Jeff Bezos has, like, a *fraction* of the wealth Mansa Musa possessed. Let's learn about the fabled glory days of the Mali Empire! Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/extracredits
AnimeOtaku2 I said his life good and bad Like how he lost a lot of soldiers lives at the battle of Gallipoli or how he served as a British soldier and his big accolade how he kept Britain in the war arguably being the most important part of ww2
I'm from Bangladesh, half of the world away from Mali. Surprisingly, here we have a folktale describing and glorifying the riches of Mansa Musa, his generosity amd his extravagant pilgrimage. I always thought he was a fictitious figure. Never knew that he was for real!!!! His PR campaign surely transcended ages, continents and oceans.
Más influencia tubieron los portugueses en la India, Malasia qué mansa musa.. Erigieron ciudades como bombay.. El resto solo es un cuento.. El TAL MAJAL fue financiado con la plata (ag) española.. De Potosí virreinato del Perú.. Saludos desde Fontainebleau fr 🇨🇵
The level of education in West Africa became so high that in the 1400s, when ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tamīmī, a scholar from the Arabian Peninsula, came to Timbuktu to teach, he was not even qualified to study in Timbuktu and had to take prerequisite courses in Morocco first.
Ilya When west Africans were enslaved in thee Americas they were educated. The Africans brought the idea of farming rice. They also already knew how to farm unlike the indigenous pop. One slave in Boston introduced inoculation basically starting off vaccines
@@sparkman1314able I've never once heard anyone suggest that Native Americans lacked agriculture. Where did you hear this? And how do you reconcile the fact that Native American crops are among the most widely consumed staples now grown the world over? Just look up the Three Sisters for a perfect example of Native agricultural understanding.
"What do you know about Mali?" "It's a third world country." "All a front. Explorers have searched for it. Called it El Dorado. They looked in South America, but it was in Africa the whole time!"
Yes. People tend not to appreciate knowledge. Only when it is lost do the people mourn. Like how the Library of Alexandria was destroyed or how the Mongols destroyed the Great Libraries of Baghdad. They threw all the books in the Euphrates River. Legend has it that the river turned black due to the ink of the books.
Ser Davos Seaworth And then there's the Mayan codices, burned by the Spanish priests. Just think about how much knowledge we'd have if they weren't burned, we could study the mayans as extensively as the Romans but alas, that wasn't to be
Unfortunately on Timbuktu some of their libraries we're burned to the ground, thankfully a handful of scholars were able to save some of the books. Sad times for Mali, hopefully we can see it's glory return one day
Riley Reber To think how much knowledge has been lost to our hubris and haste. There is a Roman legend of a King of Rome. An old crone would come to him every year and try to sell him all the knowledge in the world, in the form of 12 books, but the King would refuse and say that it's too expensive. Each year the crone would burn half the books. Each year the King's city suffered and the people implored him to buy the books and use the knowledge they contained. But the next year the prices would be doubled and the king would refuse once more. This continued until only one book remained. The king bought this book by nearly emptying his coffers. As the crone left, bent double due to the weight of the gold, she told the King to do as best as he could with 1/12th the knowledge of the world.
Rumor has it, that every time Mansa raised his hand to shake someones hand, two bystanders were knocked off unconscious by all the gold he carried in his sleeves that he gave as tip for any merchant.
In fairness though, The fact that it was an opulent and unbelievably, astronomically expensive travel to perform the Hajj, does make it less of the "Pimp my pilgrimage" to something akin to actual that meme of "YOU GET GOLD, AND YOU GET GOLD, AND YOU GET GOLD. GREETINGS FROM MALI, BROTHER, YOU GET GOLD!" In fact, I would say "Pimp my Empire" would be a lot more reasonable thing to say: He was literally advertising his empire, rather than advertising the pilgrimage itself.
@@ShehrozeAmeen He was doing both. Yes he was advertising his empires wealth, but it was by no mistake that he chose to do it on his hajj. He was advertising "Look how rich and powerful my DEVOUT ISLAMIC empire is" rather than just empire. Like it was said in the video he wanted to make sure mali was not only seen as a powerful nation but wanted it to be the apex of the islamic world specifically
@@mureithikivuti Oral sources are from ones biased against that very Islamic perspective. They aren't necessarily any more accurate, in fact likely less so.
@Mr wick We're talking about financial wealth, not any sort of spiritual wealth here. Believe what you want about your religion, but there is no historical basis to suggest that King Solomon (who we aren't even sure really existed) had anything close to the financial wealth that the stories of him say he did. The biblical account is, at best, an exaggeration of a real king who, while comparatively wealthy to those in his region, was still small-potatoes compared to most empires in history. Many Bible scholars even consider accounts of Solomon's wealth to be metaphors meant to emphasize his spiritual wealth rather than accurate depictions of his financial wealth (similarly to how the Chinese Buddha is depicted as fat and happy while the real Buddha was solemn and thin -- this depiction is using physical health to stand in for spiritual health). As for people who we have actual evidence for, Mansa Musa is the wealthiest man in history.
@Mr wick I made no mention of his race, merely the historical record and evidence we have or lack, so I'm tempted to think you're trolling. But, assuming (despite my better instincts) that you're serious, do you have sources to back up your assertions that he was "more real" and "more wealthy" than most kings in history?
When I first learned about this as a child it blew my mind away. To learn that an African kingdom had this much wealth and knowledge and power was enlightening. This is meanwhile while I also grew up hearing bigots say terrible things about Africa which to a young black child was demoralizing. Mansa Musa is to this day an inspiration for Black success the world over.
@@MixerRenegade95 he isn't wrong though. Africa is still having problems with its society that few of western nations are having right now. civil wars are way more abundant in africa than europe or north america have had for centuries.
