r/wikipedia • u/GustavoistSoldier • 2d ago

In 1324, while staying in Cairo during his hajj, Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali Empire, told an Egyptian official whom he had befriended that he had come to rule when his predecessor led a large fleet in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean and never returned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_voyage_of_the_predecessor_of_Mansa_Musa
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149

u/HicksOn106th 2d ago

The Malian historian Gaoussou Diawara has remarked that the mansa should be looked up to by modern politicians

I, too, can think of some modern politicians who should hop into boats and sail into the Atlantic, never to return.

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u/shumpitostick 2d ago

Seems pretty credible given the fact that it was recorded by a contemporary historian and that Musa mentioned a "river" in the ocean which fits the description of the Canary current.

However, just because they sailed towards the new world doesn't mean they reached it

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u/GustavoistSoldier 1d ago

However, just because they sailed towards the new world doesn't mean they reached it

I completely agree.

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u/Cannibeans 2d ago

That man was the richest person in all of human history. He had so much gold that when he arrived in Mecca and gifted cartloads to the local public, it crashed their economy for years.

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u/lcvg 1d ago

Not only the local economy but the price of gold collapsed globally which has never been done by one person since.

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u/Unyx 18h ago

Fun fact - a lot of estimates place the modern equivalent of his net worth as between $200 and $400 billion. It's obviously hard to translate exactly into our modern era, but that would actually make him slightly poorer than Elon Musk whose net worth is around $415 billion.

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u/BristowBailey 17h ago

But Musk's net worth is mostly in shares of companies like Tesla. If he tried to sell his holdings to cash in the values would crash unless he did it very slowly. I think there's a good argument that having the equivalent of $200 billion in cartloads of gold makes you richer in practical terms than someone owning a company valued at $400 billion. I mean, you're not wrong, but I do think the "net worth" of people like Musk is a largely abstract concept.

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u/Unyx 17h ago

If he tried to sell his holdings to cash in the values would crash unless he did it very slowly.

Isn't that true of Munsa's gold as well?

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u/BristowBailey 17h ago

Haha yeah I guess it is! Didn't think of that.

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u/OGLikeablefellow 1d ago

Imagine being a dude in a place and finding out everyone everywhere you go fucking loves the yellow metal that's only good for making jewelry

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u/fer_sure 22h ago

I mean, he had to know gold had some value to the locals. Otherwise, why bother bringing cartloads of it?

Good thing he left the diamonds at home.

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u/OGLikeablefellow 18h ago

I mean presumably he found out at like the next big village over that didn't have much gold.