BUSINESS
When he traveled to Mecca, his caravan included more than 60,000 people, 12,000 slaves, and 100 camels, each carrying over 300 pounds of gold. After reaching the Egyptian capital Cairo, he donated gold so much that the value of the precious metal plummeted and it caused inflation. Who was he?
Updated : Jun 24, 2025, 05:49 PM IST
 "Mansa Musa, World's Richest Man")
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He was richer than today's richest man in the world. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Larry Page, all will pale before him. Mansa Musa is considered the richest man in history. The man, who ruled West Africa from 1312 to 1337, was the world’s largest producer of gold at his time. If his wealth is adjusted to today’s economy, it would be more than $500 billion or Rs 43.7 trillion. Now compare his wealth with today's 10 richest men: Elon Musk: $385 billion, Mark Zuckerberg: $246 billion, Jeff Bezos: $230 billion, Larry Ellison: $227 billion, Bill Gates: $176 billion, Steve Ballmer: $168 billion, Warren Buffett: $153 billion, Larry Page: $150 billion, Bernard Arnault: $147 billion, Sergey Brin: $141 billion.
When Mansa Musa traveled from West Africa to Mecca (perhaps on Hajj) in 1324, he shook the economy of all the countries he crossed. His caravan included more than 60,000 people, 12,000 slaves, and 100 camels, each carrying over 300 pounds of gold. After reaching the Egyptian capital Cairo, he donated gold so much that the value of the precious metal plummeted and it caused inflation.
However, Musa did not run a company, did not trade or do any business that could generate this much of wealth. As he was the emperor, Musa has control over all the natural abundance of Mali. His country also had a well-established trade network dealing in gold, salt, ivory. It was spread globally, from Africa to Europe and the Middle East.
Being a benevolent despot, he used his wealth to promote education and architecture. He also constructed many mosques, madrasas and learning centers, many of which still stand as monuments to his legacy.
