A quiz question · medium
What economic effect did Mansa Musa's 1324 stay in Cairo have, according to the chronicler al-Umari?
It is the one documented case of a single traveller depressing a major economy's currency in passing. On the way home, tapped out, he borrowed from Cairo's merchants — and repaid them.
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The Hajj of Mansa Musa in 1324, When the Emperor of Mali Gave Away So Much Gold He Broke Cairo's Economy In 1324-25 Mansa Musa, emperor of Mali, crossed the Sahara to Mecca with a caravan of legendary size, spending and gifting gold so freely in Cairo that Egyptian chroniclers said its value there stayed depressed for years. The journey put Mali on Europe's maps — literally, holding a gold nugget on the Catalan Atlas — and seeded Timbuktu's golden age.
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