@@SamuelTrademarked Firstly: Last I checked Africa is a continent not a country. Second there are issues within differing parts but let's not say the whole bathtub and baby needs throwing out now. Nigeria is as far away from Sudan as Morocco is from Kenya.
Bismarck said only two extremely important things: Do not fight a two-front war, and do not mess in the Balkans. He dies and Germany fights not one, but TWO wars in all fronts, one of them starting in the Balkans.. oh boy
Not to mention the not being in the minority of five advice, and then he dies and Germany fights 3 major European powers at once. There is a lot of good Bismarck advice that was not followed after his death
I think there is often a great bias in how historical leaders are viewed in that leaders who simply shepherd their nations resources carefully with an eye towards handing over a strong and stable nation to their next in line are overshadowed by the bombastic leaders who spend every resource their nation can muster on conquests that leaves a spent and overstretched nation to slowly collapse as their next in line takes over.
In my dialect of Spanish, «manso» or «mansa» means something/someone that is great or in a very great amount, in addition to the standard meaning. Sometimes it even means even hot/handsome/beautiful. -¡Manso gentío! ‘What a huge crowd!’ -Ella es mansa maestra. ‘She's a great teacher.’ -Manso carro que te mandas. ‘What a big/expensive/cool car you've got there.’ -¡Mansa mujer la tuya! ‘What a hot wife you've got!’ So in Panamanian Spanish the name looks just peachy to us. (As an aside, I should note that most people, when they want to say ‘gentle/tame’, tend to use the diminutive; «mansito/mansita».)
Nido Hime Are you daft? That's why I said in my dialect. Panamanian Spanish, as I further clarified in my comment. You guys do some funky this with Spanish as well. Like the whole «botellón»thing, which here, just means ‘big bottle’ like it's supposed to, but over there in your dialects it means ‘a gathering of people, usually teen-agers, to drink booze until they pass out drunk’.
A good thing you brought the inflation it was one of 3 major causes that destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt the other 2 are the black death & the discovery of Cape of Good Hope. -it is truly a sad thing that a country would collapse due to foreign causes that they had nothing to do with. -unfortunately, some African nations suffer the same nowadays due to -climate change-, Mali included.
Infame de Patates They did but they were in a poor status due to long decline . Also the Ottomans let the rule Egypt under them until 1811 when a separatist governor eradicated them in 1811.
The history of Africa is seriously undertaught in standard Western education. I'm learning a lot of new things and I consider myself not entirely ignorant of history.
Because the world is incredibly interconnected, pretending Europe is an island with little outside influence as many schools do is a disservice to history. Yes Mali was not a major player in European events such as the black death or hundred years war but the image of Sub Saharan Africa in Europe was that of a man holding gold. This fed the mindsets Europeans had of Africa and almost certainly set the stage for the scramble for Africa.
"pretending Europe is an island with little outside influence as many schools do is a disservice to history." pretending Mali (it really was not as impressive when european arrived) or Japan or whom ever were relevant is also a disservice given there is only a limited time and you can look up this interesting things on your own time like you do now
*@Xavier* Oh look, someone saying "are you saying", that always ends well. Please tell me where in his comment he said that *only* European history is *relevant* . He clearly said that *time* constraints are to blame here, not whether a topic is important enough or not. Children should not be left in the dark in regards of the history of their own people so they can learn what happened at the other end of the world. How would that be helpful? It is simply impossible to learn all of history. Heck, not even Professors of history know _all_ of it. There is a reason why even those people who dedicate their *life* to history have to specialise in certain fields. Or look at it from an other perspective. Do Chinese children learn about Europe or Africa first? Don't Saudi Arabian children learn of their own history first? How about you go over there and tell them not to be so [insert country of their origin here]-centric?
Mansa Musa, great king of Mali, you are blessed with wealth beyond comprehension, yet you remain uncorrupted. Raise your eyes from the marketplace to the heavens and satisfy your heart's great yearning for peace. Protect the prosperity of your people, and history will write your name in golden letters
An explorer king: -I'll go sail the Atlantic, will you rule the kingdom while I'm out? Regent: -OOOOHHH YEAAAAH THE THRONE IS SO SO MIIIINE!!! ... Wait. Did I say that out loud?
FTFY Juan II (1/1/2): -I'll go sail the Atlantic! Juan II has died. Enrique de Trastamara is now our king Enrique (0/0/0): -OOOOHHH YEAAAAH THE THRONE IS SO SO MIIIINE!!! ... *A Call to Arms* The Nation of England, your faithful ally, is requesting that you come to their aid in the Hundred Years War against France, Aragon, Scotland, Burgundy, and Navarra. This is a defensive war, where we need to help our ally. If we decline, we will get -25.0 prestige ... Enrique: ...shit.
I like how your covering African Kingdoms especially Mali cause I like to show these to my friend whose a major Black Panther fan and I’m like “Here’s the real world equivalent to Wakanda, now stop yelling ‘Wakanda Forever’ every time you win a game of Overwatch with Doomfist!”
So wait, did the Kiners just up and learn how to play Kora over a long weekend, or do they just like, put an ad on craigslist with the money you pay them?
That's what I'm wondering too haha. This outro music is especially authentic and lovely, I'm wondering if they have a sample library for such instruments...
Well you've sold me on a subscription on this day. So thank you all the way as it is much fun to learn this way than what I faced back in my schooldays. A rarely taught subject in my part of the world was post-Roman and Pre-colonial Histories of the African continent, and to an extent the European one too, and this site has helped to fill in those gaps and I look forward to watching more.
So basically, Musa did exactly what DeBeers did with diamonds. He had so much concentrated rare material, that if/when it is released onto the market, it flooded it and devalued the previously rare material.
