The richest man in history
The Emperor of Mali was the wealthiest man on the planet – but you’ve probably never heard of him
Discover why Mansa Musa’s fabulous wealth remains unrivalled to this day
If you wanted to describe someone as wealthy, you might say that they are as ‘rich as Crassus’ or call them ‘a Rockefeller’. However, while Ancient Roman businessman Marcus Licinius Crassus and American oil baron John D Rockefeller have became bywords for extravagant wealth, their respective fortunes were paltry compared to Mansa Musa, the 14th century emperor of Mali.
The Mali Empire (which in the West African Manding languages is known as Manden Kurufaba) was founded in the early 1200s and lasted into the late 1600s. It started in Niani, a town in the very east of modern-day Guinea, located on the banks of the River Niger. In the early part of the first millennium, the West African Ghanian Empire declined to the point where territories on its fringes felt emboldened to make a move for independence.
This was, of course, to the detriment of the old regime. At the same time, trade routes started to change in favour of the region around Niani which had been a Muslim region for centuries. It was positioned at the end of a vast trade network, which spread from Spain to Persia and whose epicentre was the Persian capital of Baghdad. Another important place was Cairo, the seat of the Muslim Caliph, as well as the economic centre of Egypt.
Trade plus growing territories enabled a new dynasty of rulers to emerge. The first of these was Sundiata Keita, also known as the Lion of Mali, who ruled from roughly 1235-1255 as ‘Mansa’. This is a local word for emperor.
The mansas increased their influence and power in the traditional way by conquering new territories, but they were successful in other ways as well. Mansa Uli, Sundiata Keita’s son, increased agricultural productivity in the empire. Others ensured that the city of Timbuktu had a first class university, attracting scholars from all over the Islamic world, who came to share their ideas in the fields of mathematics and astronomy.
By the early 1300s, things were going so well for the empire that Mansa Abubakari II led an expedition to ‘explore the limits of the ocean’ (the Atlantic). It is alleged that he fitted out thousands of seaworthy vessels and set off on his travels, leaving a man named Musa as his regent. This was not the first time a reigning monarch had left a designated deputy in charge. The mansas were Muslims, and as one of the pillars of Islam is that every good Muslim should go on pilgrimage to Mecca, pious mansas could be gone for a year or more in pursuit of their religious obligations. So, as Abubakari II headed off into the ocean sunset, Musa became the ruler in all but name. Exactly how far the emperor went or where he might have visited are still hot topics of discussion, but we know for certain that he never came back. Musa was crowned Mansa Musa I in 1312.
Rolling In It
However, the most remarkable story of the empire is that of Mali’s gold. By the time of Mansa Musa, historians have estimated that about half of the known world’s gold (not including that of the Americas) was held by the empire. Mali was dripping in the stuff.
The great Sankoré Mosque in Timbuktu is now a World Heritage site, and it was paid for by Mansa Musa, who hired the famous architect Abu Ishaq al-sahili to come all the way from Andalusia (a Muslim territory in modern-day Spain) to design and build. For his hard work, the architect was rewarded with about 200 kilograms of gold. That’s about $8,000,000 in today’s money, so it’s safe to say his fee probably took care of his travel expenses.
Mali’s reputation as a source of gold was so widespread that a Spanish map of 1375 depicts Mali with a picture of the mansa holding a gold coin. Putting values on historic wealth is notoriously tricky. We can work out exchanges and inflation, but that often doesn’t represent the whole picture. What we can say is that at this time and in this place, gold was a very rare commodity, far rarer than today, which probably means equivalent amounts were worth much more in the 1300s than they are today.
Add to that Mali’s lucrative trade in salt – another surprisingly rare commodity in the Middle Ages – and we see a degree of affluence that puts contemporary England’s wool production riches in the shadows. Mansa Musa was the richest man on the planet, dwarfing the personal wealth of everyone from the Holy Roman Emperors to the Mongol Khans.
But the outside world knew almost nothing about this at the start of Mansa Musa’s reign. Located in sub-saharan Africa, Mali was remote from the rest of the Islamic world, and while traders knew that certain commodities were coming out of Africa, they don’t seem to have
“trade routes started to change in favour of the region of Niani”
been tied to a specific power. This all changed with Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage to Mecca, the defining event of his reign. Before he left,
Musa followed his predecessor’s example and appointed a deputy to make decisions while he was away and to succeed him if he didn’t come back. This time Mansa Musa’s son, Magha, was chosen. While the fulfilment of a religious requirement was the primary purpose of the journey, Musa also intended to put Mali on the map of the Muslim world. It could, therefore, be argued that Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage was the most expensive and the most successful PR campaign in history.
In 1324, Mansa Musa set off from Niani on the nearly 5,500-mile journey to Mecca. This means that by the time of his return in 1325, he had travelled at least 11,000 miles, an impressive feat in the 14th century, even for a rich man.
Musa travelled up through the Sahara desert to the shores of the Mediterranean in Algeria and, from there, headed along the coast to
Egypt and then Cairo.
Though this might sound like an arduous journey even for a seasoned adventurer, Musa made sure to take all his home comforts with him. For starters, he had 80 camels for the sole purpose of transporting gold, each beast carrying up to 136 kilograms, meaning that the camels alone had (again, in modern terms) about $400 million worth of gold bullion. The chronicles record that this entourage further consisted of 60,000 slaves, plus Musa’s personal retinue of 12,000 female servants, each of them allegedly carrying 1.8 kilograms of gold, so another $15 million. But that wasn’t all. The vanguard of the procession was headed by 500 slaves, each carrying a gold-adorned staff, and members of the entourage were dressed in fine brocades and Persian silks.
