If some of you know about him, I also know that he does not have the recognition that he should have. Mansa Musa is the richest man who has ever existed and, his wealth is more than two times of Jeff Bezos net worth. I found his life very impressive and believe that I should share it with you. In most history books we do not talk about productive and innovative people from the black community. if I talk about my experience as a French student, Africa was talked about only when it came to slavery and colonization. It is important to know that we had a story before it happened and that our history did not start when slave trade started. Enjoy!
Mansa Musa: Who was he?
Mansa Musa was the richest man in history. Born in 1280, he became the ruler of the Mali Kingdom after his brother, Mansa Abu Bakr II, decided to abdicate in order to explore the limits of the ocean. He was an explorer who was passionate about the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, he has never been able to return after he left the Empire in the 14thcentury. It is however, believed that he arrived in America but, never claimed that he discovered it as some people were already leaving there.
Mansa Musa was the Emperor of the Mali Empire, in West Africa. His Empire was covering the modern Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Nigeria, Chad but also, Mauritania and Burkina Faso. It did represent 500 000 squares of miles.
His net worth (current currency) is around 400 to 415 billion dollars. His fortune was mainly thanks to gold and salt which lead to the nickname “The Golden King”.
On his way to Mecca
His fame came during his journey to the Mecca. He left the Empire with 60 000 men, 12 000 servitors. He also left with a lot of fabrics, food, animals and gold. It is also said that every Friday, he built a Mosque whenever he was during the journey. He offered gold to every towns and villages he came across. His wealth was just impressive as it was told by the people who saw him. However, because of the way his money was spent and distributed among the people he met; a devaluation of gold was made in the Mecca region for six years! This shows how powerful he was.
Mansa Musa is not only known for his wealth. He developed his Empire. Many Mosques were built but also many towns were developed. Among those towns were Timbuktu, for instance. He also opened his Empire to Venice in Italy or even Genes for commercial exchanges.
The development of his Kingdom
Education was also a priority for him. When he came back to Timbuktu, he brought with him Islamic Scholars. Among them were direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad. Religion was very important for him and he wanted his Empire to have Islamic knowledge. He also came back with a poet named Abu Es Haq es Saheli who was the architect of the Djinguereber mosque, built in 1327. This poet was paid the equivalent of 8,2 million dollars.
Religion was important to him, but not only. Mansa Musa also decided to build schools and gave more importance to literature and libraries. Timbuktu was becoming a West African Eldorado and its reputation was growing outside Africa.
Death
Ramparts were built around the town of Timbuktu because of an attack from the Mossi Kingdom which happened in 1330. Those new ramparts were made after Mansa Musa was able to regain the town. This shows how powerful his army was.
Unfortunately, when he died in 1337 at 57 years old, his son was not able to keep on the work that was made by his father. The Empire scrambled down and its end was marked by the entrance of the Europeans in the Empire.
References
Websites
Youtube
Comments