@@ahkwyatt8174 honestly the same is still true with gold, its just a shiny soft metal that all the world powers have giant vaults of just sitting collecting dust. We put value on it because we like shiny pretty things, but if it wasnt held back pretty much everyone would be able to have gold as well as diamonds. It only keeps its value because of the supply being artificially hampered so that the rich can stay rich, same situation as diamonds but a little bit lesser since gold is able to be mined in more areas it isnt as easy to gain a full monopoly over it.
i hve been hyping so much for this episode. Mansa Musa history is one my favorites. Just think, this person was so rich, he able was to hyperinflate gold, freaking GOLD. This never happend before him or, i normaly woulndt said something like, but, i am so sure of this that i will say this time, will ever happen again. Never one person will be this rich ever again.
. It was the gold flowing back to Spain from the Americas that caused the trouble. I would have thought that the gold flowing to the Mediterranean cost would have been detrimental to those areas, like what happened in Cairo, only on a larger and longer lasting scale.
What would the Spanish know about drowning in gold? The gold (and the silver, because it was mostly silver which came from the Americas) never stayed in Spain long enough for anyone to drown in it; it was spent away in wars to uphold the True Faith (tm) against Lutheran heretics. While the world trembled before the armies of the Spanish kings, Spain itself was one of the poorest countries in Europe.
. Unless I'm remembering my Spanish history wrong, I was fairly sure that the large amounts of gold brought back from the Americas severely depressed the Spanish economy and fatally devalued the Spanish currency in the 1500s.
Mansa Musa's flooding of the Egyptian market worked out to spark the Renaissance in Europe. The Italian merchants in Cairo found they could sell their products at the massively inflated prices and that gold went back to the Italian states where they began putting it into sponsoring artists and craftsmen.
Judging from what I history I have learned, it seems that almost every region was once the center of their known world until their inevitable decline. All have risen and all have fallen. Some remain in the light longer than others. Some even return to their old position as the center of the known world. Rome, Britain, Mali, Egypt, China, the Aztecs, the Inca, the Gupta, the Mauryan. All have fallen from the light or changed beyond recognition, such is life.
all empires decline John Bagot Glubb Fate of Empires goes in to detail and comes up with an average for how much empires last second Mansa Musa and rulers who will come after him wasted their wealth (this period was on the begining of the renaissance in europe) they could have done far greater things
The wealthiest person ever: gave away his wealth. Purchased things at extraordinary prices. Followed his religion's charity rules (let's ignore the breaking of the economy part and assume it's the thought that counts). Brought prosperity to his empire and was trusted by those under him. Jeff Beezos could learn a lot from him
The "change of perspective" happened right as I stood up, nudging the screen and making me think it was the auto orientation going nuts. What a beautiful moment of confusion
Bah, they're not doing so bad. They have a productive culture, and just avoided a civil war and an islamist takeover. By third world standard, that's pretty badass.
Fun fact: the present day country of Mali actually mostly falls outside the boundaries of the Empire of Mali that came before. Technically there’s more Nigeria and Ghana in Mali than Mali in Mali 🤔
I feel like Extra Credits should do a little summary of the Sahel and its geographical significance between the Sahara to the north and jungles to the south.
Tim Luo “ Nee Jer “ is how it’s pronounced in French I believe. In English it’s supposed to be pronounced in the same manner you pronounce Nigeria (which is named after the river)
I'm amazed he could faff off for a year on a huge spending trip and not get deposed, or get attacked by some other army to snag all that gold for themselves. I mostly remember this guy through the "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" game. Where the crook steals his caravan's "only block of salt" for the desert journey. Even as I kid I was like "You have a giant army of camels laden with gold, and a massive crew of people....And only ONE block of salt? What? ...Wait, why would the crook steal the salt block when there's all this gold around?! One single salt block can't have THAT much historical value!"
That ending tho. It's my opinion that all "great" kings and emperors are like that. They grind up their great armies in unnecessary wars, burn up their treasury on self aggrandizing projects and paying writers to write about it. The next kings aren't as good cause they're trying to work with less, and the writers write disparagingly of them cause their gravy train was cut off.
An amusing case is Louis XIV, the sun king of France. He finally achieved the dream of his ancestors, taming the nobility... But at the price of daily colossal efforts of administration and etiquette. Since Louis XIV was a work-addict, things went smoothly... Until he died and the throne passed to his less competent grandson, Louis XV, whose limited skills were almost all taken in the etiquette side of things needed to keep the nobility in check. The revolution happened not too late after that.
I just wanna say that my social studies teacher presented this for us to watch once I saw it the art style looked similar and I realized it was this channel so yeah thanks to my social studies teacher and you (extra history)
You know that part in Black Panther when Klaue says that people were looking for "El Dorado," the city of gold, in the wrong place, and that it was in Africa? He was right. Except it wasn't Wakanda. It was Mali.
Wakanda is basically just Mali if they had a glowy metal rather than a shiny metal and kept it all secret rather than flexing on the rest of the continent
Jeff Bezos has, like, a *fraction* of the wealth Mansa Musa possessed. Let's learn about the fabled glory days of the Mali Empire!
Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/extracredits
Love these videos please keep them up
Extra Credits could you do a video that documents the life of Winston Churchill.
UA-camr's flexing on kids while MM flexed on the entire world
Lukewarm Shoulder including things like advocating for gas attacks on African tribes and the artificial famine in India.
