Top 15 wealthiest Men in History
Have you ever wondered what an all time list of the richest people might look like, if you were to include all the emperors and pioneers and conquerors together with the investors and technology geeks of today?
Is it is indeed challenging to compare wealth across eras and geographies, but it’s a task that has been attempted by leading historians and economists and adjusted for inflation in today’s episode of Top Trending.
This is the list of the top 15 richest people in history.
15.) Henry Ford
The captain of the American car industry and the business magnate who has made mass production of automobiles possible, the Ford Motor Company, founded by him, made cars that were for the first time affordable to the middle class, converting them into the practical mode of conveyance and revolutionizing transportation. And as the owner of the company, Henry Ford, became one of the richest and most famous people in the world when he died, his net worth was over 200 billion dollars in today’s terms. And most of this was left at the Ford Foundation.
14.) Cornelius Vanderbilt
made his fortune in the railroad and shipping business in 19th century America. He used to work with his father, who operated a cargo boat between Staten Island and Manhattan in New York in the 20s.
He started his own steamship business operating in New York. And in the 50s he entered the railroad business. He was known for his shrewd and aggressive business style. At the peak of his wealth, he would have been worth 202 billion dollars in today’s money. Unlike later business magnates who did not set up a foundation or give much to charity other than a million dollar seed money to establish the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, the family no longer controls any businesses, and the fortune amassed by Cornelius Vanderbilt is no longer in the family.
13.) Moammar Gadhafi
Libyan revolutionary and political leader of more than 42 years, Moammar Gadhafi is rumored to have been worth 200 billion dollars at the time of his violent overthrow and death in 2011, which is over 212 billion dollars in today’s terms during his decades long reign. He had as good as private control over Libya’s rich oil fields and their earnings. This wealth was secret it away in several bank accounts, real estate and other investments around the world. At the beginning of the Libyan conflict, the U.S. government found 37 billion dollars in the United States, 30 billion dollars was found in assets across U.K., Germany, France and Italy. Even today, it is believed that much of the cash stashed away by him remains unfound.
12.) William the Conqueror
The first Norman King of England ruling from 66 after defeating King Harold in the Battle of Hastings, son of the Duke of Normandy.
Robert, the first and a mistress named her LeVar. He was also known as William the Bastard. He succeeded his father as the Duke of Normandy, and it is said he was promised the throne of England by King Edward. When Edward declared Harold the King on his deathbed, William declared war. The plunder from the conquest and land grabs makes William the Conqueror his wealth, estimated at 228 billion dollars in today’s terms.
11.) Jacob Fugere
A German merchant mining entrepreneur and banker from the 16th century, Jacob Fugere, amassed huge wealth and power during his lifetime, amounting to 277 billion dollars. At the peak of his fortune, the foundation of the wealth was laid through the textile trade with Italy, but grew manifold with the start of banking operations, with the royal family of Austria and the administrative apparatus of the Holy See. At one point, he had a monopolistic hold on the copper trade in Europe with his enormous wealth. Yakob Fugere influence much of European history by funding the marriages that saw the Austrian House of Hapsburg gain control of Spain, Bohemia and Hungary, and ensuring the election of Charles the Fifth as the next Holy Roman emperor on his death. His business and wealth passed on to his nephew, Anton Fugere.
10.) His Exalted Highness Doob Samira’s Monaldi
considered by Affinia Sofija, the seventh, the last Nizam of Hyderabad, a princely state in India that became a part of the Republic of India in 1948. In 1937, he featured on the cover of Time magazine as the richest man in the world. His wealth was amassed on mining royalties and land revenue. Daraban was the only supplier of diamonds globally in the 18th century. His net worth was estimated at two billion dollars in the early 1940s. Two percent of the U.S. economy at that time. And today’s terms, that’s about 230 billion dollars. The Jacob Diamond, a one hundred twenty four carat diamond worth more than 40 million dollars, was part of the nation’s jewelry collection and used by him as a paperweight man. Ali Khan was considered a miser for the way he dressed.
But almost all the major public buildings and institutions in Hyderabad were built during his reign. The many a university, the general hospital, the high court, the observatory, to name a few. After Hyderabad’s accession to India, most of his wealth was taken over by the Indian government, including the Nisan jewellery collection. But even after that, he was still widely considered South Asia’s richest man till his death in 1967. He is said to have fathered 149 children in what remains of his wealth is now being litigated by an increasing number of claimants.
9.) Nikolai Alexandrovich
The last tsar of Russia, Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanoff, who was worth 300 billion dollars in today’s terms. He ruled from 1894 until he abdicated the throne in 1917. The Romanoff family had ruled Russia for over 300 years and had amassed a lot of wealth and property in that time, only to be increased by Tsar Nicholas the second. The family’s jewelry collection was estimated to be worth 160 million rubles. The czar owned multimillions in the noble bank and the railroads. Millions were transferred to German banks. After a failed revolution, the Empress had collected over 600 diamonds, the family owned villas and palaces in several European countries and many more properties in Russia. All this wealth was seized in the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Tsar, along with his wife, children and loyal members of staff, were murdered in 1918.
