But he is by no means the richest man of all time. That title is believed to belong to Mansa Musa, the 14th Century West African ruler who was so rich his generous handouts wrecked an entire country’s economy. Mansa Musa was born in 1280 into a family of rulers. He reportedly embarked on an expedition with a fleet of 2,000 ships and thousands of men, women and slaves. The kingdom stretched for about 2,000 miles, from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to modern-day Niger, taking in parts of what are now Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Ivory Coast.