While these figures alone are stunning, it must also be remembered that all of these 72,000 people (plus Musa) had to be fed every day for about a year. The cost of that alone would have been eye-watering, especially since Mansa was used to dining most lavishly.
The purpose of taking nearly $½ billion worth of gold on pilgrimage was not for fees or bribes, but for charity. Another pillar of Islam is Zakat, the giving of 2.5 per cent of one’s assets each year to benefit the poor. While it is tempting to claim that the gold destined for Mecca was therefore just 2.5 per cent of Mansa Musa’s
Enroute to Mecca “a Spanish map of 1375 depicts [mansa musa] holding a gold coin”
wealth, it was more likely a grand gesture, perhaps to compensate for the years he hadn’t got around to fulfilling his religious obligations.
Musa was full of generosity, and he changed some people’s lives with the number of gifts to the poor that he distributed. His grand tour was virtually paved with gold. It was also said that every week, wherever he found himself for Friday prayers, he paid for a mosque to be built. As he was away for about a year, that’s roughly 52 mosques to add to the bill.
Musa was warmly received by the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, al-nasir Muhammad, during his layover in Cario. However, their meeting got off to a rocky start. Musa initially refused even to see the sultan, and once in his presence refused to kneel before him. Fortunately he was persuaded to do so, and an unpleasant diplomatic incident was averted.
The sultan had been brought up in the dying days of the Crusades and had faced attacks not only by rival Muslim powers, but even by the Mongols from Persia. Indeed, by the time he met Musa, he had been on and off the throne three times (but this time he stayed in power until his death in 1341), so Musa was a welcome distraction from more immediate and dangerous challenges. Mali was too far away to be a threat,
Mansa Musa
and its ruler was a pious man, who insisted on showering the sultan – along with every other court emir and royal office holder – with gifts. What was not to like?
Credit Crunch
Unfortunately, all of this generosity had unintended consequences, which ended up being a greater threat than all the Mongols in the East. When everyone had gold, naturally prices went up. When there were more gold coins than anything else, the price of essential items such as bread increased exponentially. The economy of the entire Maghreb region was broken, and suffered hyperinflation as an inadvertent result of Mansa’s good intentions.
The impact of all this was greatest in Cairo. On his return from Mecca, Musa recognised the economic chaos that he had wreaked. He tried to fix it by ordering his retinue to borrow all the gold they could from money-lenders in Cairo. This was to be done at a high rate of interest. So now Musa created debt for himself on a trip that had already cost nearly $½ billion. While the gesture helped, it didn’t get rid of the problem. Musa’s borrowing in an attempt to adjust gold prices makes him the only man in history to directly control the price of gold in the Mediterranean region.
Meanwhile back in Mali, Gao, a city that was prone to rebelling, had risen up against the empire. By the time Musa was on the return leg of his journey, his son Magha had brought it to heel, but was still a hotbed of defiance.
Musa decided to detour his returning entourage through the city – some 1,000 miles east of his capital at Niani – not to gloat over the empire’s victory in defeating the rebels, but to wow the locals with displays of the piety and riches of their benevolent and powerful ruler. It worked. The city remained part of the Mali Empire for more than 100 years. Musa also invested in great architectural projects in the city to impress its residents and remind them what it meant to be part of the great empire.
While Christianity didn’t feature in the Mali Empire (that would come much later from European missionaries), there existed local
shamanistic traditions that might have had the power to rival Islam. As a devout Muslim, Musa wanted to ensure that nobody would be distracted by these pagan temptations. It is, therefore, unsurprising that while he was responsible for many impressive architectural achievements, mosques and madrasahs figured heavily among them.
While it’s tempting to focus on construction and trade, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Niani is a long way from the African coast, which meant there was a lot of land to be conquered before the Malians could access the seas. And cities like Gao and Timbuktu were far away from the capital, which shows expansion in every direction. This meant inevitable rebellions, armies and wars to maintain control, so the Mali Empire wasn’t exactly a peaceful paradise.
Many of the wars have been forgotten, but the opulence, and architecture have lingered in the memory to produce a legacy any ruler would be proud of.
After a long reign ruling an empire at the height of its power, spending vast amounts of money to support the sciences, and financing the construction of innumerable religious and other buildings, no one knows how or when Mansa Musa died. There are no records, which is a strange omission.
We know more about his son and his reign than we do about the man who put Mali on the map. There are stories that he simply abdicated in favour of his son, and the fact that there are no reports of a palace coup or assassination strongly imply that Mansa Musa died peacefully in his bed. Whatever happened to this fabulously wealthy emperor in the last days of his life, no one disputes that Mansa Musa ruled for 25 years and that he was a great leader.
When the famous Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta arrived in the empire in the 1350s, about 20 years after the death of Mansa Musa, he was surprised by the affluence, the scholarship and the piety of Mali’s people.
But the Mali Empire, like all empires, declined over time. However, contrary to natural assumptions, it wasn’t European colonists that took advantage of its vulnerability, but a central West African empire known as the Bamana Empire. They superceded the mansas of Mali.
Though Mali may have faded into obscurity, the legacy of the fantastic Mansa and his vast wealth lives on. As we’ve said, the value of his riches is hard to quantify, but the best estimates put it at $2 trillion. So far no one has amassed more – not a mighty king or queen, or a titan of industry - meaning Mansa Musa is not only the richest person in history, but the richest person of all time.
“Mansa Musa recognised the economic chaos he had wreaked”