Where do Wakandans get their (external) wealth from?
In Black Panther (2018), it is shown that Wakanda is an autarky (self-sufficient) country that lives within a bubble, literally. Hidden and fully isolated from the outside world.
But at the end of the movie, King T'Challa bought three huge buildings in Oakland, California where he plans of turning them into the first Wakandan International Outreach Center.
My question is: With what did he buy those buildings? As Wakanda, being fully isolated and not engaging in any international trade, won't have any reserve of hard currency that can be used abroad for such situations.
Best Answer
Trade of Hard Assets is not the sole means of accumulating wealth.
Wakanda is technologically ascendent and would be able to achieve desired industrial or resource dependent outcomes at a fraction of the price and effort of most competition.
Tony Stark's revelation forges him into an altruistic capitalist, but a capitalist non-the-less. He gives as much of his resources away as possible to deserving causes, but the scale of this would be comparatively diminutive compared to a nation state. Wakanda's tech, whilst powered by Vibranium, could solve any number of problems regarding scarcity of resources.
Even before we consider the socio-political and medical advances their accumulative research and knowledge carries, from a business perspective alone; how much processing power do you think their technology is capable of? they may well be able to supersede all collective the Data-Farms in the world with ease, and onboard those contracts to within Wakanda, thus keeping all their resources and intellectual property.
Even while still political isolationists, this is one scenario in a million that could have already been at play before T'Challa 'opens their borders'. The value of Wakanda, and their co-operation, would immediately be attributed a high speculative monetary value.
The situation is Akin to an invasion of benevolent aliens on Earth; wherein they have arrived from outer-space with new technology and knowledge, but are not accommodated because they lack a trade currency; they wouldn't be expected to have any, but it would not see them cast out!
Pictures about "Where do Wakandans get their (external) wealth from?"
How did Wakanda become rich?
Wakanda's Vibranium reserves make it one of the richest countries in the world \u2013 but the Black Panther's wealth is not dependent on the metal. The nation of Wakanda is one of the wealthiest countries in Marvel's world, thanks in part to its enormous deposits of Vibranium.What money is used in Wakanda?
The monetary unit used in Wakanda is the Wakandan Dollar. The major resource of the country is Vibranium, they have used this mineral to turn them into one of the economically stable nations on the planet.Is Wakanda a poor country?
Instead, Wakanda passes itself off as a small, poor Third World nation of humble herdsmen, using an advanced holographic projection shroud around its borders to hide the advanced technological civilization within.Is Wakandans real?
In the Marvel universe, Wakanda is the fictional East African home country of superhero Black Panther. The fictional country was removed soon from the list after US media first queried it, prompting jokes that the countries had started a trade war.LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 - Wakanda 100% Guide (All Collectibles)
More answers regarding where do Wakandans get their (external) wealth from?
Answer 2
Wakanda isn't fully isolated any more, and in truth it never was completely isolated. We see in various MCU movies that the Wakandans do export small amounts of Vibranium to the wider world (Cap's shield for example). They just don't admit to quite how much they have available. Probably for the best, as they would likely crash the price if they made much more available too quickly.
In any case, this is the main source of Wakanda's wealth. The Black Panther is known in the Marvel comics as being substantially richer than Tony Stark, and it's all because of their unique resource - Vibranium. They're the only place in the world who have it, so they control the supply and therefore set the price.
This means that it's not so difficult for T'Challa to flash some cash to buy a few buildings.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Karolina Grabowska, Karolina Grabowska, Karolina Grabowska, Tatiana Syrikova