africa is a continent full of legends men and women who have greatly impacted the course of
history kings and queens scientists historians and many more who have placed africa as a cradle of
humanity welcome to the legends of africa series where we take a look into the rich and complex
world of our past through the lives of great men and women who we consider today our legends
before we get into today's video be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell
in today's video we take a look at the richest human to have ever lived mansa musa he was the
10th king of the mali empire which consisted of present-day guinea senegal mauritania
gambia and modern day mali he took power in 1312
during which the mali empire flourished thanks to ample natural resources like gold and salt
during his reign his empire grew to expand a sizable portion of west africa
from the atlantic coast to the inland trading hub of timbuktu
and parts of the sahara desert and as he grew so did the economic standing of his citizens
mansa musa was the son of faga leia and kanku his father was the son of abu bakari a brother
of sunjata the first months of mali mansamusa did not inherit the kingdom as any other king
instead he came to power through a practice of appointing a deputy when a king goes on
his pilgrimage to mecca or some other endeavor and later names the deputy as heir according to
primary sources mansa musa was appointed deputy when the previous king reportedly embarked on
an expedition to explore the limits of the atlantic ocean and never returned
according to a malayan scholar gosu de awara in his book the saga of abu bakr ii he left with 2
000 boats giving up all power and gold to pursue knowledge and discovery abu bakr's ambition was to
explore whether the atlantic ocean like the great river niger swept through mali had another bank
it is believed that he landed in america nearly 200 years before europeans where he
and his crew settled there and integrated with the locals thus left the kingdom to mansa musa
mansa musa was a devout muslim and in 1324 he set off on a hajj ahad is a pilgrimage to the
holy city of mecca in saudi arabia which every adult muslim takes at least once in their lifetime
the journey was an estimated 6500 kilometers which he traveled in style he took along with him 8 000
companions 12 000 servants and 100 caramels loaded with pure gold each night when they stopped it was
like a whole town was decamping in the desert as they had all the natural resources they needed
including a mobile mosque which they constructed for the empire to pray one evening when talking
to his wife inari she commented on how she loved the journey but missed swimming in the river niger
to satisfy his wife he ordered for a pool to be built in the sahara desert
each of his men had to pour out their drinking water to fill a pool
and she swam to her heart's desire for that day and then they moved on mansa musa is believed to
be the richest human even by today's standards and alongside being wealthy he was extremely generous
from the markets of cairo to royal offices to anyone who crossed his path in egypt
mansamusa's generosity was greatly felt as he gifted them with pure gold he left the streets of
egypt littered with gold a resource that was greatly appreciated and in short supply
the people were thrilled at first though the gift of gold actually ended up depreciating the value
of gold in egypt and the economy took a major hit it actually took them 12 years for their empire
to recover this mistake became apparent to mansa musa when he was returning from his pilgrimage
he borrowed all the gold he could carry from moneylenders in cairo at high interest rates this
is the only time recorded in history that one man directly controlled the price of gold in the world
stories of his great wealth reached europe the catalan atlas which is a medieval map created
in 1375 by a spanish cartographer shows west africa dominated by a depiction of mansa musa
sitting on a throne holding a nugget of gold in one hand and a golden staff in the other
after the publication of this atlas mansa musa became cemented in the global imagination as
a figure of stupendous wealth on his trip he also acquired gao within the songhai kingdom
extending his territory to the southern edge of the sahara desert along the niger river although
his kingdom was vast dao had a special place for the king it is there that he built one of
several mosques after completing his hajj timbuktu was also an important city and he built schools
universities libraries and mosques there timbuktu drew scholars from all over the islamic world to
study in its libraries and universities his legacy is not only of his great wealth but that of his
generosity and wisdom what are your thoughts about today's video and thoughts of mansa musa let us
know in the comments below thank you for watching and if you haven't subscribed yet please do so and
hit the notification bell if you have enjoyed today's video be sure to give it a thumbs up
also make sure to watch our other videos we celebrate our mama africa we have the mysteries
of africa series and the amazing people of africa series been me linda from tuna travel be sure
to check out my youtube channel until the next video stay safe and remember africa is watching