December 16, 2024 • 12 mins
In honor of the holiday season, we are re-releasing our 12 Days of Christmas special! For the next 12 days, we will re-release one episode a day, each one with our own spin on the classic holiday theme, "The 12 Days of Christmas."
Katie tells the story of Mansa Musa.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
all right, everyone say it with me now five golden
rings, that's some bling, let metell you.
And with that, cindy, I have toask who do you think is the
(00:34):
wealthiest person in all ofhistory?
Lil Wayne?
No, no, I'm just kidding.
I was thinking didn't heactually come up with the term
bling?
No, he's not the inventor ofbling.
Oh, okay, so the richest personMinus no, he's mythical.
(00:56):
But good guess, I give up.
Well, I wouldn't have beendisappointed if you had said
Bill Gates, jeff Bezos or evenElon Musk.
As of May 2021, jeff Bezos'value is about 18,.
Excuse me, jeff Bezos' value isabout $187 billion, with a B
(01:20):
dollars US dollars.
So I mean, that's no sum toreally shake a stick at.
However, that's less than halfthe amount of money that the
richest person in all of historywas worth estimated.
Does the name Mansa Musa ringany bells?
Yes, it actually does ring abell, but don't know why.
(01:45):
I really have heard that's.
Oh, I know why I've heard of itbecause it's in our podcast.
I was okay, spoiler alert, Iwas going to cover him in
another.
We do have a running list of,like our podcast, topics that
(02:06):
we'd like to cover and people inhistory we'd like to cover, and
so when this opportunitypresented itself, I said you
know what?
Let me just jump on it and getit out of the way.
So yeah, so Mansa Musa was theking of the Mali Empire during
the 14th century CE.
During the 14th century CE.
So he began his reign in 1312.
Which, if you ask me, I thinkhe has the most interesting
(02:32):
ascension to power story that Ihave ever heard.
So his family was no strangerto power.
This isn't a rags to richeskind of story, by any stretch of
the imagination.
The emperor who preceded himwas Abu Bakari II, and Musa was
(02:55):
asked to become his like a vicepresident, almost in case
something happened to him orsomething like that.
And this was very, very commonat this time period for leaders
in Mali.
You have, like your backup guy.
So one day Abu Bakari IIdecides he wants to find out
what's on the other side of theAtlantic Ocean.
(03:16):
He wants to find out what's onthe other side of the Atlantic
Ocean.
So he gets approximately 2,000ships together and he sets sail.
He gets about 2,000 shipstogether and sets sail west to
see what is on the other side ofthe horizon, and he never
returns.
So Musa becomes king and Mansais actually it's an honorary
(03:40):
title just like Khan is or likeGenghis Khan.
So he becomes the leader of theMalian Empire, and at the
height of his power.
This includes the moderncountries of Senegal, Gambia,
guinea, niger, nigeria, chad,martorinia, mali, burkina Faso
(04:04):
and Ivory Coast.
So Musa had made quite a bit ofmoney from the salt and gold
trade, the area of the world inwhich Mali is located.
To the north, you have have theSahara Desert and you've got
salt mines, and then to thesouth, you've got rich deposits
(04:25):
of gold, and he was able tocapitalize on taxing both of
those items, as they were tradedin opposite directions.
And so he didn't just make hismoney by mining these items, but
also taxing them as well.
Very smart guy.
Items, but also taxing them aswell Very smart guy.
But he wasn't really that wellknown until he went on a hajj,
which is a journey to Mecca in1324.
He traveled.
(04:47):
So to get to Mecca from theMalian Empire he had to travel
approximately 4,000 miles, andlet me tell you, mansa Musa did
it in style, and he didn't do italone.
He had about 60,000 people, sowe're talking slaves, servants,
(05:08):
soldiers, supporters, whojourneyed along with him across
the Sahara, the Sahara.
They stopped in Cairo, theystopped in Mecca.
And he was so wealthy and sojust generous with his wealth
and just gave it out so freelythat he, single-handedly, was
(05:30):
able to cripple the economy ofCairo for a decade because he
gave out so much gold anddevalued gold so much in that
Egyptian city by his one visit.
That's how wealthy he was.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
One visit.
Well, you figure, 60,000 peoplejust come upon the city for one
(05:59):
trip and they use all theirgold and everybody's got some
gold.
You get gold.
It's like the ultimate versionof the Oprah holiday episode.
And, by all accounts, he treatedeveryone who traveled with him
very well.
Even his slaves were said to beoutfitted in the finest silks.
(06:20):
They carried golden spears,they were literally dripping
with wealth and extravagance.
Because if you have $400billion with a B in modern money
, that's like your children'schildren's children never have
to ever worry about money.
(06:41):
You can just bandy about likeit's nothing.
I can't even conceptualizehaving that much wealth.
It's insane.
But he also used his money for anumber of charitable purposes
and furthering education withinhis own country, um, furthering
(07:02):
the arts.
He built they said that hebuilt a mosque every single
Friday during his reign, and oneof the mosques that he was,
that he built still stands todayand you can go visit it in
Timbuktu.
Yes, really so he built themall at like a cross throughout
his travels Throughout theempire.
