The Interesting Story Of The Richest Man Who Ever Lived
Mansa Musa served as the ninth ruler of the Mali Empire, and while his interesting story has been largely forgotten today, he may have been the richest person in world history.
He rose to power around 1312 and amassed his enormous fortune by taxing the trade of salt and gold, which were found in abundance in West Africa. He put this immense wealth on display in 1324 when he embarked on an elaborate pilgrimage to Mecca.
Public DomainAn illustration of Mansa Musa from the 14th-century Catalan Atlas.
Mansa Musa’s caravan traveled across the Sahara Desert, through cities like Cairo and Medina, and finally to Mecca with a procession of more than 60,000 people, including 12,000 slaves. He also reportedly brought 80 camels, each laden with 300 pounds of gold. The ruler spent so much money in Cairo that he flooded the market and devalued the currency for more than a decade.
Mansa Musa used his wealth to construct a great number of mosques, to the point that legend says he built one every Friday. The most famous of the structures he commissioned is the Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu.
When adjusted for inflation, Mansa Musa’s net worth is believed to have been more than $400 billion. He died around 1337, leaving behind a legacy as one of the richest men — if not the richest man — in history.
