Mansa Musa

factual friday

The wealthiest person that has ever lived was…

Mansa Musa, with a whopping $400 billion fortune in today’s money.

Born in 1280, he was the ‘Mansa’ of the Mali Empire, one of the most powerful Islamic West African states.

His empire was so rich in gold that when he went on Hajj to Mecca (taking an entourage of 60,000 people), he passed through Egypt and gave away so much gold it devalued for about 10 years!