Mansa Musa was king of the Kingdom of Mali from 1312 to 1337. He annexed the important cities of Timbuktu and Gao to his kingdom. He also built many mosques around Mali and made Islam a state religion.
It is alleged that during his reign, the Kingdom of Mali held more than half of the world’s gold and Musa was fabulously rich. In a European map from 1375, Mali is symbolized by a king holding a scepter in one hand and a large piece of gold in the other. The information about him comes from Arab chroniclers who described Mansa Musa as the strongest, richest, most feared, and capable of doing good to his loved ones among all West African leaders.
He expanded the empire and introduced a common legislative and trade system and is considered one of Africa's greatest statesmen and even the richest of all time.
The joint-stock company was the forerunner of the modern corporation. In a JOINT-STOCK VENTURE, stock was sold to high net-worth investors who provided CAPITAL and had limited RISK. These companies had proven profitable in the past with trading ventures. The risk was small, and the returns were fairly quick.
Their calendars helped determine the days of their important activities such as religious days, predicting the future, dates of wars and many other things.
