Richest Person Who Ever Lived is an African King - (Inflation Adjusted)

Yes, you read this headline correctly, the richest human being in history is indeed an African king.  According to researchers at Celebrity Net Worth, the 14th century West African king,  Mansa Musa I of the Mali had a personal net worth of $400 Billion at the time of his death in 1331.  Celebrity Net Worth explained their findings are based upon them adjusting for inflation "For example, $100 million in the year 1913 is equal to $2.299.63 billion in 2012 dollars thanks to the annual rate of inflation of 2199.6%."

Mansa Musa's immense wealth was due his Malian Empire's production and trade of gold and salt.  He inherited his empire via his role as deputy of the king, when the previous ruler never returned from an expedition on the Atlantic Ocean.  Mansa Musa I, a devout muslim, used some of his wealth to build statuesque mosques that are still standing to this very day and a university in Timbuktu to attract scholars and encourage education.

Legend has it that Mansa Musa I was a generous king who believed in spreading the wealth to the commoners and elders. He put Mali on the map during his hajj/ pilgrimage to Mecca when he gave away gold freely to those he encountered along the way.  Within two generations of Mansa Musa's death, his heirs were unable to successfully defend the kingdom from invading conquerors and civil wars and as such,  his wealth was lost.

Quick Facts about Mansa Musa I

Catalan Map of Mansa Musa 1375, with translation

• Mansa means "king" or "leader."
• Mansa Musa I  lived from 1280-1331.
• Mansa Musa I was a descendant of the Mandingo ruler, Sundiata Keita (Sunjata), who was the founder of the Mali empire.
• He ruled West Africa's Malian Empire  (modern day Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali).
• To manage successfully, his empire was broken into provinces and villages, with each village having a mayor to help manage government.
• He was a devout muslim who allowed freedom of religion and occupation.
• Mansa Musa I's army guarded the gold mines and also guarded the section of the Trans-Sahara Trade Route that passed by Mali.
• He was highly cultured and encouraged education, even building an impressive university in Timbuktu 
• Mansa Musa brought back from hajj/ pilgrimage an Arabic library, religious scholars, and the Muslim architect al-Sahili, who built the great mosques at Gao and Timbuktu and a royal palace.

Mansa Musa's Mosque of Djenne

Artsy Sistas: Eileen Norton & Thelma Golden @LACMA Opening Celebration of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum

These two cultured sistas have got it going on. Eileen Harris Norton and Thelma Golden were the black socialites on the scene and looked fabulous as they attended the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art's opening celebration for the Broad Contemporary Art Museum this past weekend.

Who is Eileen Harris Norton you ask? Well, Eileen is a philanthropist, very avid art collector and a former school teacher from Watts. She's the ex-wife of software guru Peter Norton, of Norton Utilities. Yes, as in the creator of Norton Anti-virus software! Eileen has two children by Peter and before they went through a$200 million divorce battle in the the early 2000's, they built a wildly successful software company and amassed one of the largest contemporary art collections in the world. They also established the Santa Monica-based Peter Norton Family Foundation, which Eileen continues to be active in, supporting and bringing attention to emerging artist.

Now onto the art expert, Thelma Golden. I've actually talked about Thelma Golden earlier on this site. This New York bred sista is the Chief Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem. She's overseen cosmetic upgrades to the museum and is very instrumental in discovering and introducing Black artists. One of the most popular exhibitions she curated at Studio is Freestyle, an exhibition that included twenty-eight up and coming artists of African American backgrounds. Thelma has also guided the patronage of her friends Peter and Eileen Norton to emergent African American modernists. Thelma got her big break when she was named curator of the Whitney Museum in 1991. At the Whitney she spearheaded the Bob Thompson retrospective and curated the controversial 1994 "Black Male" show. She serves on numerous international art prize committees and is a juror for nearly all of the public art commissioned in NYC. Thelma is also known for coining the term ‘post-black’ art with friend and artist Glenn Ligon in the late 1990s.

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