8.) Andrew Carnegie
A Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland, the son of a handloom weaver at the age of 13. He moved to America and worked a series of telegraph and railroad jobs. While still working, he started investing in oil, infrastructure and steel, eventually setting up the Carnegie Steel Company, vertical integration of raw material supplies and reduction in costs of steel production using the Bessemer process made his business wildly successful. He sold his steel business, which eventually became U.S. Steel Corporation, so as to retire for a whopping 480 million dollars in 1981. At his peak wealth, he was worth 337 billion dollars in today’s money. After his retirement, he focused on philanthropy, giving away 90 percent of his wealth to different causes, primarily education, world peace, libraries and scientific research.
7.) John Rockefeller
Widely regarded as the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history, John D. Rockefeller, had a peak net worth of about 367 billion dollars in today’s money. He made his money in oil refining and the Standard Oil trust that he founded controlled 90 percent of the supply of oil in the United States. He revolutionized the American oil industry through his strategies of integration, transportation and marketing. And his company became so big that in 1911, the Supreme Court ruled that it was in violation of antitrust laws and split it into 34 different companies. Rockefeller received proportionate shares in these new companies, and over the next 10 years, this proved immensely profitable as their net worth rose five fold. He used his unprecedented wealth to pioneer the modern system of philanthropy, creating foundations that even today have a major impact on medicine, education and scientific research. With an estimated net worth of 415 billion dollars.
6.) Mansa Musa
The first emperor of Mali and king of Timbuktu, who controlled the Mali empire and the Guana empire and conquered much of West Africa during his reign in the 14th century. One of his titles was Lord of the Mines, and he owned more than half the world’s supply of gold at a time that there was a hugely increasing demand for the commodity. And he also controlled key trade routes between the West African coast and the Mediterranean. He built schools, mosques and even a major university, all of which became his legacy many years after he died and some of which are still standing now.
He is also known for a fabulous pilgrimage he once made to Mecca in a caravan stretching as far as the eye could see, with an entourage of tens of thousands of people donating and spending so much money when they stopped in Cairo that it caused instant inflation and it took years for the local economy to recover from the shock.
5.) The biblical legend King Solomon
who ruled Israel for 40 years from 370 to 331 B.C. He is known to have been extremely wise and fabulously wealthy, with the empire reaching its heights of splendor during his reign, he is said to have received a yearly tribute of 666 gold talents, which is approximately 86000 pounds of gold every year. This, in addition to his income from taxation and trade, makes his net worth over two point two trillion dollars. He used his wealth to create many building projects, including the first temple in Jerusalem, which is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
4.) The of Julius Caesar
He was the master of political and military intrigue and in 27 B.C. appointed himself the first emperor of the Roman Empire. This gave him sole control over imperial Rome and a personal fortune equivalent to one fifth of the entire economy, which made his net worth an estimated 4.36 trillion dollars.
He is said to have personally owned the entire country of Egypt.
He established a system that created and maintain the peace of the Romans for over 200 years. But in his final years, he struggled to find peace, troubled by the death of his beloved grandson. So he had hoped to appoint his heirs as well as military defeats and a troubled economy.
3.) Emperor AKBAR
this list of the richest people in history is Emperor AkBAR, the first the ruler of the Mughal empire between 15, 56 and sixty five. He was a great military general and during his reign of the Mughals expanded their empire to include almost the entire Indian subcontinent. This made him the controller of almost 25 percent of the world’s GDP, a staggering twenty one trillion dollars. In today’s terms.
Akbar was also an administrative genius, and he was able to exercise power and influence over this vast empire because he created a centralized system of administration that ensured military, political, cultural and economic dominance. He lived a lavish lifestyle establishing for himself and his family three courts in Delhi and Father Prosequi. He was also a great patron of the arts, creating a massive library as well as funding music, paintings and architecture. He even tried creating his own religion. That was a blend of Islam and Hinduism.
2.) The Chinese emperor of the 11th century A.D. Emperor Shen Sung of song
He had an estimated net worth of over 30 trillion dollars, ruling over an estimated 30 percent of the world’s GDP during the peaceful prosperity and primary abundance. Whereas a new economic and social program was instituted, including low rate loans to peasants, corrected land surveys to ensure that tax collections were increased, and a program of purchasing manufactured specialties in one region and selling them in another.
All of these contributed greatly to increasing government revenues. But at the same time, the regime of Emperor Shen Sung is also credited with implementing policies to help poor peasants as well as the unemployed, which is seen as being a forerunner to the modern welfare state.
1.) The fearsome emperor and founder of the Mongol Empire
He is at the top of our list of the 15 richest people in history, with a net worth amounting to hundreds of trillions of dollars between 12, six and 12. Twenty seven, he led his armies on a brutal assault of all of his neighboring kingdoms, winning all of his battles and all. He conquered over 12 million square miles of territory, controlling most of Central Asia and China. He usually slaughtered on a large scale the local inhabitants of the kingdoms that he conquered and took over all their wealth and possessions, which, combined with the value of the land, makes him by far the richest person in history.
Having gone through my list of richest people in history, Do you agree or disagree?Are there any other people you think should be on our list? Let us know in the comments section. We love hearing from you.