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Ruling a kingdom that stretched across Africa, Mansa Musa I\u2019s lands held the world\u2019s most abundant stores of gold and controlled vital trading routes. During a pilgrimage to Mecca, he astounded onlookers with a glittering parade of slaves and camels transporting gold staffs, bars and dust. But he was also noted for promoting scholarship and a system of law.<\/p>\n It\u2019s impossible to know this for certain. However, here is what the historical sources do tell us: in 1324, Mansa Musa, ruler of the medieval Mali empire, which stretched across west Africa (not to be confused with today\u2019s Mali), set off on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam.<\/p>\n He undertook a lengthy trip across the Sahara, journeying from the banks of the Niger river towards the Nile and Red Sea. His party included thousands of soldiers and hundreds of enslaved people carrying salt, gold and other riches. During his trip he stopped in Cairo, where he reportedly injected so much gold into the local economy that the metal\u2019s value dropped throughout Egypt, earning him his reputation as the richest man of all time.<\/p>\n Mansa Musa\u2019s spectacular pilgrimage signalled to the world the capabilities of a powerful west African state, and the aspirations of its ambitious ruler. In the pilgrimage\u2019s wake, the cities of Timbuktu and Jenne in Mali grew into major hubs for the trade in commodities \u2013 especially those derived from the region\u2019s natural resources, as well as slaves and books \u2013\u00a0welcoming local scholars and intellectuals from throughout the Islamic world.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mansa Musa\u2019s fortune was certainly colossal by any historical or contemporary standards. However, numbers floating around estimating it in hundreds of billions of today\u2019s dollars are pure speculation. Moreover, these sky-high estimates obscure the fact that there remains a lot that scholars don\u2019t know about the economy, politics and organisation of the empire.<\/p>\n Answered by Madina Thiam, doctoral candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles, who specialises in Mali and the Sahel<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Rockefeller was the founder and major shareholder in Standard Oil Company which, at its peak, produced 90 to 95 per cent of the US\u2019s oil. Following the success of his first refinery in Ohio, through canny investments he eventually became America\u2019s first billionaire. He donated at least $540 million to charity.<\/p>\n This Scottish-American tycoon worked up through the ranks of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, before setting up his own business to supply steel. His company sold in 1901 \u00a0to financier J. P. Morgan for a record sum of $480 million, and Carnegie received $250 million as his personal share, but, by his death, his fortune had depleted thanks to vast philanthropic donations. This Roman statesman had fingers in many pies, the most lucrative being property he had confiscated or bought at knock-down prices while it burned. Having profited from these \u201cpublic calamities\u201d, his fortune was estimated at 200 million sesterces. It was reported that after his death in battle, his opponent punished his greed by filling his mouth with molten gold. Inheriting the wealth of the centuries-old Romanov Imperial dynasty in 1894, Nicholas II was the last Tsar of Russia\u2019s glittering court. Much was tied up in the state, but also displayed in magnificent palaces, jewellery and works of art. Following the slaughter of Nicholas and his immediate family in 1918, most of the assets were seized by Bolshevik revolutionaries.<\/p>\nWas Mansa Musa the richest man ever?<\/h4>\n
John D Rockefeller (1839\u20131937)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
Andrew Carnegie (1835\u20131919)<\/h3>\n<\/div>
Marcus Licinius Crassus \u2018The Rich\u2019 (c115\u201353 BC)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n
Nicholas II of Russia (1868\u20131918)<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n