Meet the 14th Century king who was richest man in the world of all time (adjusted for inflation!)

Daily Mail ^ | 10/16/2012 | By OLIVIA FLEMING

[GenXteacher]

I still think Crassus had him beat.

[PlateOfShrimp]

George Bailey was the richest man in town

[Alex Murphy]

Using the annual 2199.6per cent rate of inflation, where $100million in 1913 is equal to $2.299.63billion in 2012, Celebrity Net Worth's list includes familiar names like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett; but sitting at number one is Mansa Musa I of Mali.

The West Africa king, the richest person in history, and the ruler of the Malian Empire which covered modern day Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali in West Africa, had a personal net worth of $400 billion at the time of his death in 1331.

The list also includes the man who gave America Wal-Mart, another who developed mail-order shopping around 1870, as well as a few nobles who helped with the Norman conquest of England in the Battle of Hastings nearly one thousand years ago.

So what happened to all of that wealth? Did he get cleaned out by a Nigerian 419 scam?

[RegulatorCountry]

2199.6 percent annual inflation? I’m usually pretty handy with statistics. This strikes me as a typo, outside Zimbabwe or Weimar Germany.

[oblomov]

There are artifacts and ruins of the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Babylonian, Mongol, etc empires, but what remains of the Malian empire? They had no common language, and although coeval with other great empires, there are few architectural remnants. IIRC, the Great Zimbabwe was not Malian.

So just one mega-wealthy ruler and an impoverished people without a culture of their own. Some king he was...

[RegulatorCountry]

He sat on Malian currency from the looks of it, lol.

[Sherman Logan]

The Rothschilds are worth $350B. Big woop. The Saudi royal family is worth somewhere around $1.5T in personal wealth, and then they more or less own the whole country.

For that matter, by any reasonable standard Stalin owned the USSR and everyone and everything in it. As the current Kim owns N. Korea.

[cicero2k]

So just one mega-wealthy ruler and an impoverished people without a culture of their own. Some king he was...

Perhaps he defied the saying, "you can't take it with you".

[Sequoyah101]

Kings are easily spotted by their enemies don’t you know? They are the ones who haven’t got Stuff on them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi8vXOUi-eI

[freepertoo]

‘George Baily was the richest man in town.’

:-D

[Lurker]

+1

[boop]

In 1331, you could have all the gold in the world but who gives a $hit? What could you do with it in that era? Buy a golden chamber pot? Have concubines wipe your butt with gold leaf? Take a lukewarm bath in a golden tub? Ride a horse with a golden saddle? Eat nuts and berries off a gold plate?

Seems pretty BORING.

[a fool in paradise]

The West Africa king, the richest person in history, and the ruler of the Malian Empire which covered modern day Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali in West Africa, had a personal net worth of $400billion at the time of his death in 1331.

"You didn' build that," Barack Hussein Obama, "Oh wait... this was before AmeriKKKa, meybe you DID!"

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hey, don’t knock the concubines thing.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"Spanning 1,000 years and with a combined fortune of $4.317 trillion"

And just think, Zero has managed to spend that amount in less than four years.

[Talisker]

George Bailey was the richest man in town

Yep - and always will be!

[TexasTransplant]

The Obamas Upkeep / Vacations make these folks look like they are on Welfare.

TT

[arthurus]

I think Joe Stalin that quaint Djugashvili character from Georgia should be considered in there. He de facto owned everything and everyone in the Soviet Union and quite a bit outside of his home estate, the USSR.

[central_va]

I guess you are not a guy.