Episode #115- Who Was Mali's Richest King? (Part II )

In 1324 the Malian Emperor, Mansa Musa, made a pilgrimage to Mecca that would stun the Islamic world with its magnificence. If the sources are to be believed, the emperor traveled with an entourage 60 000 fellow pilgrims and untold quantities of pure West African gold. While travelling through Egypt his lavish spending flooded the country with so much gold that he apparently caused an economic crisis. Precious metals were devalued and Egypt fell into a recession that it would take years to recover from... or at least, so goes the story. Is it true that Mansa Musa had enough gold to destabilize one of the strongest economies in the medieval world? Is it even possible to accurately calculate the wealth of someone from the 1300's? Tune in and find out how tips on copper, half-remembered conversations, and payments in gold-dust all play a role in the story.