The Wealthiest Man To EVER Walk The Earth: It's Not Who You Think
The Richest Man To Walk The Earth
There have been several wealthy people in the past, capable of transactions that even some nations couldn’t afford.
When people hear “richest man in history”, they think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or maybe some Roman emperor with a fancy toga (a distinctive garment of ancient Rome).
But this is wrong.
The richest man in history was none other than Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali Empire during the 14th century.
This man was so rich that modern billionaires don’t even come close.
Who was Mansa Musa?
Mansa Musa was the ruler of West Africa around 1312-1337 and he ruled one of the wealthiest empires the world had ever seen.
Mali sat on massive gold mines, major salt trade routes and the key paths that linked Africa to the Middle East as well as Europe.
Gold was not a luxury back then, like it is now. It was the global economy.
And Emperor Mansa Musa owned an amount of it that’s so ridiculous, even your wildest dreams would probably be an underestimation.
How rich was he?
His wealth was so vast that historians simply don’t bother trying to calculate his wealth.
The reason is simple. His wealth was so large that it would break our modern calculations.
Some estimates have casually placed him at roughly $400 billion, but this estimate is substantially underselling his riches.
Mansa didn’t just have money. He was fully in control of the source of that very money as well. Think of it like having an infinite ATM card.
If he was running out (which, let’s face it, would be impossible in and of itself) he could simply have more gold mined.
The pilgrimage that crashed economies
In 1324, Mansa Musa had embarked on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which is the holiest city in Islam.
And he was not quiet about it at all.
He brought tens of thousands of his loyal followers with him, and camels loaded with gold and an overly inflated generosity, that it turned into a catastrophe.
Once he arrived in Cairo, Egypt, he gave away gold like it was wheat or barley. Of course, the people were grateful. But not for long.
As a result of Musa’s mega altruism, a wave of massive inflation took place.
Yes, Mansa Musa was so rich that his mere generosity caused entire economies to be damaged.
It isn’t far fetched to call this emperor a financial natural disaster.
More than just gold
Mansa Musa wasn’t the typical emperor overloaded with wealth and enjoying his life. Of course he was one, but he did much more than that.
He invested.
He used his immeasurable wallet to build universities, libraries, mosques as well as centers of learning such as Timbuktu, which became a global knowledge hub.
His led an empire that valued not just treasure, but also education, trade as well as culture.
He was a rare combo of power and vision.
Why you’ve barely heard of him
Unfortunately, history books more often than not, focus on Europe. Especially since Europe had the courtesy of involving itself with most of the world’s history a few hundred years ago.
Mansa Musa ruled Africa at a time when much of the world was still figuring itself out.
As a result, his legends are often not as popular as others. However, his legend persists and forever will.
Silence, by no means, is equal to insignificance.
Wealth compared to modern billionaires
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and the others are, indeed, insanely rich. However, that is by modern standards.
There is a massive difference between the two.
Their wealth is linked to their companies, which essentially are fictitious entities given value by the people who trust and buy their stocks.
Mansa Musa owned actual, tangible resources that he could liquify or invest at a moment's notice without having to sign any forms.
While stocks rice and fall, resources such as gold have persisted for millennia. Gold mines don’t care at all about market crashes.
Simply put, modern billionaires heavily influence markets. Mansa Musa, on the other hand, was the market.
Power, not just possession
Mansa’s wealth wasn’t just sitting in vaults or bank accounts.
His wealth gave him political influence, great military strength and cultural authority that no billionaire can hope to achieve.
His empire was powerful enough to shape trade routes, control prices and decide who prospered (although their generosity did have some undesired results).
This is not being rich; this is being a structural superpower.
Why can’t his wealth exist today
Absolutely no one today can repeat this phenomenon.
This is because economies are now global, wealth is regulated and most of all, resources are distributed.
It is not probable for anyone to monopolize a singular resource to that extent.
If one man controlled most of the world’s gold, modern economists would go into comas.
Mansa Musa existed at a rare moment in time where absolute control was still a possibility.
His legacy
Long after his demise, Mali remained known for many things such as learning, scholarships, wealth and culture.
Timbuktu was not a myth; it was a real intellectual capital of the world.
In Mali, books and ideas mattered as much as gold.
Where did his wealth go afterwards?
As with other empires, his wealth got passed down to successors.
However, without Mansa Musa’s level of control and vision, internal power struggles weakened the empire, trade routes shifted, new powers rose and resources slipped out of centralized control.
In other words, the gold didn’t disappear.
It simply spread across the globe and escaped Mali through trade. The Mali empire’s downfall wasn’t caused by money running out, but by poor management.
However, perhaps the gold being decentralized was a good thing for humanity in the long run.
Final thoughts
While modern billionaires have stocks and huge numbers on screens, Emperor Mansa Musa had tangible, physical gold, real resources and direct control over global trade.
He wasn’t just the richest man of his time; he was also the richest man ever.