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Comment by monocasa | Hacker News Reader

In 1324 Mansa Musa gave away so much on his pilgrimage to Mecca that he crashed the North African gold market for ten years. On his way back, realizing that he had caused massive inflation, he borrowed as much gold as he could with high interest rates attempting to bring the price back down. It's the only time in recorded history that a single man controlled the price of gold for the Mediterranean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa

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It's funny how you chose Mansa Musa as an example because I just watched an Epic Rap Battles of History between Jeff Bezos and Mansa Musa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCeUvPL9rMc

The comparison seems incongruent. Surely her donations aren't on the same scale as, say, the stimulus checks, let alone the sort of money that would crash the entire US economy.

Seriously the first thing I thought of. Don't make bombastic claims if you don't know your history...

1324 is nearly a millennium ago. I think they can have this one.

It's also hard to measure wealth from that era with respect to modern money systems. Most money is an abstraction now. Was it then?

He also made the city a part of his empire when he returned in 1325. I'm not sure enriching an area and then capturing it counts as giving away your wealth.

"The city", he crashed the market for the entire Mediterranean, and that was predominately because of what he gave away in Cairo (a city he never part of his empire, and the primary market for gold at the time).

He was a warlord who conquered territory with force. I don't understand how anyone can believe that his contributions were made with philanthropic intentions.

Imagine Paul Graham conquering San Fransisco after measurably enriching North America. Would you still feel inclined to feel he's charitable?

Timbuktu was the center of trade at the time. Making it a part of his empire was a logical move.

> Timbuktu was peacefully annexed by King Musa I when returning from his pilgrimage in 1324 to Mecca.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Timbuktu

The very next line:

> The city became part of the Mali Empire and Musa I ordered the construction of a royal palace.

I don't think MacKenzie is ordering anyone to build a palace for her.

It's sad that this thread had to be buried because HN can't just be happy that MacKenzie is giving away wealth. It's an intellectually interesting, substantive, new phenomenon. Instead we get "Actually this warlord from the past gave away more than her" and "The best poor people are ungrateful for charity."

He paid for it. You don't think MacKenzie has a house that would be considered a palace? And what's your point now?

"Dude lived so long ago, is okay to forget his generosity"

A warlord would need to be pretty generous to make up for their past. We're not exactly talking about a Watsi donor here.

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