AnimeOtaku2 I said his life good and bad Like how he lost a lot of soldiers lives at the battle of Gallipoli or how he served as a British soldier and his big accolade how he kept Britain in the war arguably being the most important part of ww2
I'm from Bangladesh, half of the world away from Mali. Surprisingly, here we have a folktale describing and glorifying the riches of Mansa Musa, his generosity amd his extravagant pilgrimage. I always thought he was a fictitious figure. Never knew that he was for real!!!! His PR campaign surely transcended ages, continents and oceans.
What is the name of that folktale? Need more infos please
@@toshiba162 Manda Musa and his wealth and travels, duh
ReverseMovieTrailers what?
Can u please give the me title of the folklore
Más influencia tubieron los portugueses en la India, Malasia qué mansa musa.. Erigieron ciudades como bombay.. El resto solo es un cuento.. El TAL MAJAL fue financiado con la plata (ag) española.. De Potosí virreinato del Perú.. Saludos desde Fontainebleau fr 🇨🇵
I guess you could say Mali was going through a GOLDEN age.
Steven Choza *Ba-dum-tsh!*
Airmanon
😆😆😆
Probably where we get the term, really.
Oh god, now i really want Mali on Civ 6.
Agreed. They were lots of fun in IV.
The level of education in West Africa became so high that in the 1400s, when ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tamīmī, a scholar from the Arabian Peninsula, came to Timbuktu to teach, he was not even qualified to study in Timbuktu and had to take prerequisite courses in Morocco first.
That’s awesome lol!
Sultan lol
Ilya When west Africans were enslaved in thee Americas they were educated.
The Africans brought the idea of farming rice. They also already knew how to farm unlike the indigenous pop.
One slave in Boston introduced inoculation basically starting off vaccines
Amazing.
@@sparkman1314able I've never once heard anyone suggest that Native Americans lacked agriculture. Where did you hear this? And how do you reconcile the fact that Native American crops are among the most widely consumed staples now grown the world over? Just look up the Three Sisters for a perfect example of Native agricultural understanding.
Genie: Prince Ali! Fabulous he! Ali A--
Musa: You call _that_ an entrance? Please. Let me show you how it's done.
General Luigi 👏👏
General Luigi I would not be surprised if the Prince Ali thing is based on Mansa Musa’s haj.
Genie: He's got seventy-five golden cam-
Mansa Musa: Hold my Gold.
*Crashes the regional gold market*
Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes, although it's still hilarious that reality managed to beat a deliberately over-the-top animated moment.
His publicity stunt was so grand we still talk about it today
At least it worked
Yeah, quite the stunt if you ask me.
thats how you make a hell of an impression. cause mass inflation by shopping
Yeah like 700 years later we still talk about it
Too bad we don’t teach it in world history
"What do you know about Mali?"
"It's a third world country."
"All a front. Explorers have searched for it. Called it El Dorado. They looked in South America, but it was in Africa the whole time!"
I get that reference!
Where is the reference from?
@@emilygordbort7300Black Panther.
@@silverking2181 Thanks!
Knowing that great libraries of knowledge where built but later destroyed makes me sad.
Yes. People tend not to appreciate knowledge. Only when it is lost do the people mourn. Like how the Library of Alexandria was destroyed or how the Mongols destroyed the Great Libraries of Baghdad. They threw all the books in the Euphrates River. Legend has it that the river turned black due to the ink of the books.
And red from the blood of the scholars
Ser Davos Seaworth And then there's the Mayan codices, burned by the Spanish priests. Just think about how much knowledge we'd have if they weren't burned, we could study the mayans as extensively as the Romans but alas, that wasn't to be
Unfortunately on Timbuktu some of their libraries we're burned to the ground, thankfully a handful of scholars were able to save some of the books. Sad times for Mali, hopefully we can see it's glory return one day
Riley Reber To think how much knowledge has been lost to our hubris and haste. There is a Roman legend of a King of Rome. An old crone would come to him every year and try to sell him all the knowledge in the world, in the form of 12 books, but the King would refuse and say that it's too expensive. Each year the crone would burn half the books. Each year the King's city suffered and the people implored him to buy the books and use the knowledge they contained. But the next year the prices would be doubled and the king would refuse once more. This continued until only one book remained. The king bought this book by nearly emptying his coffers. As the crone left, bent double due to the weight of the gold, she told the King to do as best as he could with 1/12th the knowledge of the world.
"My rivals back home
It's not that I'm bitter
But think how they'll squirm
When they see how I glitter!"
Rumor has it, that every time Mansa raised his hand to shake someones hand, two bystanders were knocked off unconscious by all the gold he carried in his sleeves that he gave as tip for any merchant.
he must have been really strong to carry all this gold on him constantly. it's like wearing dumbbells in your suit- gold is very dense
@@tntimothyroditi1576 he bought muscle enhancements
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." *braces for next episode*
Open your eyes
Yourself apprise
All empires find their demise
The taller they are, the harder they fall
The snowball
Is on the roll
Walpole´s master plan is almost ready
Shh! That's for later!
Robert Walpole LOL
DragoniteSpam that what she said
I like to call Mansa Musa's journey "Pimp My Pilgrimage".
In fairness though, The fact that it was an opulent and unbelievably, astronomically expensive travel to perform the Hajj, does make it less of the "Pimp my pilgrimage" to something akin to actual that meme of "YOU GET GOLD, AND YOU GET GOLD, AND YOU GET GOLD. GREETINGS FROM MALI, BROTHER, YOU GET GOLD!"
In fact, I would say "Pimp my Empire" would be a lot more reasonable thing to say: He was literally advertising his empire, rather than advertising the pilgrimage itself.
😅😂🤣👍🏽👍🏽
@@ShehrozeAmeen He was doing both. Yes he was advertising his empires wealth, but it was by no mistake that he chose to do it on his hajj. He was advertising "Look how rich and powerful my DEVOUT ISLAMIC empire is" rather than just empire. Like it was said in the video he wanted to make sure mali was not only seen as a powerful nation but wanted it to be the apex of the islamic world specifically
Breaking News: Mansa Musa comes back from the dead to pay ALL student loans.
