When in 1324, Mali’s king Mansa Musa, who had converted to Islam 18 years earlier, made his haj to Mecca, his 60,000 man caravan carried 12 tons of gold on the back of their camels, worth more than $531 million at current prices, so much so that it depressed gold prices in Cairo.
Seven centuries later, little has changed, except that it is now oil, “black gold,” which increasingly excites foreign companies.