[Music] welcome one and all to puppet history today we'll be taking an ever whining look at yet another chapter in the heavy heavy book we call history while our guests ruthlessly compete for the coveted title of history master i am obviously your beloved host the professor thank you thank you thank you ryan bergara are you ready i can't wait to have another opportunity to as you always say try again it's gonna be a good time and you know you're looking really good today france oh likewise you look very uh put together for a change i appreciate that special guest with eway are you ready i think i'm as ready as i will always be then let's crack cracking now to begin do you guys love money me i'm a small guy but you know i love them big old wads i'm not the biggest fan of money i don't need it i mean no sure started my own company during a pandemic yeah who needs money no i love money i have many things i want to buy like what hoverboard sneakers graphics card eventually hard to get because of all those crypto [ __ ] oh we'll put a stop to you we'll get you yet i mean i do want to eat the rich you know they taste good but i mean sneakers though speaking of sneakers this guy's rocking the sakai blazer lows and i got bad boys right there yeah you guys are welcome to talk about sneakers uh what are you wearing just my fuzzy little feet oh kind of gross you know what's a solid 4. 5 on wiki feet thank you it's been a while since we were in person if you guys want to give him a sniff you're welcome to i think i could leave it up to the imagination oh yeah those you know those are just right right yeah you're gonna keep them good oh it's so good to be back in person anyway if you love money you're gonna love the subject of our lesson today this dude was so rich he could upend a country's economy by just visiting we're talking about mansa musa probably the richest dude to ever live mansa musa was born in 1280 in western africa the descendant of sundayata keta who founded the mali empire kata established the mandan charter thought to have been one of the first charters on human rights it discussed keeping peace while respecting diversity abolishing slavery and the importance of education among other good stuff apart from basic rights mali citizens enjoyed the fertile land surrounding the niger river as well as massive salt and gold deposits basically wasn't a bad place to find yourself at the end of the 13th century okay this is definitely uh the person who i thought it was uh as an african myself i know all about uh well no i don't know all right now back to the lesson now though muso was descended from sundiata keita and a member of the royal court he was not in the royal line of succession the reigning emperor was instead mansa abubakari keta the second who was reportedly obsessed with the atlantic ocean specifically finding the edge of it and discovering what was beyond it that's fair right because back then they were just like where does that thing go yeah yeah that's wild that's some big old water they also probably thought you'd just fall off a waterfall into the abyss you a flat earther professor i actually believe the earth is shaped like a jelly bean i'm a jelly earther we all have our faults in 1312 abubakari sent 300 boats out with the express mission of reaching the end of the atlantic eventually one boat returned the captain reported that the other ships had all been sucked to the briny deaths by a horrible whirlpool i've been on a few cruises in my life and i haven't seen any whirlpools so no well you count yourself lucky i guess our first question what did abu bakari do with this information a he forbade ocean going for all citizens of the mali empire b he had the captain executed for not dying like the others or c he decided if you need something done you gotta do it yourself you feel good about your choices i do i'm feeling good ryan what'd you put i put uh c for diy okay this guy's like a very rich man i would assume that he had adopted the idea that he does everything better than everyone else sure if he uh b execution because that just sounds like like oh you you should have died why why are you alive either you killed them or you should have died choose well we're about to find out via the magic of theater i'll see you guys in just a second [Applause] my ship oh and my ship alone has returned from our quest to discover the end of the atlantic ocean and what wonders lie beyond out with it semen my thirst for the truth cannot be sainted until you unlash your salty tongue uh my guy i i don't think we were even close to the end of the atlantic everyone else died and they got sucked into the ocean by a huge whirlpool it was horrible that ocean is freaking dangerous as hell man oh well this was my mistake i meant to send the most experienced sailors in my kingdom not a bunch of weak whitey little babies who were going to die the second they ran into some choppy waters my bad sure we we did the best we could end of the 300 boats 299 perished oh god i have to do everything around here okay this time round up 3 000 boats and make sure one's really nice because i'm going myself and i am going to find the end of the ocean hubris a dish best served cold [Music] okay a jelly bean for ryan and i guess in the spirit of our generous subject today oh we'll crank that up to uh i don't know 456 jelly beans for ryan oh wow but what well you know matsumusa he seemed to be such a generous and rich man i think we're just gonna toss you some some bonus jellies here 455. yeah sure i don't know man whatever [Music] now in a testament to abu bakr's bravery and obsession with the ocean he himself led an expedition 10 times the size of the first while he was sailing into oblivion however the mali empire would need a ruler in his stead so he chose his deputy musa while ostensibly musa was just keeping the throne warm abu bakari never returned some believe the king may have made it to south america but if you ask this sea dog it was probably another whirlpool situation in his new role as mansa meaning king musa quickly took to the job left behind abu bakari he worked on expanding mali's already extraordinary wealth by increasing intercultural trade and then taxing that trade he also physically