That's it, I'm convinced: Subsaharan Africa would be a great setting for a Total War game.
Yes especially ambiented in 19th century
@@yanl9tanilo194 no exactly the wrong time.
I don't know much about this "oddly satisfying imagery" trend that's been going on for a while, but the color wheel at 1:15 DEFINITELY fits that bill.
what about that smiley face which lasted less than a second, in between 2:21 and 2:22? ;)
Guillaume Guedj Swal thats no smiley face, thats the representation of games from extra credits being sewn as a joke for the word so sounding like sew
I believe that's meant to represent the Twelve Doors of Mali - provinces that were the basis for the empire's administration.
Friend: will you ever stop watching extra credits?
Me: *Under No Circumstance*
*Wow, that guy's rich.*
Guthrum I bet if they were still around they would help the Germans pay off their debt or America's
Is this imposter central?
What’s up
Guthrum he was the richest man ever in history
We gotta start pillaging some stuff.
I knew there was going to be a huge "BUT...!" in this tale. It all sounded far to perfect
But it’s documented facts tho
Remember most accounts are from Islamic sources. Oral sources view his actions as more of a waste of resources
@@mureithikivuti Oral sources are from ones biased against that very Islamic perspective. They aren't necessarily any more accurate, in fact likely less so.
@@Gustav_Kuriga Well, as was shown, Mali DID start to face massive issues immediately after this golden age, so...
@@stephenjenkins7971 A) Not immediately afterwards B) Was this a result of lack of funds, or because of internecine conflicts?
Finally
Mansa Musa has finally arrived
Here comes a new challenger!
Genie: He's got 75 golden camels!
Mansa Musa: Just 75, huh? That's cute.
@Mr wick I mean, if we count fictional people, sure.
@Mr wick We're talking about financial wealth, not any sort of spiritual wealth here. Believe what you want about your religion, but there is no historical basis to suggest that King Solomon (who we aren't even sure really existed) had anything close to the financial wealth that the stories of him say he did. The biblical account is, at best, an exaggeration of a real king who, while comparatively wealthy to those in his region, was still small-potatoes compared to most empires in history. Many Bible scholars even consider accounts of Solomon's wealth to be metaphors meant to emphasize his spiritual wealth rather than accurate depictions of his financial wealth (similarly to how the Chinese Buddha is depicted as fat and happy while the real Buddha was solemn and thin -- this depiction is using physical health to stand in for spiritual health).
As for people who we have actual evidence for, Mansa Musa is the wealthiest man in history.
@Mr wick I made no mention of his race, merely the historical record and evidence we have or lack, so I'm tempted to think you're trolling. But, assuming (despite my better instincts) that you're serious, do you have sources to back up your assertions that he was "more real" and "more wealthy" than most kings in history?
"Mansa Musa caused a financial crisis by buying too many souvenirs" → me in Skyrim. ;)
The King of Mali is so rich he's going on tour to let everyone know.
"Wow, that guy's rich!" Everyone said.
bill wurtz cool
You are one of the few educational channels that shows the glorious ancient history of Africa. Please keep going. Thank you.
When I first learned about this as a child it blew my mind away. To learn that an African kingdom had this much wealth and knowledge and power was enlightening. This is meanwhile while I also grew up hearing bigots say terrible things about Africa which to a young black child was demoralizing. Mansa Musa is to this day an inspiration for Black success the world over.
I mean, Africa as a whole is kinda regressive compared to the likes of Asia, Europe, or North America
@@stephenjenkins7971 Jenkins... see this is why you lost your ear, now bugger off.
@@MixerRenegade95 he isn't wrong though. Africa is still having problems with its society that few of western nations are having right now. civil wars are way more abundant in africa than europe or north america have had for centuries.
@@SamuelTrademarked Firstly: Last I checked Africa is a continent not a country. Second there are issues within differing parts but let's not say the whole bathtub and baby needs throwing out now. Nigeria is as far away from Sudan as Morocco is from Kenya.
@@MixerRenegade95 I mean half the nations you chose are in some sort of instability. But, nations like Botswana are prospering.
I'm so glad such a popular YT channel tackles the Mali Empire history. I think West-Africa's history is very underrated, so this is most welcome
History repeats itself. How often have some of the great leaders stepped up only for their nations to fall apart after they depart?
Airmanon Bismarck... poor guy...
Bismarck said only two extremely important things: Do not fight a two-front war, and do not mess in the Balkans.
He dies and Germany fights not one, but TWO wars in all fronts, one of them starting in the Balkans.. oh boy
Not to mention the not being in the minority of five advice, and then he dies and Germany fights 3 major European powers at once. There is a lot of good Bismarck advice that was not followed after his death
Bismarck was so ahead of he time.
I think there is often a great bias in how historical leaders are viewed in that leaders who simply shepherd their nations resources carefully with an eye towards handing over a strong and stable nation to their next in line are overshadowed by the bombastic leaders who spend every resource their nation can muster on conquests that leaves a spent and overstretched nation to slowly collapse as their next in line takes over.
Amazing. Kinda sad that this amazing kingdom eventually fell down and became what it is now...
Don't worry, the fastest growing economies are in Africa!
Funny thing? Mansa means "gentle" or "tame" in spanish.
Doesn't seem like a very fitting title for him, does it?
JohnnyElRed but only for females, for males its manso
In my dialect of Spanish, «manso» or «mansa» means something/someone that is great or in a very great amount, in addition to the standard meaning. Sometimes it even means even hot/handsome/beautiful.
