7. The Songhai Empire - Africa's Age of Gold
Fall of Civilizations Podcast
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The Importance of a Mansamusa
Muse made a pilgrimage to mecca that began in the year 13 24. Travelled with an impressive retinue that caused a sensation across mediaeval world. He is also supposed to have travelled with a baggage train of 80 camels, each carrying 300 pounds of gold. But his generosity had a number of inadvertent effects. All along his pilgrimage route, he left economic chaos in his wake. The sudden influx of gold caused a collapse in the metals value for the next decade. It's the first and last time in history that one man has controlled the price of all the world's gold.
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