The richest king on earth sets out across the Sahara, with sixty thousand people and a river of gold.
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To Cairo
4,000 km
Gold in Cairo
25.0 dirhams
Niania mithqal of goldCairo
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Mansa Musa
Mali · Cairo · 1324
In 1324 Mansa Musa, king of Mali, set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca with a caravan said to number 60,000 people, among them 500 staff-bearers and some 80 camels carrying gold. In Cairo he gave gold so freely, to officials, scholars and the poor, that its value in the city fell and stayed low for years; on the way home he even borrowed from Cairo’s merchants. The world took notice. In the Catalan Atlas of 1375, the king of Mali sits on his throne holding a nugget of gold, and under his rule Timbuktu grew into one of the great cities of learning.