-¡Manso gentío!
‘What a huge crowd!’
-Ella es mansa maestra.
‘She's a great teacher.’
-Manso carro que te mandas.
‘What a big/expensive/cool car you've got there.’
-¡Mansa mujer la tuya!
‘What a hot wife you've got!’
So in Panamanian Spanish the name looks just peachy to us.
(As an aside, I should note that most people, when they want to say ‘gentle/tame’, tend to use the diminutive; «mansito/mansita».)
Nusquam Nemo Nope, here in Spain "manso/a" it always mean gentle or tamed.
Nido Hime Are you daft? That's why I said in my dialect. Panamanian Spanish, as I further clarified in my comment.
You guys do some funky this with Spanish as well. Like the whole «botellón»thing, which here, just means ‘big bottle’ like it's supposed to, but over there in your dialects it means ‘a gathering of people, usually teen-agers, to drink booze until they pass out drunk’.
Manso its used in Chile the same way the people of Panama do.
This man deserves his own series
Every great leader always lack one thing, and one thing only
Immortality.
Or at least a good succesor.
A good thing you brought the inflation it was one of 3 major causes that destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt the other 2 are the black death & the discovery of Cape of Good Hope.
-it is truly a sad thing that a country would collapse due to foreign causes that they had nothing to do with.
-unfortunately, some African nations suffer the same nowadays due to -climate change-, Mali included.
Infame de Patates
They did but they were in a poor status due to long decline .
Also the Ottomans let the rule Egypt under them until 1811 when a separatist governor eradicated them in 1811.
The history of Africa is seriously undertaught in standard Western education. I'm learning a lot of new things and I consider myself not entirely ignorant of history.
Lol
Damn my Euro-centric education! How am I only learning about all this NOW!?!
because learning your history and your continent history is more important?
Because the world is incredibly interconnected, pretending Europe is an island with little outside influence as many schools do is a disservice to history. Yes Mali was not a major player in European events such as the black death or hundred years war but the image of Sub Saharan Africa in Europe was that of a man holding gold. This fed the mindsets Europeans had of Africa and almost certainly set the stage for the scramble for Africa.
"pretending Europe is an island with little outside influence as many schools do is a disservice to history."
pretending Mali (it really was not as impressive when european arrived) or Japan or whom ever were relevant is also a disservice given there is only a limited time and you can look up this interesting things on your own time like you do now
Are you saying only European history is relevant?
*@Xavier*
Oh look, someone saying "are you saying", that always ends well. Please tell me where in his comment he said that *only* European history is *relevant* .
He clearly said that *time* constraints are to blame here, not whether a topic is important enough or not. Children should not be left in the dark in regards of the history of their own people so they can learn what happened at the other end of the world. How would that be helpful?
It is simply impossible to learn all of history. Heck, not even Professors of history know _all_ of it. There is a reason why even those people who dedicate their *life* to history have to specialise in certain fields.
Or look at it from an other perspective. Do Chinese children learn about Europe or Africa first? Don't Saudi Arabian children learn of their own history first?
How about you go over there and tell them not to be so [insert country of their origin here]-centric?
Mansa Musa sounds like a pretty chill dude
*summary of this episode*
The king of Mali is so rich, he's going on tour to let everybody know.
"Wow, that guy's rich" everyone said
Mansa Musa, great king of Mali, you are blessed with wealth beyond comprehension, yet you remain uncorrupted. Raise your eyes from the marketplace to the heavens and satisfy your heart's great yearning for peace. Protect the prosperity of your people, and history will write your name in golden letters
An explorer king:
-I'll go sail the Atlantic, will you rule the kingdom while I'm out?
Regent:
-OOOOHHH YEAAAAH THE THRONE IS SO SO MIIIINE!!!
...
Wait. Did I say that out loud?
Imagine if they had made it back.. Mali colonization of South America two hundred years before the Europeans.
FTFY
Juan II (1/1/2):
-I'll go sail the Atlantic!
Juan II has died.
Enrique de Trastamara is now our king
Enrique (0/0/0):
-OOOOHHH YEAAAAH THE THRONE IS SO SO MIIIINE!!!
...
*A Call to Arms*
The Nation of England, your faithful ally, is requesting that you come to their aid in the Hundred Years War against France, Aragon, Scotland, Burgundy, and Navarra. This is a defensive war, where we need to help our ally. If we decline, we will get -25.0 prestige
...
Enrique:
...shit.
actually they may had arrived at south america (you can find maps of south and north america in the muslim world before colompus even born)
Alchemist Really? Can you point to any examples? That'd be amazing, if true.
BurningSunBloodyMoon *big if true*
jeff bezos: over 12 quintillion......
mansa musa; thats cute
I like how your covering African Kingdoms especially Mali cause I like to show these to my friend whose a major Black Panther fan and I’m like “Here’s the real world equivalent to Wakanda, now stop yelling ‘Wakanda Forever’ every time you win a game of Overwatch with Doomfist!”
Gotta love Mansa
sir Robert Walpole How's it going, sir Robert Walpole?
How did you manage to get him that wealthy? By using bismarks plan?
Flexing before RiceGum
Oona, queen of the FiremindΦ like I’d tell him that?
So wait, did the Kiners just up and learn how to play Kora over a long weekend, or do they just like, put an ad on craigslist with the money you pay them?
That's what I'm wondering too haha. This outro music is especially authentic and lovely, I'm wondering if they have a sample library for such instruments...
Thanks to this comment, I just learned that Extra History has the same composers as Star Wars: TWC and Rebels. Awesome.
Neil Quillen yeah
I am Mansa Musa in every monopoly game, causing unfixable inflations and collapsing shortly after I'm done ruining the economy
Tamatoa: I'm so SHINY!
