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1. Fourteenth century emperor of the mail Empire

2. Ruled from 1312-1337

3.  Controlled territories rich in gold and copper.

4. Worked on expanding trade in Mali

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One of the greatest caravans to ever cross the Sahara was led by Mansa Musa, the legendary ruler of the vast West African empire of Mali. In 1324 Musa embarked on a hajj, a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, traveling with an entourage that included 8,000 courtiers, 12,000 servants and 100 camel loads of pure gold.

"Each night when they stopped, it was like a whole town decamping in the desert," said Gus Casely-Hayford, director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art, who spoke at the Caravans of Gold opening in January. "They took with them everything they needed in the desert, including a mobile mosque they would construct so the emperor could pray."

Fourteenth century Arab historian Shihab al-'Umari wrote that Mansa Musa "flooded Cairo with his benefactions. He left no court emir nor holder of a royal office without the gift of a load of gold. ... They spent gold until they depressed its value in Egypt and caused its price to fall."

Musa is believed to have been the richest person in history, even by today's standards. His expansive kingdom included all or parts of modern-day Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.

But "Musa didn't just want wealth and power," said Casely-Hayford. "He sought something more. He sought knowledge."

When the emperor returned from Mecca to Timbuktu, he brought back scholars and an Andalusian architect from Cairo to build a great mosque - Djinguereber - an architectural masterpiece and one of most iconic buildings in Africa.

As the seat of Musa's empire, Timbuktu drew scholars from all over the Islamic world to study in its libraries and universities. At its peak, the city could accommodate 25,000 students, and its archives held more than 800,000 manuscripts, according to Casely-Hayford.

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One of the greatest caravans to ever cross the Sahara was led by Mansa Musa, the legendary ruler of the vast West African empire of Mali. In 1324 Musa embarked on a hajj, a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, traveling with an entourage that included 8,000 courtiers, 12,000 servants and 100 camel loads of pure gold.

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- Richest man in history
- Islamic
- traveled the Hajj with 100 camels loaded with 300 lb of gold

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Not Jeff Bezos, or Bill Gates: Mali's Mansa Musa was the richest man ever

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The map attributed to Abraham Cresques. Sheet 6 out of 12. This is the lower portion of the sheet and shows the Western Sahara. The Atlas Mountains are at the top and the River Niger at the bottom. Mansa Musa is shown sitting on a throne and holding a gold coin. Source: Galicia Digital Library (Fatih Uzun / TRTWorld)

His name was Mansa Musa and he was an African Muslim king, whose 4,000-mile trip to Mecca accompanied by a caravan of 60,000 people and thousands of servants, went down in history.

Musa was born in 1280, and Mansa means 'Sultan' in the native language of Mandinka spoken in the region. He came to the throne in 1312 and in his 25-year reign, the Kingdom of Mali expanded massively to include the current day nations of Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.

Some historians believe that with an inflation-adjusted fortune, his wealth amounts to around $400 billion today. But, he was not just a rich man and sultan.

Several famous historians, such as Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Fazlullah al Omari, Abdullah es Sa'di, have documented Musa. Ibn Battuta also wrote about him when he visited Mali in 1352. All these historians give prominence to Mansa Musa and his famous Hajj pilgrimage.

The pilgrimage to Mecca (also known as Hajj) is one of the five main pillars of Islam, and Musa decided to embark on Hajj in 1324-1325. But, It was not like any other journey ever witnessed. Musa quite literally paved his path to Mecca with gold and put his kingdom on the map.

Musa deputised his son Mohammad in his capital, Niani, which was located on the upper Niger River to Walata (Mauritania), and started his journey to Mecca accompanied by 60,000 people and thousands of his and his wife's (Inari Kunti) personal servants. His luggage included thousands of kilogrammes of gold (some sources claim two tonnes, while other sources say 20 tonnes) carried by camels, mules and elephants. His caravan stretched as far as the eye could see and it was claimed that it took a whole day for the caravan to pass.

A camel herder guides his flock in the desert near Dakhla in Morocco-administered Western Sahara (Fadel Senna / AFP)

Musa was famous for his generosity and piety. He built a mosque every Friday during his journed and gave away so much gold that it destabilised the economy in parts of the region for twelve years - as well as deflating the value of gold.

During his travels, Musa met with Al Malik al Nasir in Cairo, one of the most famous Mamluk sultans. When he came into the presence of Al Malik, he was asked to bend his knee as a part of the protocol but he refused, saying that he would only grovel and bend the knee for Allah (God).

Musa added that he was there just for Hajj and he didn't want to talk about politics. Then, he donated a large amount of gold to the Mamluk treasury. The Sultan of Mamluk replied in kind by giving him a palace to stay.

During Musa's stay, the members of his caravan boosted the local market by shopping in huge amounts, paying at least five dinar for something worth one dinar. In fact, Musa and his caravan's spending caused such a decline in the currency's value, that the market had still not fully recovered 12 years later.

