He Crashed an Economy by Being Too Generous: The Real Mansa Musa

In 1324, a king from West Africa rode into Cairo with so much gold that he crashed its price for years.

Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire, which sat on some of the biggest gold sources in the medieval world. He's often called the richest person who ever lived, but the money is the least interesting part of his story. He got the throne because the king before him sailed off into the Atlantic and never came back. He refused to kiss the ground before the sultan of Egypt. He ran out of money on the way home. And he brought back the scholars and architects who helped turn Timbuktu into one of the great centres of learning in the Islamic world.