Mansa Musa: Hold my gold train.
Episode 2 is my favorite so far in this series! Nice work!
I tried to tell my friends about how Mansa Musa was the richest man to ever live, but they thought I said 'Monster Moose'
UA-camr: New video every Friday!
Mansa Musa: New Mosque every Friday!
So Mansa Musa basically destroyed an entire economic system for being too generous?
(Insert Curb your Enthusiasm theme song)
Well you've sold me on a subscription on this day. So thank you all the way as it is much fun to learn this way than what I faced back in my schooldays. A rarely taught subject in my part of the world was post-Roman and Pre-colonial Histories of the African continent, and to an extent the European one too, and this site has helped to fill in those gaps and I look forward to watching more.
So basically, Musa did exactly what DeBeers did with diamonds. He had so much concentrated rare material, that if/when it is released onto the market, it flooded it and devalued the previously rare material.
The difference here is that Diamonds aren't actually rare, it's just that DeBeers has an exclusive monopoly on the trading industry.
@@ahkwyatt8174 honestly the same is still true with gold, its just a shiny soft metal that all the world powers have giant vaults of just sitting collecting dust. We put value on it because we like shiny pretty things, but if it wasnt held back pretty much everyone would be able to have gold as well as diamonds. It only keeps its value because of the supply being artificially hampered so that the rich can stay rich, same situation as diamonds but a little bit lesser since gold is able to be mined in more areas it isnt as easy to gain a full monopoly over it.
i hve been hyping so much for this episode. Mansa Musa history is one my favorites.
Just think, this person was so rich, he able was to hyperinflate gold, freaking GOLD. This never happend before him or, i normaly woulndt said something like, but, i am so sure of this that i will say this time, will ever happen again. Never one person will be this rich ever again.
. An Empire drowning in gold is usually a bad thing......just ask the Spanish.
West Kagle gold wasn’t really that valuable to the malians since it was so abundant, salt was where it was really at
. It was the gold flowing back to Spain from the Americas that caused the trouble. I would have thought that the gold flowing to the Mediterranean cost would have been detrimental to those areas, like what happened in Cairo, only on a larger and longer lasting scale.
In Spain's case, the precious metal they flooded world markets with was silver.
What would the Spanish know about drowning in gold? The gold (and the silver, because it was mostly silver which came from the Americas) never stayed in Spain long enough for anyone to drown in it; it was spent away in wars to uphold the True Faith (tm) against Lutheran heretics. While the world trembled before the armies of the Spanish kings, Spain itself was one of the poorest countries in Europe.
. Unless I'm remembering my Spanish history wrong, I was fairly sure that the large amounts of gold brought back from the Americas severely depressed the Spanish economy and fatally devalued the Spanish currency in the 1500s.
Mansa Musa's flooding of the Egyptian market worked out to spark the Renaissance in Europe. The Italian merchants in Cairo found they could sell their products at the massively inflated prices and that gold went back to the Italian states where they began putting it into sponsoring artists and craftsmen.
jeff bezos: IM THE RICHEST MAN ALIVE
Mansa Musa hold my beer
Mansa Musa isn't alive🤨
whoosh
Jarah Fluxman whooshed
More like m'y minth tea.
@@iisdogewow2561 this isn't a whoooosh, Jarah clearly got the joke
I love these! Both entertaining and insightful! Thank you :)
He was so rich, he went on a tour to show it off.
“Wow! He’s rich” everyone said
We just learned this in school and this series has already proven better than standard education in 10 minutes than 2 months so thanks
“Whoops, I accidentally broke the entire gold value in Egypt!”
Mansa Musa
The 1300 equivalent of Scrooge Mcduck
Francine Mcloughlin or T'chala 😉
No?
Well, Scrooe McDuck would never have given the gold away. :P
Enthused Norseman thats probably true.
But Mansa Musa probably would have a money pool to swim in if it wouldn't break every bone in his body
He would have
But just to show Mansa Musa who is richer. For no other reason.
do one about the Kingdom of Kush taking over ancient Egypt
255ad dude weed lmao
Alchemist real Egyptian???? Lmao. But the Greeks named it Egypt.
What's a "real Egyptian"?
UHURU Not an Arab or berber....
@@sjappiyah4071 Nah, there isn't any real egyptian anymore. All modern egyptians are Arabs or mixed
So, this is how the wealth of the South Sea Company was used...
You know who it was
Did somebody say the South Sea Company?
Speaking of which, how much would the SSC make in stocks if it started with the amount of debt equal to the amount of gold this guy had,
One of the most advanced empires in the world during its heyday.... oh what happened to you?
HiddenHistory illuminati - -
Judging from what I history I have learned, it seems that almost every region was once the center of their known world until their inevitable decline. All have risen and all have fallen. Some remain in the light longer than others. Some even return to their old position as the center of the known world. Rome, Britain, Mali, Egypt, China, the Aztecs, the Inca, the Gupta, the Mauryan. All have fallen from the light or changed beyond recognition, such is life.
HiddenHistory word
Was is Walpole?
all empires decline John Bagot Glubb Fate of Empires goes in to detail and comes up with an average for how much empires last
second Mansa Musa and rulers who will come after him wasted their wealth (this period was on the begining of the
renaissance in europe) they could have done far greater things
Love it when you post. From narration to animation, videos are awesome. Today is a good day.
This story is so cool! Im looking forward to more
Finally a episode about Mansa Musa I wanted a episode about this guy
The wealthiest person ever: gave away his wealth. Purchased things at extraordinary prices. Followed his religion's charity rules (let's ignore the breaking of the economy part and assume it's the thought that counts). Brought prosperity to his empire and was trusted by those under him. Jeff Beezos could learn a lot from him
Always a pleasure to watch these. I keep telling this history department at my school about them. Great work!
