Double tap to edit The richest man in history was Musa I (1312 – 1337) of Mali in Africa. He went on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 with his procession that is reported to have included 60,000 men, 12,000 slaves who each carried four-pound gold bars, heralds dressed in silks, who bore gold staffs, organized horses and handled bags. Also there were 80 camels, which varying reports claim carried between 50 and 300 pounds of gold dust each. He gave away so much of gold to the poor and spent so much on souvenirs that he caused a super inflation and devalued the metal for the next decade in the region.