The Man that Crashed Another Kingdom's Economy
The wealthiest man in the world nearly bankrupted Egypt
The richest man in the world today is Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos. His net worth is an estimated $187.1 billion. While impressive, it pales compared to the richest man's wealth in history.
Mansa Musa ruled the kingdom of Mali from 1312 to 1337. His empire consisted of the Kingdom of Ghana, conquered two hundred years earlier, and the modern country of Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, and The Gambia.
The Mali Empire was situated at the center of trade in West Africa. They controlled the gold and salt trades in the region and grew to be the most important trade center in that part of the world. While it is difficult to put an ancient ruler's wealth in a modern context, most historians estimate his net worth to be about $400 billion.
Mansa Musa also made Mali a center of learning by incorporating the cities of Goa and Timbuktu. He also desired to create closer ties between his kingdom and the wider Muslim world. As a result, he went on a hajj to Mecca.
The hajj is a pilgrimage that all Muslims are expected to make at least once in their life. As a devout man, Musa made plans to trek across Africa to visit the holy city in 1324. He took with him a big caravan and a vast amount of gold.
As Mansa Musa made his way to Mecca, he contacted other rulers across north Africa. One such stop was Cario, the capital of Egypt. After meeting with Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad in July of 1324, Mansa Musa went on a shopping spree and showered the people with gifts. The generous king then continued on his way to Mecca.
Unknown to Mansa Musa, his lavish spending had done severe damage to the economy of Egypt. This massive influx of gold significantly devalued the metal and caused prices of goods to inflate. The event plunged Egypt into a ten-year recession.
When Mansa Musa made his way back from Mecca, he got word of the damage his spending had done. He went about buying back all the gold he could from money-lenders in Cairo at a considerable interest rate. This action helped relieve the inflation's damage and kept Egypt from a complete economic collapse.
This tale of one king personally affecting the price of gold in the region spread across the Muslim world and only worked to increase Mansa Musa's fame. As a result, Mali became a center of trade and learning in Africa.
Some scholars theorize that Mansa Musa's actions in Egypt may have been intentional. Egypt at the time was the major trade center of the Mediterranian Sea, and being able to show off the ability to single-handedly affect the economy of another kingdom was a severe power move.
While we may never know if Mansa Musa intentionally collapsed and then recovered the Egyptian economy, what we can say is that Mansa Musa used his massive wealth for the good of his kingdom. He initialed multiple building projects of mosques and universities. Under his leadership, Mali became one of the wealthiest states in history.