(07:22):
As far as I know, not duringhis travels, but more just like
across the Malian empire, whichspans hundreds and hundreds of
miles.
So just anywhere you can throwup a mosque.
It sounds like he was puttingthem up.
He also.
He also founded a number ofuniversities, some of which are
still in existence today, and hedid quite a bit to enrichen his
(07:46):
country.
And at that time period,timbuktu was considered the
epicenter of culture of learning.
A center of culture of learning.
It attracted thousands ofscholars from around Africa and
parts of the Middle East to comeand study and learn and enrich
themselves.
(08:06):
That's incredible, mm-hmm.
And I'm not sure exactly whenhe died.
I've seen conflicting dates.
I've seen 1332.
I've seen 1332.
I've also seen 1337.
And because of his travels onthe Hodge, his reputation
(08:30):
eventually made its way toEurope.
Have maps from like the 14thand 15th centuries that he
literally put the Malian Empireon European maps, just based on
this one enormous trip that hetook and it's been viewed as
like the Eldorado of Africa,that a lot of Europeans had this
idea that it was literally acity, you know, covered in gold,
(08:55):
based on how wealthy he was andhow much he did to build up the
city itself.
And for a lot of Europeans itsounded it was a very attractive
.
Some people thought of italmost as a myth because at this
time period, you know the 1300sEuropeans are dealing with the
bubonic plague, they're dealingwith civil wars left and right,
(09:15):
they're dealing with just liketheir economy is absolutely
crippled.
So it's no wonder that the ideaof this golden city state on a
hill would sound so attractive.
He became almost like amythological figure.
So that begs the question whathappened to all his money?
(09:36):
So that begs the question whathappened to all his money?
I guess it just got spent.
No-transcript is generations,generations of children, and are
there any like legends outthere about where gold might be
hidden?
No, it's like it's all gone.
It's all gone.
(09:57):
There's no fairy tale, it's allgone.
No, no.
But I have seen some um youtubevideos that have gone into a
number of the mosques inTimbuktu that were built by him.
Texts from the date all the wayback from.
You know 1100, um, just thathave not been translated into
(10:34):
any other languages besidesarabic.
So, if you ask me, the treasureis really there.
We need I don't.
I have to do more research.
I don't know if any of thesetexts have been scanned.
Scanned the treasure, thetreasure five golden rings, not
(10:56):
five books of information.
The real treasure is friendship, cindy, you and I making this
podcast together.
This is Mansa Musa's legacyfriendship.
I want money.
This podcast together.
This is Mansa Musa's legacyFriendship.
I want money.
I want 400 billion dollars.
(11:19):
That's what I want and that'sthe story of Mansa Musa Five
Golden Rings, thank you.
all right, everyone say it with me now five golden
rings, that's some bling, let metell you.
And with that, cindy, I have toask who do you think is the
(00:34):
wealthiest person in all ofhistory?
Lil Wayne?
No, no, I'm just kidding.
I was thinking didn't heactually come up with the term
bling?
No, he's not the inventor ofbling.
Oh, okay, so the richest personMinus no, he's mythical.
(00:56):
But good guess, I give up.
Well, I wouldn't have beendisappointed if you had said
Bill Gates, jeff Bezos or evenElon Musk.
As of May 2021, jeff Bezos'value is about 18,.
Excuse me, jeff Bezos' value isabout $187 billion, with a B
(01:20):
dollars US dollars.
So I mean, that's no sum toreally shake a stick at.
However, that's less than halfthe amount of money that the
richest person in all of historywas worth estimated.
Does the name Mansa Musa ringany bells?
Yes, it actually does ring abell, but don't know why.
(01:45):
I really have heard that's.
Oh, I know why I've heard of itbecause it's in our podcast.
I was okay, spoiler alert, Iwas going to cover him in
another.
We do have a running list of,like our podcast, topics that
(02:06):
we'd like to cover and people inhistory we'd like to cover, and
so when this opportunitypresented itself, I said you
know what?
Let me just jump on it and getit out of the way.
So yeah, so Mansa Musa was theking of the Mali Empire during
the 14th century CE.
During the 14th century CE.
So he began his reign in 1312.
Which, if you ask me, I thinkhe has the most interesting
(02:32):
ascension to power story that Ihave ever heard.
So his family was no strangerto power.
This isn't a rags to richeskind of story, by any stretch of
the imagination.
The emperor who preceded himwas Abu Bakari II, and Musa was
(02:55):
asked to become his like a vicepresident, almost in case
something happened to him orsomething like that.
And this was very, very commonat this time period for leaders
in Mali.
You have, like your backup guy.
So one day Abu Bakari IIdecides he wants to find out
what's on the other side of theAtlantic Ocean.
(03:16):
He wants to find out what's onthe other side of the Atlantic
Ocean.
So he gets approximately 2,000ships together and he sets sail.
He gets about 2,000 shipstogether and sets sail west to
see what is on the other side ofthe horizon, and he never
returns.
So Musa becomes king and Mansais actually it's an honorary
(03:40):
title just like Khan is or likeGenghis Khan.