Historian al Umari who visited Cairo 12 years after Musa's visit, found the inhabitants of this city, with a population estimated at one million, still chanting the praises of the Malian leader. The historian said Musa "flooded Cairo with his kindness".

Venetian traders who were in Cairo at the time reported that the Malian Kingdom had become one of the most important places in terms of trade.

Musa made his pilgrimage to Mecca, and donated huge amounts of gold in Mecca and Madinah. He encountered descendants of the Prophet Muhammad and gave them lands and houses and even persuaded a few of them to return to Mali with him.

Some say he brought back artists and scholars, to help develop the Mali Empire.

He stayed in the Hejaz, in present-day Saudi Arabia, for three months, and during his return, his caravan was raided by bedouins. When he arrived in Cairo, he met with Mamluk's sultan again and asked to borrow money from Egyptian traders.

Returning to Timbuktu, he built the Djinguereber Mosque and established a university attracting students and scholars from across the Muslim world, making Mali a centre of knowledge in Africa.

Musa tried to revive scientific movements in his country and sent scholars to Morocco.

He wanted to return to Mecca after abdicating the throne to his son Mega, but he passed away without returning. After his death, the Kingdom of Mali started to decline.

His portrait, drawn by Angeline Dulcert in 1339, two years after his death, could be seen on a map which also showed Mali. European cartographers increasingly started putting Mali on maps because of the fame Musa brought to the kingdom.

He took a place in Abraham Cresques' Catalan Atlas, standing in the centre of the Sahara with his crown, sceptre in one hand and gold in the other, a symbol of his country's wealth.

In the Atlas, he was mentioned as the richest black man and Sultan of the Mali who owned the wealthiest gold sources in the Sudan region. The Catalan Atlas also marks the region'strade routes pointing out Tagaza, Timbuktu, Mali and Gaor, which attracted all of Europe's attention and consolidated their desire to explore the region and colonise the continent.

His pilgrimage, generosity and reputation awakened the world to the immense wealth of Africa, and in particular, Mali.

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Not Jeff Bezos, or Bill Gates: Mali's Mansa Musa was the richest man ever

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His name was Mansa Musa and he was an African Muslim king, whose 4,000-mile trip to Mecca accompanied by a caravan of 60,000 people and thousands of servants, went down in history. Musa was born in 1280, and Mansa means 'Sultan' in the native language of Mandinka spoken in the region.

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In the vast fictional universe of Marvel Comics, T'Challa, better known as Black Panther, is not only king of Wakanda, he's also the richest superhero of them all. And although today's fight for the title of wealthiest person alive involves a tug-of-war between billionaire CEOs, the wealthiest person in history, Mansa Musa, has more in common with Marvel's first Black superhero.

Musa became ruler of the Mali Empire in 1312, taking the throne after his predecessor, Abu-Bakr II, for whom he'd served as deputy, went missing on a voyage he took by sea to find the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Musa's rule came at a time when European nations were struggling due to raging civil wars and a lack of resources. During that period, the Mali Empire flourished thanks to ample natural resources like gold and salt.

And under the rule of Musa, the prosperous empire grew to span a sizeable portion of West Africa, from the Atlantic coast to the inland trading hub of Timbuktu and parts of the Sahara Desert. As the territory grew while Musa was on the throne, so did the economic standing of its citizens.

It wasn't until 1324 that the world outside of Mali's border would get a glimpse of the king's expansive wealth. A devout Muslim in a majority Muslim community, Musa set off on a journey to Mecca for his Hajj pilgrimage. But the king didn't travel by himself.

The voyage, which would span an estimated 4,000 miles, was travelled by Musa and a caravan that included tens of thousands of soldiers, slaves and heralds, draped in Persian silk and carrying golden staffs. Although records of the exact number of people who participated in the voyage are scarce, the elaborate convoy that accompanied Musa marched alongside camels and horses carrying hundreds of pounds of gold.

Of course, this spectacle was noticed by residents of the territories that Musa passed through-after all, a group so massive was impossible to overlook. The impact the Malian emperor left on the Egyptian people would reverberate for more than a decade.

Arriving in Cairo, Musa's character was put on full display during his reluctant encounter with Cairo's ruler, al-Malik al-Nasir. According to texts from the ancient historian Shihab al-Umari, Musa was greeted in Cairo by a subordinate of al-Nasir, who invited him to meet with the fellow monarch. Musa declined the proposition, claiming that he was only passing through on his pilgrimage to Mecca.

The reason why soon became clear to onlookers. "I realized that the audience was repugnant to him, because he would be obliged to kiss the ground and the sultan's hand," said a man named emir Abu, as chronicled in the documents. "I continue to cajole him, and he continued to make excuses, but the sultan's protocol demanded that I should bring him into the royal presence, so I kept on at him till he agreed."

The meeting grew contentious when Musa refused to kiss the feet of the sultan, and only turned calm after Musa elected to properly greet al-Nasir. Following a conversation between the two men, al-Nasir offered lodging to Musa and everyone accompanying him, and Musa, in turn, left a piece of his incomprehensible wealth in Egypt.

