Key Takeaways
In Europe , the 1300s were dismal days — a period of spiritual insularity and superstitious notion made even sorry by the arriver of theBlack Death , an outbreak of bubonic pest that killed an estimated 50 million multitude on the continent alone . Meanwhile , thousands of mile aside in sub - Saharan Africa , the Mali Empire was live a medieval flourishing of culture and learning fueled by impossible wealthiness .
At the centre of it all was a West African Martin Luther King Jr. refer Mansa Musa , who predominate over a immense Muslim empire stretching 2,000 miles ( 3,219 kilometers ) from the Atlantic Ocean to modern - 24-hour interval Niger . But more important than the size of it of Mansa Musa ’s empire was the richness of his natural resources — two extremely productivegoldfields renowned for producing the purest and most in demand gold in the world .
If the stories tell about Mansa Musa are truthful — that he and his court were bedecked in consummate gold , and that he spent so much gold on a pilgrim’s journey to Mecca that he devalued the price of gold for decades — then he may have been the richest human being to ever live . The websiteCelebrity nett Worth sayshe was worth $ 400 billion in today ’s buck , earn Mansa Musa well-nigh four times as rich as Jeff Bezos .
The Gold King
Mansa Musa inherited the can of the Mali Empire between 1307 and 1312 ( Mansa means " sultan " or " emperor " in the Mandinka language ) and cement the empire ’s office at the nitty-gritty of a huge mediaeval trade net that join Asia , the Middle East and Europe via Africa by annexing 24 cities . A percentage of all the gold mine in the conglomerate wassent as tributeto the king . Some author say it was as much as 1 to 1 .
An elaborate fourteenth - 100 function calledthe Catalan Atlasfeatures a prominent illustration of Mansa Musa seat on a plush throne , crowned in gold , throw a scepter in one hand and a large golden orb in the other .
" This Moorish ruler is refer Musse Melly [ Mansa Musa ] , lord of the negroes of Guinea,“reads the function ’s description . " This mogul is the rich and most distinguished ruler of this whole part on history of the great quantity of gold that is detect in his land . "
The 14th - one C Arab historian Al-‘Umari cater a used account of Mansa Musa ’s opulent throne room , purportedly dripping in amber .
" [ The king of Mali ] has with him his subdivision , which are all of gold — blade , javelin , quiver , bow and arrows,“wrote Al-‘Umari , who then line the members of the Malian royal courtyard . " Their intrepid cavaliers weary golden bracelets . Those whose knightly valor is swell fag out atomic number 79 necklet also . If it is greater still they add gold anklet . "
Historians discourage that we should take these ancient accounts with a metric grain of salt , since they are often slanted and almost for certain enlarged , but they also carry elements of truth .
Kathleen Bickford Berzock is the associate music director of curatorial personal business at Northwestern University ’s Block Museum , where she curateda stunning exhibitabout the trans - Saharan trade meshing that made Mansa Musa so incredibly productive . She says that the " spacious stroke " of the stories surrounding Mansa Musa are factual even if the details were aggrandize over fourth dimension .
" sure Mansa Musa and other rulers from these West African kingdom had access to huge amount of wealth , and the Au itself was conceive the purest , most worthful gold of its daytime , " sound out Berzock . " Whether he was the richest man in the account of the world , I do n’t fuck . "
Mansa Musa Goes to Mecca
A devout Muslim , Mansa Musa wanted to dispatch thehajj , the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca , the holiest urban center inIslam . So , in the class 1324 , the Malian king set out for modernistic - day Saudi Arabia with a train of fabulous proportions .
According to Al-‘Umari , the Muslim assimilator who was born a decade after the noted hajj , Mansa Musa ’s caravan swelled to 60,000 people , include 12,000 striver and countless court functionary , soldier and singing poets calledgriots . As for traveling money , Al-‘Umari said that Mansa Musa brought a " hundred loads of gold " for the misstep . If a single load equals 100 pound sign ( 45 kilograms ) of gold , as some estimate , that ’s a passel of bullion .
The journeying to Mecca and back took a full year with long layover in Cairo . accord to Al-‘Umari , Mansa Musa went on an epic outgo spree in the Egyptian capital , turn over out gold like it was candy .
" The man flooded Cairo with his benefactions,“wrote Al-‘Umari . " He left no royal court emeer … no bearer of a royal spot without the gift of a load of gold . The Cairenes made incalculable profits out of him and his cortege in purchasing and sell and yield and pickings . They commute gold until they depressed its value in Egypt and get its cost to fall . "
That ’s right . The exchange pace for gold fell throughout the Middle East because of the shopping habits and courtly payoff of a unmarried man . And accord tosome sources , Au pricesstayed down for a decade .
Salt Above Gold
Mansa Musa was so crazy wealthy because he sat atop the medieval world ’s most vibrant trade internet . The hungriness for West African amber was so great that dealer were uncoerced to cross the Sahara Desert to get their men on it .
" That journeying by camel caravan took three to four calendar month , with stretching of 10 sidereal day or more between stops , " say Berzock . " It was a really demanding and arduous journey , with some considerable risk . "
But the risk was worth the advantage . West African gold was literally the " golden banner , " and land across the world wanted to strike their gold currentness with the stark stuff . astonishingly , the commodity that was most prized in gold - gormandise Mali was salt . It was even used as a currency there . So , caravans would kibosh along the path to Mansa Musa ’s empire and trade their textiles and spiciness for large slab of Saharan salt .
The medieval Arab author Ibn Battuta claim that the Saharan outpost of Teghaza was so copious with desert salt that its building were made of complete rock saltiness . Once in Mali , some sources say that heavy slabs of common salt could be traded for their weight in amber .
Berzock pronounce that the moneymaking salt - gold deal supported a much larger trans - Saharan patronage internet with " entrepôts " — intermediary trade hubs — in city like Sijilmasa in Morocco , Niamey in Niger and Tadmakka in Mali .
" On the heel of this gold and salt barter come up all these different commodities : glass beads , glass vas ware , books , cloth , spices , enslave people , " aver Berzock . " It ’s a very complex thriftiness that get out of this crucial trade of gold for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks . "
The Overlooked History of Africa
Berzock enounce that a larger - than - life design like Mansa Musa highlights the key and influential role of sub - Saharan Africa in mediaeval global business deal , a story often overshadow by what came after it : hundred of transatlantic slave trade and European colonialism .
Before and after the reign of Mansa Musa , the Mali Empire was not only loaded , but a capital of Moslem learning . The fabled Malian city of Timbuktu was home to one of thelargest libraries of Islamic scholarshipin the knightly world .
" We want to reshape how African history is taught and to reinvest it with the true agency and the true significance it deserve , " says Berzock . Her showing , " Caravans of Gold , " is set to open at the Smithsonian ’s National Museum of African Art in 2020 at a particular date to be find out .
