Mansa Musa had put Mali and himself on the map, quite literally. In a Catalan Atlas map from , a drawing of an African king sits on a golden throne atop Timbuktu, holding a piece of gold in his hand. Timbuktu became an African El Dorado and people came from near and far to have a glimpse. In the 19th Century, it still had a mythical status as a lost city of gold at the edge of the world, a beacon for both European fortune hunters and explorers, and this was largely down to the exploits of Mansa Musa years earlier.
Mansa Musa returned from Mecca with several Islamic scholars, including direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad and an Andalusian poet and architect by the name of Abu Es Haq es Saheli, who is widely credited with designing the famous Djinguereber mosque.
In addition to encouraging the arts and architecture, he also funded literature and built schools, libraries and mosques. Timbuktu soon became a centre of education and people travelled from around the world to study at what would become the Sankore University. The rich king is often credited with starting the tradition of education in West Africa, although the story of his empire largely remains little known outside West Africa.
After Mansa Musa died in , aged 57, the empire was inherited by his sons who could not hold the empire together. The smaller states broke off and the empire crumbled. The later arrival of Europeans in the region was the final nail in the empire's coffin. Son of a joiner becomes UK's richest man. Kylie Jenner is world's youngest billionaire.
Image source, Getty Images. They grew through military conquest, were built by slaves and were maintained with brutal violence, but the great empires also unified millions of far-flung people under a common culture and gave rise to incredible technology and innovation.
Empires, however, are expensive. Some were better at it than others. A handful of before and after events pulled human beings out of the food chain — the domestication of fire, the domestication of plants and animals through agriculture, written language and money.
From dog leashes and the wheel to mathematics and the sail, the Mesopotamians gave more to the world than perhaps any other culture in history, not the least of which was money.
Around 5, years ago, the Mesopotamian shekel emerged as the first known form of currency. In the time of antiquity, wealth was measured in the amount of land an empire controlled and the number of people it ruled. The Roman business model is proof of why. When Rome conquered a civilization, it confiscated its resources and commodities, including the people who lived there.
The early Romans invaded Carthage, Spain and Greece, enslaved the conquered and worked them to death in their own mines and on their own farms. The proceeds were shipped back to Rome on the backs of other slaves. Ancient emperors were in the subjects game — more people, more profit — and few players played it better than the Persians. Historian Frank L. When the Macedonian king toppled the Achaemenid Empire, he redistributed the riches the Persians had been hoarding.
There were so many slaves and so much gold, silver and grain that the moment triggered one of the greatest economic shifts in the ancient world. In , the journal Nature published a game-changing report that revealed an incredible economic disparity in ancient Egypt. The vast majority of ancient Egyptians, it turns out, were dirt poor. The Roman Empire eventually got so huge that it had to be split in two. The Eastern Roman Empire — aka the Byzantine Empire — flourished for an incredible run from late antiquity through the medieval period.
Its currency, monetary system, taxation system and advanced credit networks were all far superior to that of the West, but the truth is, Byzantium got the long end of the divorce settlement.
Because of its proximity to Persia, Egypt and Greece, Eastern Rome was always more advanced, wealthy and globally connected than the Western Roman Empire. When Rome was divided, Byzantium jettisoned the dead weight. Economic superpowers that spanned entire continents, the world's mightiest empires amassed fabulous wealth, enriching themselves at the expense of the nations they colonised.
We chart the rise and fall of 10 of the most affluent of all time and reveal their peak GDPs. Estimates are courtesy of the Maddison Project unless otherwise stated, and are based on international dollars. The first truly global empire, imperial Spain controlled huge swathes of modern-day Latin America, the Philippines, parts of Africa and territories in Europe from the Netherlands to Sicily at various points during the late 15th to the early 19th centuries.
The empire derived much of its wealth from the New World. The riches of the conquered Aztec and Inca Empires were plundered during the 16th century and vast quantities of gold, silver and gemstones were mined and exported to the Old World via the Spanish Treasure Galleons. Revolutionary movements developed in the colonies, and the empire lost the lion's share of its territories following the Spanish American wars of Independence in the early 19th century.
Rising in the 13th century, the affluent Ottoman Empire went on to cover Anatolia and large parts of Southeastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East at its zenith under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from to The sultan presided over a golden age of military conquest, unprecedented prosperity and great artistic achievement, but it was all downhill from there and the empire was overtaken economically by Europe's major powers in the s. The Roman Empire emerged after the fall of the Republic in 27 BC and reached the height of its power and prestige in the 2nd century AD when it covered millions of square kilometres spanning much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
A victim of its sheer size, the Roman Empire became too big to govern and entered into decline during the 3rd century, though its influence on Western civilisation has been profound. Barbarian invasions finished off the Western Empire in the 5th century, but the Eastern part, the Byzantine Empire, survived until The magnificent Mughal Empire was founded in and extended over almost the entire Indian subcontinent during its peak in the 17th century, absorbing Afghanistan to boot.
Russia was the last absolute monarchy in Europe, and prior to World War I, one of five great powers in Europe. During the time of the empire. The Russian Empire ended with the bloody Russian Revolution of The Mongol Empire covered 9.
The largest contiguous empire in history, the Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of Mongol and Turkish tribes under Genghis Khan. The Mongols achieved advancements in various technologies and ideologies during the empire. In , the Black Death began its rampage in Mongolia and brought the Empire into its long, slow decline that culminated with its annexation by Russia in The British Empire covered The British Empire began with overseas colonies and trading posts and in the end comprised dominions, protectorates, and mandates, as well.
Japan's occupation of its territories in the Second World War and the loss of India in brought the days of the British Empire to a close. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App.
0コメント