From the markets of Cairo to royal offices to the impoverished people who crossed his path in Egypt, Musa's generosity and purchase of foreign goods left the streets littered with gold-a resource that was greatly appreciated and in short supply. The people were thrilled-at least at first. Though well-intentioned, Musa's gifts of gold actually depreciated the value of the metal in Egypt, and the economy took a major hit. It took 12 years for the community to recover.

But the king's trip wasn't all about giving. On his voyage, he acquired the territory of Gao within the Songhai kingdom, extending his territory to the southern edge of the Sahara Desert along the Niger River. He would go on to have an empire that spanned several territories, including current-day Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Mauritania, in addition to Mali.

However, Gao would be of special importance to the king. This territory, in today's Mali, is where Musa would build one of several mosques after completing his Hajj. Timbuktu was also an important city for the affluent king, who used his wealth to build schools, universities, libraries, and mosques there. The burgeoning trading hub was where Musa commissioned the Djinguereber Mosque, a famed place built of mudbrick and wood that has stood the test of time, remaining active for more than 500 years.

Word of Musa's wealth and influence only spread beyond Africa after his voyage to Mecca. Tales of his enormous convoy and generosity continued to be passed on long after his death, which is believed to have taken place sometime between 1332 and 1337. By the late 14th century, Musa had been drawn in the 1375 Catalan Atlas, an important resource for navigators of Medieval Europe. Created by Spanish cartographer Abraham Cresques, the atlas depicted Musa sitting on a throne with a gold scepter and crown, holding a gold nugget.

From the abundance of natural resources he cultivated to the growth and development of communities that he left behind, Musa has a legend that could give the fictional Black Panther a run for his money. As far as wealth goes, it is nearly impossible to quantify the riches that Musa had during his lifetime. The vastness of Musa's land and material holdings, University of Michigan associate history professor Rudolph Ware explained in Time, seems downright incomprehensible today: "Imagine as much gold as you think a human being could possess and double it, that's what all the accounts are trying to communicate," he said. "This is the richest guy anyone has ever seen."

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This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History

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In the vast fictional universe of Marvel Comics, T'Challa, better known as Black Panther, is not only king of Wakanda, he's also the richest superhero of them all. And although today's fight for the title of wealthiest person alive involves a tug-of-war between billionaire CEOs, the wealthiest person in history, Mansa Musa, has more in common with Marvel's first Black superhero.

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Mansa Musa, fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire, is the medieval African ruler most known to the world outside Africa. His elaborate pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1324 introduced him to rulers in the Middle East and in Europe. His leadership of Mali, a state which stretched across two thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Chad and which included all or parts of the modern nations of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad, ensured decades of peace and prosperity in Western Africa.

In 1312 Musa became emperor following the death of his predecessor, Abu-Bakr II. When he was crowned, he was given the name Mansa meaning king. Mansa Musa was knowledgeable in Arabic and was described as a Muslim traditionalist. He became the first Muslim ruler in West Africa to make the nearly four thousand mile journey to Mecca. Preparing for the expedition took years and involved the work of artisans in numerous towns and cities across Mali. In 1324 Musa began his pilgrimage with a entourage of thousands of escorts. He also brought considerable amounts of gold, some of which was distributed along the journey.

Accompanied by thousands of richly dressed servants and supporters Musa made generous donations to the poor and to charitable organizations as well as the rulers of the lands his entourage crossed. On his stop in Cairo, Egypt, the Emperor gave out so much gold that he generated a brief decline in its value. Cairo's gold market recovered over a decade later.

Upon his return from Mecca, Mansa Musa brought Arab scholars, government bureaucrats, and architects. Among those who returned with him was the architect Ishaq El Teudjin who introduced advanced building techniques to Mali. He designed numerous buildings for the Emperor including a new palace named Madagou, the mosque at Gao, the second largest city in Mali, and the still-standing great mosque at Timbuktu, the largest city in the empire. That mosque was named the Djinguereber. El Teudjin's most famous design was the Emperor's chamber at the Malian capital of Niani.

Mansa Musa's pilgrimage boosted Islamic education in Mali by adding mosques, libraries, and universities. The awareness of Musa by other Islamic leaders brought increased commerce and scholars, poets, and artisans, making Timbuktu one of the leading cities in the Islamic world during the time when the most advanced nations from Spain to central India were Muslim. Timbuktu was clearly the center of Islamic Sub-Saharan Africa.

Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca brought Mali to the attention of Europe. For the next two centuries Italian, German, and Spanish cartographers produced maps of the world which showed Mali and which often referenced Mansa Musa. The first of these maps appeared in Italy in 1339 with Mansa Musa's name and likeness.

Mansa Musa died in 1337 after a twenty-five year reign. He was succeeded by his son, Maghan I.

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Mansa Musa, fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire, is the medieval African ruler most known to the world outside Africa. His elaborate pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1324 introduced him to rulers in the Middle East and in Europe.