expanded his territory conquering important cities along saharan trade routes like timbuktu i just want a meme image of the dominoes where it's like you know mansa musa taxing and then the american revolution i'm sure it led to it in some way history is just a series of causes and effects and if someone meddles with the fabric of history then i can throw it all into chaos yeah that's why i'm going to time machines yeah you can't you speaking from a personal experience here no no at its height under monsanbusa mali's borders stretched for 2 000 miles with at least 400 cities under its domain reportedly the king once bragged that should someone walk the empire from end to end it would take a full year that's crazy is that actually accurate i don't know some dude claimed it yeah i wouldn't take it at face value when i was growing up when i would ask my dad for a ride he was like in nigeria i would walk 30 miles to go to school and i went to nigeria and it was like a block the walking through the snow to school thing is universal across all cultures i think yeah [ __ ] boomers dude i guess we're kind of like the new boomers oh yeah you're a millennial right yeah yeah yeah what are you professor ancient like gandalf the white well no gandalf the white was like uh his reborn form right maybe some point i'll you know transform into an exciting new version of myself i hope i'm a little bigger because i still can't uh reach most things [Music] however with such a vast kingdom and twitter still 700 years away from being invented mansa musa faced the challenge of how to govern such a widespread and diverse populace so how did monsantusa maintain control a he relocated the capital and all its people to the exact middle of the kingdom b something boring like ceding local control to province governors and village mayors or whatever or c he mandated every boy moved to the capitol at age five to be educated in pro-empire propaganda a lot to chew on there but i invite you to chew all righty have you chewed i've chewed okay what do we got ryan c for brainwashing okay okay iffy and this time i would be for boring legislation well history is often either very exciting or very boring and so if he gets six thousand seven hundred and eighty two jelly beans wow because he is correct the answer is b yes mansa musa took the road less traveled in the middle ages and decided to rule with a not quite iron fist he divided the kingdom into provinces put a governor in charge of each and made sure each village had a mayor local authorities would handle local matters while mansa musa and his advisors took care of the big stuff he also instituted written laws and made sure everyone knew there was a distinction between the law and himself perhaps these things don't seem like a big deal but this was the 1300s when the bar for decent king was as low as sometimes people had food mansa musa was killing it and he reaped a staggering fortune as a result the empire was prosperous and because of his system of taxation that made mansa musa rich according to history professor rudolph ware imagine as much gold as you think a human being could possess and double it this is the richest guy anyone has ever seen what would you guys even do if you got to the point where you had so much money that it lost value i feel like at that point you know uh maybe some you know philanthropic donating some of it re-distributing that wealth i think i'd disappear a couple people with no loose ends god oh jesus dude make sure it's quick okay moving along hey professor oh it's the chill or yep i'm not as funny as the other guys i'm just sort of a normal dude who happens to be an ore so sorry i'm not all waka waka up here oh that's fine you're a great guy thanks anyway i'm just stopping in real quick to thank one dream for sponsoring today's episode and sure we've had a lot of sponsors over the years but this one's like oh man it's right in the pocket man oh that's exciting tell us all about it well i think it could be said there's no quality more admirable than an inquisitive mind and if you're watching the show there's a good bet you got one and that's where one dream comes in one dream searches far and wide to bring you trusted respected and inspiring experts and non-fiction storytellers who have led over 6 000 hours of video courses documentaries and more well this sounds very appealing to me it's like puppet history without the puppets what what are puppets uh never mind just keep going anyway yeah they've got a carefully curated collection of short and long-form videos tutorials how-to's travelogues documentaries and more you want to learn about mansa musa's life and how he developed cities like timbuktu into a hub of cultural sophistication well they've got a whole fascinating lecture about it in their series turning points in middle eastern history hey professor yeah how come you didn't mention that monsa's library in timbuktu was one of the largest in the world housing books about everything from greek philosophy to astrology uh i i guess i just didn't know that oh interesting well i learned that from one dream not from you oh man there's so much to learn yeah thank goodness for wondering then huh anyway one dream genuinely loves puppet history so much that they reached out about extending our viewers a free trial go to wondreyum.
