Mansa Musa of Mali
Mansa Musa, or Musa I, is known as one of the richest men to ever live. Even in the world of 1337-A, where laughing in the face of the impossible is all but a sport and people like Michael Sunnyside who own the indescribable amounts of wealth to rival or even exceed Mansa Musa do indeed exist, their tendency to keep things undisclosed and out of the public eye mean that Mansa Musa might well *still* be considered the richest human being to ever be alive. He ruled the Empire of Mali during the 14th century, which grew wealthy on flourishing trade. The empire had extensive access to salt, an extremely prized commodity equal in value to gold in Africa, as well as plentiful reserves of copper; the Empire of Mali also contained three incredibly rich gold mines which at the beginning of the 14th century would come to supply approximately half the Old World's gold. Mansa Musa was fabulously wealthy, commanded a mighty army that conquered dozens of cities, and had countless titles of prestige.
A devout Muslim, Mansa Musa dutifully followed its traditions and went to considerable effort to spread Islam throughout his empire. He is likely most famous due to his Hajj, the holy pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, where he personally financed the journey for thousands of people, servants, dignitaries, and animals over a journey of 4000 miles. His procession was a staggering sight, with food, supplies, water, and tons upon tons of gold dust. It included 60,000 people all wearing brocaded silks, thousands of soldiers including hundreds of men for his personal guard, and also including 80 camels specifically brought to carry hundreds of pounds of gold each, 12,000 slaves that handled bags, animals, and bore golden staffs, who traveled before the caravan to herald his arrival. He passed through Cairo in 1324 AD.
Mansa Musa was moved by the plight of the hungry and poor along his route to the Holy City, and generously gave them gold whenever he found people in need. He paid for the transport and food for all men and animals, traded gold for souvenirs, and was said to pay for a mosque to be built every single Friday. Those whose lands he visited were in awe of his incredible wealth, and he traded so much gold that he depreciated the currency and single-handedly caused vast inflation. However, he addressed this situation on his return trip by borrowing all the gold he could carry from money lenders at high rates of interest--meaning he personally controlled the price of gold throughout the Mediterranean.
Mansa Musa changed the world by his historic journey, and Europeans trade routes were altered to reach his homeland and its incredibly abundant supplies of gold, tales were told of the wonder of his coming, his wealth and his piety, and his journey to Mecca made him a worldwide legend.
He also enriched his own nation by recruiting skilled teachers, scholars, religious leaders, and all kinds of learned and people, and ensuring they returned with him to his capital of Timbuktu. He is also known to have purchased servants and slave-girls in the nations he visited, including a great many singers, dancers, and other performers. These performers and experts, including a number investigated by HOTEL time-travellers in a tense standoff, were taken home with him to his monumentally wealthy nation.
Upon their return, the architects, mathematicians, jurists, astronomers, and amazingly talented people that Mansa Musa enlisted upon his journey served him in a massive building program throughout his kingdom, staffed a university, and turned his nation into a center of culture, learning, and Islam.