That was the gold time for Muslims
Thank you guys I love your videos
Are you a muslim if soo hi muslimic brother
i see what you did there
Mr BigCookie dude didn’t realize he made that pun lol
Shhhh! Do you want to be called terrorists, pedophiles, and sexists?!
The islamic golden age was well over, by this point. This is more West African golden age.
Netflix needs to make series about mansa musa history.
I wonder if the "Prince Ali" scene in Disney's Aladdin was inspired by Mansa Musa.
Make waaaaaaaay, for (the king of) Maliiiiiiiiiii!
I was flipping bricks for Mansa Musa before y’all even became a Type-1 civilization
Yes! My favorite Empire!
Same
this is the first episode of Extra History that make me do a surprise face, Thanks Dan
There's always another perspective, another side, another story.
This kind of empire is my goal in every age of empires game I play xD
Yes, I should probably get civilisation. I know.
NEVER PLAY D&D WITH MANSA MUSA! To the 2% that get that joke, I thank you
C Meeks Lol good one.
C Meeks tell me so I may also be a part of the 2%
I'm with this guy.
Mansa Musa
Level 20 Human Aristocrat
Dex 10 Str 10 Con 10 Wis 12 Int 18 Cha 18
GP:100000000000000000000
Nice
The "change of perspective" happened right as I stood up, nudging the screen and making me think it was the auto orientation going nuts. What a beautiful moment of confusion
*HERE COMES DA MONEY*
*IM A BILLIONAIRE*
Here we go! Money talks.
*MONEY MONEY MONEY ×infinite *
KNACK 2 BABY
That description of Mansa Musa's opulent caravan:
🎵MAKE WAY FOR THE EMPEROR OF MALI!🎵
Who needs Shaggy Memes? Who need Chuck Norris Memes? I have Mansa Musa Memes ^¬^
4:03 Few people know that this is actually the historically accurate face Mansa Musa made as he distributed gold!
will you cover up the story of Basil the second please?
mihai lupu wasn't he Byzantine emperor?
yes,he was
Can you do a series on the collapse of the ottoman empire, and the different rebellions that brought it down.
Very different compared to modern day Mali
Bah, they're not doing so bad. They have a productive culture, and just avoided a civil war and an islamist takeover. By third world standard, that's pretty badass.
TheFiresloth You know they’re still a large majority Muslims there right?
Muslims and islamists are two very different things.
Fun fact: the present day country of Mali actually mostly falls outside the boundaries of the Empire of Mali that came before. Technically there’s more Nigeria and Ghana in Mali than Mali in Mali 🤔
Hanipolkka Empires dont last forever 🤦♂️💆♂️ please learn that.
We have to create more wealth and still be able to provide our families with the dignity they deserve.
It's two challenges put into a single paradox.
I feel like Extra Credits should do a little summary of the Sahel and its geographical significance between the Sahara to the north and jungles to the south.
Idk who the hell dislikes this beautiful history tellin channel
Oh hey this is the guy from "history of the entire world, I guess"
I was thinking the same thing when I discovered this channel.
Larry Gonick?
The dedication you put into your video's is outstanding.
Hey gang, I believe it's pronounced "Nee JER", and not "NY jer". Love the vid and series!
Tim Luo “ Nee Jer “ is how it’s pronounced in French I believe. In English it’s supposed to be pronounced in the same manner you pronounce Nigeria (which is named after the river)
I'm amazed he could faff off for a year on a huge spending trip and not get deposed, or get attacked by some other army to snag all that gold for themselves.
I mostly remember this guy through the "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" game. Where the crook steals his caravan's "only block of salt" for the desert journey. Even as I kid I was like "You have a giant army of camels laden with gold, and a massive crew of people....And only ONE block of salt? What? ...Wait, why would the crook steal the salt block when there's all this gold around?! One single salt block can't have THAT much historical value!"
That ending tho. It's my opinion that all "great" kings and emperors are like that. They grind up their great armies in unnecessary wars, burn up their treasury on self aggrandizing projects and paying writers to write about it. The next kings aren't as good cause they're trying to work with less, and the writers write disparagingly of them cause their gravy train was cut off.
An amusing case is Louis XIV, the sun king of France. He finally achieved the dream of his ancestors, taming the nobility... But at the price of daily colossal efforts of administration and etiquette. Since Louis XIV was a work-addict, things went smoothly... Until he died and the throne passed to his less competent grandson, Louis XV, whose limited skills were almost all taken in the etiquette side of things needed to keep the nobility in check. The revolution happened not too late after that.
@@TheFiresloth *Great Grandson anyway, his grandson was called "Le Petit Dauphin"
Yayyy! you finally show us about Mansa Musa! I was waiting for it
I respect this narrator almost as much as i respect veterans
He takes making it rain to a new level!
Bill gates got nothing on Mansa Musa
Was re watching your Bismarck (the ship series) when I got the notification of your new video, and of course I have to watch it
He’s so rich that I’m so jealous. I wish that I was rich like that
I just wanna say that my social studies teacher presented this for us to watch once I saw it the art style looked similar and I realized it was this channel so yeah thanks to my social studies teacher and you (extra history)
You know that part in Black Panther when Klaue says that people were looking for "El Dorado," the city of gold, in the wrong place, and that it was in Africa? He was right. Except it wasn't Wakanda. It was Mali.
Wakanda is basically just Mali if they had a glowy metal rather than a shiny metal and kept it all secret rather than flexing on the rest of the continent
Mansa Musa quite literally balled out of control. Rappers talk about it, he actually did it.