com watcher that's w-o-n-d-r-i-u-m dot slash watcher and get learning your brain will thank you wow incredible thank you wanderium and thanks or yeah man keep it up okay where were we in 1324 mansa musa a devout muslim decided to fulfill the ultimate pillar of islam pilgrimage or hajj this pillar states that every able muslim must make the journey to the holy city of mecca located in modern-day saudi arabia while traveling pilgrims dedicate themselves to aiding others and maintaining peace serenity and devotion for mansa musa the hajj would also serve as a sort of cross-cultural debut for the mali empire which though extremely wealthy and prosperous wasn't widely known outside of west africa if mansa musa was going to be introducing his kingdom to the broader world he wanted to make an impression accompanying musa were tens of thousands of slaves heralds and soldiers each wearing fine silks and carrying a golden staff his favorite wife inari kunate brought 500 maids in waiting alongside were dozens of camels each loaded with 300 pounds of gold that's a lot that sounds great yeah yeah that's some prince ali stuff have you ever rode a camel no i've ridden a horse though i have ridden a horse but then it bucked me off and almost killed me in a creek its name was crazy so i should have known i would have had some questions actually after hearing the full story i have no sympathy for you i just thought maybe it's like oh he goes crazy fast or like it's a crazy good time these crazy californian boys you gotta love them come to california we ride crazy horses on fridays holy days in islam wherever he was in his journey mansa musa had a mosque constructed so he could pray according to gus casely hayford the former director of the smithsonian's national museum of african art each night when they stopped it was a whole town decamping in the desert if you've ever gone on a trip with friends you know how logistically challenging it can be now picture going on a trip with a sold out madison square garden including the building nobody hodged like moosa hodged while on the hajj after dinner manza musa would chat with his wife and ask her how the trip was going apparently though she would reply that she was having a good time something in the way she paused before answering gave her husband doubts one evening in the middle of the sahara after musa asked if she was sure she was enjoying herself inari admitted there was something she missed her nightly swim in the niger river so what did mansa musa do a he abandoned the hajj and turned the whole caravan back to mali just so she could swim b he ordered everyone on a 500 mile long detour so she could swim in the mediterranean or see he built a friggin swimming pool in the middle of the sahara oh i got it i got it okay i love the confidence i probably don't got it but no no no come on come on okay ryan what'd you put i'm gonna put a c oasis for my wife 65 jelly beans for that borat you know i'm gonna give you jelly beans for the boys oh you know and iffy what do you got i think it might be beat detour you know we're still on the way but we're going to take a little detour let my wife go for a little swimsie-poo well let's find out the answer once again through the magic of theater i'll be back in a second [Applause] [Music] whoa is me whoa certainly is me monsa sir is something the matter oh it's you one of my many trusted advisors oh you heard me woeing it's nothing problems with the old ball and chain you know oh lay it on me i'm your advisor that's what i'm here for well my beautiful wife inari wants to go swimming but we're in the middle of the sahara the least swimmable place on earth that's a toughy all right you know when we get through the desert though she can wait i've got it we'll build a pool uh well pool you're hiding i mean we could certainly dig a hole but yes dig a hole and then fill it with water but what water look at skins everyone's got goat skins full of water we'll we'll dump that in there the drinking water the water we need to cross the desert correction the water we need to make a pool for my wife it looks like i guessed it and then chose not the answer that certainly is a way to explain yeah you're missing well he's probably about to give you a million jelly beans so i got a feeling he won't but maybe i'll be surprised a million jelly beans for ryan wait this is i'm just trying to soak in this moment because i've been dreaming of it for a long time and i don't know what to say yeah you're welcome dude so yeah uh dug a big old pool huh as you said if not the smartest thing i liked sort of the the logic that you applied to that though so two million jelly beans for you there um okay moving along that's right mansa musa had his servants dig a pool and fill it with water from the goatskins it was constructed in no time and anari and her ladies in waiting reportedly had a grand time splashing about allegedly far from seeing this as an unnecessary and extravagant waste everyone was impressed that mansa musa would do something as insane as build a pool in the middle of the desert for his wife to swim in once ah romance actually i feel like now that i think about it like a whole bunch of dirty ass historical dudes in the desert i see where you're going men or men are dumb yeah yeah yeah get the waters going we gotta put it in the water and they all die let's face it you know yeah horny they're thinking with that pre-nut cloudiness okay all right as mansa musa's caravan approached cairo the egyptian sultan al-malik al-nasir sent a servant to greet the literal town that was coming to visit the servant invited mansa musa to meet the alnassir but montemusa demured saying that he was only passing through on the way to mecca and that such a visit wouldn't be necessary this was odd as i said mansa musa wasn't just going from a to b he was also trying to strut his stuff and make connections for the kingdom of mali so why didn't mansa musa want to meet the sultan of egypt a he knew he'd have to kiss the ground before the sultan v he was afraid the sultan would try to steal his wife or c he didn't think egypt was that big of a deal [Music] okay ryan what do you got i got bead don't touch my wine oh you've got another double bore two hundred thousand jelly beans for another boy i reference what do you got avoiding the kiss and then i put up the devil horns okay respects to kiss 3. 5 million jelly beans to iffy because he is correct mansa musa was himself a king so why should he bow to the sultan of egypt eventually mansa musa did agree to meet al-nasir in court before bowing however mansa musa created his own sneaky little loophole declaring he would only bow to allah which he then did after this technically okay greeting the sultan offered matsumusa use of his palace and the mali king decided to stay in egypt for three months during this time mansa musa went on a bit of a spending spree giving away gold ingots by the thousands egyptian merchants knowing a mark when they see one in turn increased their prices by fivefold i was never much of a haggler when it comes to these kind of like little markets i remember i would go to downtown l.
