stretched for 2000 miles across western Africa. This wide area of erst while Mali empire is at present distributed over 9 West African countries. The tributes and taxes collected from the people across this vast landscape added to Mansa Musa’s coffers and made him tremendously rich.
The newly increased size of the Mali empire added many precious areas, rich in natural resources like - salt and gold. Almost half of the gold used in the world at the time came from the Mali empire. As the absolute monarch of the country, all these resources were the emperor’s personal property. Having control over important trade routes of the time, and of an unimaginable amount of gold, made Mansa Musa extremely rich and very powerful.
The emperor and his kingdom did become very prosperous, by all the wealth of trade and gold mining, but the world outside was still oblivious about the state of affairs about the West African empire. All that would change in the year – 1324, and the world would for the first time, experience the grandeur & magnanimity of Mansa Musa.
Mansa Musa was a deeply dedicated Muslim and in the year 1324 decided to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. His caravan of 60,000 people; included 12,000 slaves, as well as numerous courtiers, soldiers, entertainers, camel drivers, and merchants. The caravan resembled a city moving along the vast landscapes of Africa. All these people, including the slaves, were attired in the finest of Persian silk, clad in golden brocade and carried staffs made of gold. Each of the slaves carried 4 lb or 1.8 kg gold. A column of horses and camels accompanying the caravan were also carrying hundreds of pounds of gold. Musa also took care of the food and other requirements, which were needed by people in the caravan.
His passage to Mecca, made him pass through vast stretches of northern Africa and the Middle East. It was during his passage through Egypt that Mansa Musa’s caravan & his vast riches became the cynosure of all eyes. Musa who had been distributing the gold to all the poor that he met along the route, broke all records of his extravagance once he reached Cairo. He handed out so much gold to the needy and poor of the city that the value of gold in the city crashed to rock – bottom levels and the economy was devastated. It is said that although filled with good intention, Mansa Musa’s philanthropic acts caused tremendous financial turbulence in Egypt, from which to recover, the country took almost 12 years.
Besides distributing gold to the poor & exchanging the valuable metal for souvenirs, he also spent considerable finances to build mosques. All these extravagances were seen by many eye witnesses, whose description of the incident have been recorded in many journals and historical records. Not just in Cairo, but also in other cities, the philanthropic actions of Mansa Musa caused the price of gold to fall tremendously, which also affected the prices of other goods and essential commodities.
Realizing his mistake, on his way back he tried his best to reverse the damage by borrowing back all the gold, that he had earlier given, at high interest rates. His people were not very happy, with him for wasting the nation’s precious resources for his own personal whims and fancies. Finally, the trip ended after a year, and by the time he returned back to his own empire, the fame of Mansa Musa and the Mali empire had spread far and wide.
The richest man to ever exist knew that he had wasted a lot of his country’s resources during his pilgrimage, which did not go down very well with many of his subjects. However, even during his pilgrimage, his generals had continued their endeavor to increase the size of the empire. Mansa Musa now decided that he would use the resources of the country for its betterment.
He started many construction projects in Mali, most notably in the cities of Timbuktu and Gao. Many educational institutes and mosques were made by him, for the enlightenment of his subjects. The ancient University of Sankore (Sankore Madrasah) is one of the notable institutions, that was built during his rule. The University had a respectable faculty of mathematicians, astronomers, and jurists. The University soon emerged as a famous center for learning, where scholars and students came from far away places of Africa and the Middle East. At its peak of glory, the university assumed the stature of one of the grandest universities to have ever existed in Africa, with around 1,000,000 manuscripts and accommodation facilities for 25,000 students.
The number of well-established cities, with all necessary infrastructure, increased tremendously during his reign. The architects brought by him from Andalusia in Spain & the city of Cairo, build him a grand palace and the famous Djinguereber Mosque, in the city of Timbuktu. The architect of the mosque was reportedly paid 200 kg in gold for his endeavors, and for good reasons. The city soon assumed the stature of African El Dorado, with people coming from distant places to visit and admire the city’s gold-clad buildings and exquisite streets.
Under the rule of Mansa Musa, Timbuktu became a famous center of education, Islamic culture, and trade. Traders from different parts of Africa came to Timbuktu for trade and commerce. The stories of incredible riches made even merchants from southern Europe visit Timbuktu, where they would exchange their goods for gold.
The richest man to ever live, finally died in 1337 AD, aged 57 years. Unfortunately, his heirs were not capable enough to hold together the empire. The empire broke down as the various small states broke away from it. Stories of incredible wealth, attracted the wrong kind of attention, as the Portuguese started launching naval raids against the nation in the 15th century. The beginning of the end of the legend of Mansa Musa and his prosperous empire had begun. It would be just a matter of time before the world would once again forget the glorious history of the emperor and his empire.
In the modern world, when people think of the richest person in the world, they usually think of tech billionaires living in Silicon Valley. However, as great as the achievement of these esteemed people may be, they do not come anywhere close to rulers who existed in ancient days. Of course, any person who has absolute control over the resources of his country is bound to be incredibly rich. The emperor of the West African Mali empire was one such person, who was the richest man to live.
The rise of Mali took place during the dark ages of Europe when the western world was passing through a difficult phase. However, in Africa, Mansa Musa and his empire were gradually achieving legendary status. The emperor had literally put himself and his empire on the map, when one of the most important world maps of medieval Europe – The Catalan Atlas of 1375, showed the emperor holding a golden scepter & looking at a golden nugget in his hand. Although the emperor & his empire are long gone, the relics of this great ancient past still survive to this day, existing as a testament to this golden period of Mali’s history.