So he becomes the leader of theMalian Empire, and at the
height of his power.
This includes the moderncountries of Senegal, Gambia,
guinea, niger, nigeria, chad,martorinia, mali, burkina Faso
(04:04):
and Ivory Coast.
So Musa had made quite a bit ofmoney from the salt and gold
trade, the area of the world inwhich Mali is located.
To the north, you have have theSahara Desert and you've got
salt mines, and then to thesouth, you've got rich deposits
(04:25):
of gold, and he was able tocapitalize on taxing both of
those items, as they were tradedin opposite directions.
And so he didn't just make hismoney by mining these items, but
also taxing them as well.
Very smart guy.
Items, but also taxing them aswell Very smart guy.
But he wasn't really that wellknown until he went on a hajj,
which is a journey to Mecca in1324.
He traveled.
(04:47):
So to get to Mecca from theMalian Empire he had to travel
approximately 4,000 miles, andlet me tell you, mansa Musa did
it in style, and he didn't do italone.
He had about 60,000 people, sowe're talking slaves, servants,
(05:08):
soldiers, supporters, whojourneyed along with him across
the Sahara, the Sahara.
They stopped in Cairo, theystopped in Mecca.
And he was so wealthy and sojust generous with his wealth
and just gave it out so freelythat he, single-handedly, was
(05:30):
able to cripple the economy ofCairo for a decade because he
gave out so much gold anddevalued gold so much in that
Egyptian city by his one visit.
That's how wealthy he was.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
One visit.
Well, you figure, 60,000 peoplejust come upon the city for one
(05:59):
trip and they use all theirgold and everybody's got some
gold.
You get gold.
It's like the ultimate versionof the Oprah holiday episode.
And, by all accounts, he treatedeveryone who traveled with him
very well.
Even his slaves were said to beoutfitted in the finest silks.
(06:20):
They carried golden spears,they were literally dripping
with wealth and extravagance.
Because if you have $400billion with a B in modern money
, that's like your children'schildren's children never have
to ever worry about money.
(06:41):
You can just bandy about likeit's nothing.
I can't even conceptualizehaving that much wealth.
It's insane.
But he also used his money for anumber of charitable purposes
and furthering education withinhis own country, um, furthering
(07:02):
the arts.
He built they said that hebuilt a mosque every single
Friday during his reign, and oneof the mosques that he was,
that he built still stands todayand you can go visit it in
Timbuktu.
Yes, really so he built themall at like a cross throughout
his travels Throughout theempire.
(07:22):
As far as I know, not duringhis travels, but more just like
across the Malian empire, whichspans hundreds and hundreds of
miles.
So just anywhere you can throwup a mosque.
It sounds like he was puttingthem up.
He also.
He also founded a number ofuniversities, some of which are
still in existence today, and hedid quite a bit to enrichen his
(07:46):
country.
And at that time period,timbuktu was considered the
epicenter of culture of learning.
A center of culture of learning.
It attracted thousands ofscholars from around Africa and
parts of the Middle East to comeand study and learn and enrich
themselves.
(08:06):
That's incredible, mm-hmm.
And I'm not sure exactly whenhe died.
I've seen conflicting dates.
I've seen 1332.
I've seen 1332.
I've also seen 1337.
And because of his travels onthe Hodge, his reputation
(08:30):
eventually made its way toEurope.
Have maps from like the 14thand 15th centuries that he
literally put the Malian Empireon European maps, just based on
this one enormous trip that hetook and it's been viewed as
like the Eldorado of Africa,that a lot of Europeans had this
idea that it was literally acity, you know, covered in gold,
(08:55):
based on how wealthy he was andhow much he did to build up the
city itself.
And for a lot of Europeans itsounded it was a very attractive
.
Some people thought of italmost as a myth because at this
time period, you know the 1300sEuropeans are dealing with the
bubonic plague, they're dealingwith civil wars left and right,
(09:15):
they're dealing with just liketheir economy is absolutely
crippled.
So it's no wonder that the ideaof this golden city state on a
hill would sound so attractive.
He became almost like amythological figure.
So that begs the question whathappened to all his money?
(09:36):
So that begs the question whathappened to all his money?
I guess it just got spent.
No-transcript is generations,generations of children, and are
there any like legends outthere about where gold might be
hidden?
No, it's like it's all gone.
It's all gone.
(09:57):
There's no fairy tale, it's allgone.
No, no.
But I have seen some um youtubevideos that have gone into a
number of the mosques inTimbuktu that were built by him.
Texts from the date all the wayback from.
You know 1100, um, just thathave not been translated into
(10:34):
any other languages besidesarabic.
So, if you ask me, the treasureis really there.
We need I don't.
I have to do more research.
I don't know if any of thesetexts have been scanned.
Scanned the treasure, thetreasure five golden rings, not
(10:56):
five books of information.
The real treasure is friendship, cindy, you and I making this
podcast together.
This is Mansa Musa's legacyfriendship.
I want money.
This podcast together.
This is Mansa Musa's legacyFriendship.
I want money.
I want 400 billion dollars.
(11:19):
That's what I want and that'sthe story of Mansa Musa Five
Golden Rings, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com