Figure of the month: US$ 400 billion

As of August 2023, Tesla founder Elon Musk is considered the richest person in the world with a fortune of US$234 billion. However, this only holds true compared to the contemporary super rich. French entrepreneur Bernard Arnault would then come in second at US$213 billion, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in third place with assets worth US$158 billion. However, taking historical figures into account changes the picture. 

Kankan Mansa Musa I: the richest man of all time

Commonly referred to simply as “Mansa Musa” for short, Mansa standing for “king”, the emperor of the West African country Mali, who ruled from 1312 to 1337, had an inflation-adjusted fortune of around US$400 billion – mostly in gold. Even Elon Musk is a long way from that. He owed his unheard-of wealth to the exploitation of salt deposits in Mali. He did not profit from the enormous revenues alone: under his rule, the Malian oasis city Timbuktu flourished as never before and numerous mosques and palaces were built.

Easy come, easy go: self-induced hyperinflation

In 1324, Mansa Musa set out on the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca, called Hajj. Not wanting to forgo any comforts, his escort consisted of more than 70,000 men – some slaves, some security guards. This, coupled with his general penchant for luxury, led to excessive financial obligations, which he settled with such enormous amounts of gold during his journey through Egypt that the Egyptian dinar, being based on gold, drastically lost value for years to come. Mansa Musa himself only felt the significant devaluation of his gold treasure on the return journey from Mecca to Mali: to safely return to his kingdom, Mansa Musa had to borrow money from Egyptian merchants. Fortunately, no single person today is in possession of so much gold that a wasteful use of it could seriously damage the world gold price.