MANSA MUSA - Richest Man That Ever Lived

Today we decided to do something different, remembering Africans who affected the African economy

·       Mansa Musa – Richest Man That Ever Lived

   We all know the Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega and probably Warren Buffet as the world’s richest men but have you ever thought of finding out the richest man that ever lived?
Of course the Christians would say is King Solomon of Isreal but have you ever questioned that?

Mansa the Malian word for king. King Musa of Mali (1280 - 1337) the tenth King and grandnephew of warrior King Sundiata the man that established Mali as a major empire then in the 13^th century.  As an Islam he journeyed to Mecca which was about four miles from West African country Mali on pilgrimage (1324 - 1325) which was to go down in history as the most lavished pilgrimage of all time.  His generosity on his way to Mecca led to the drastic deflation of gold in the cities of Cairo, Medina and Mecca; this took a dozen years for gold to regain its value. Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you 12years! Never in history has the value of gold been controlled by one man to this day.

    On his return, he brought architects to Timbuktu and erected some massive buildings including the great Djinguereber mosque – famous learning centre of Islam and culture, which is still there till today. He brought scholars to the University of Sankore in Mali, stocked the libraries with books and studying facilities. The library of this university is one of the largest library in the world just because of him. His 25years of reign as King marked Timbuktu as one of the largest Islamic cities in the world. He had a son Mansa Maghan who was his successor to the throne after his death. His year of death is contradictory some scholars say its 1332 and some other scholars say its 1337.

   With a calculated net worth of $400 billion in comparison to Bill Gates' $79.3billion, Mansa Musa whose empire covered modern day Ghana, Mali and Timbuktu is now seen to be the richest man to have ever walked the earth. Books like Reynold Jay’s The Gold of Mansa Musa and James Oliver’s Mansa Musa and the Mali empire to mention but a few suggests that Mansa Musa – “The Black Moses” as some scholars will call him, is not only the richest human being that ever lived but also one of the most popular kings of Africa if not the most popular.