The quest for wealth has been as old as humanity itself as mankind’s search for wealth spans through generations of millions of years. The largest chunk of time in every human existence has been spent in search of wealth, power and the good things it brings. While some have found riches, others are merely aching through life. While many had been able to amass wealth in great quantity such as the world has never seen before and probably will ever see again.
These richest people of all time makes the current days richest people look like apprentices.
Who
are these all time richest people and how much wealth did they
acquired? This list includes every generation of people and races ever
know in history till date. Find out who is the richest person ever lived
as you read through this list. This is the most accurate list you can
find anywhere on the internet.
Note: There are some wealthy
Figures omitted in this list, either because their wealth could not be
estimated due to some reasons or they simply did not fit in. The likes
of the Rothschild family said to worth hundreds of billions or more
could not be included because this list is about individuals, not
family.
Alan Rufus Net Worth = $178.65 billion
[Approximately] (c. 1040 – 1093)
Alan
Rufus is a close companion of William the Conqueror. Like William the
Conqueror, Alan Rufus died a very rich man. In adjusting his fortune to
modern equivalents by accounting for inflation, he was worth
approximately $178.65 billion. Coming in part from the 250,000 acres
(“the Land of Count Alan”) conceded to him in Yorkshire in 1071 by the
King for his cooperation in the invasion. This figure puts him as one of
the richest people in human history.
Alan Rufus was a major
employer of skilled labour to build abbeys, castles and manor-houses
across Norman England. Some of which remain in evidence today. As an
example, the original manor house of Costessey Hall in Norfolk still
stands on the north side of the river Tud in Costessey Park. Beneath
Richmond Castle, Alan founded the beautiful town of Richmond, North
Yorkshire.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Net Worth = $185 Billion
(May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877)
Cornelius
Vanderbilt also known by the sobriquet Commodore, was an American
industrialist who built his wealth in shipping and railroads. He was
also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest
people in Americans in history. He provided the initial gift to found
Vanderbilt University, which is named in his honor.
Vanderbilt
was born in Staten Island, New York and began working on his father’s
ferry in New York Harbor as a boy, quitting school at the age of 11. At
the age of 16, Vanderbilt decided to start his own ferry service.
According to one version of events, he borrowed $100 from his mother to
purchase a periauger (a shallow draft, two masted sailing vessel).
However,
according to the version of the first published account of his life,
published in the magazine Scientific American in 1853, the periauger
belonged to his father and he received half the profit. He began his
business by ferrying freight and passengers between Staten Island and
Manhattan.
Henry Ford Net Worth = $199 Billion
(July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947)
Henry
Ford was the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the
development of the assembly line technique of mass production. Ford did
not invent the automobile, but he developed and manufactured the first
automobile that many middle class Americans could afford to buy. His
introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and
American industry.
As owner of the Ford Motor Company, he became
one of the richest people in the world. He is credited with “Fordism“:
mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for
workers.
Ford’s philosophy was one of economic independence for the United States.
His River Rouge Plant became the world’s largest industrial complex,
pursuing vertical integration to such an extent that it could produce
its own steel. Ford’s goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch without
reliance on foreign trade. He believed in the global expansion of his
company. He believed that international trade and cooperation led to
international peace. And he used the assembly line process and
production of the Model T to demonstrate it.
Jakob Fugger of the Lily Net Worth = $221 Billion
[Approximately] (6 Mar 1459 – 30 Dec 1525)
He
is known as Jakob Fugger the Rich or sometimes Jakob II. Fugger was a
major merchant, mining entrepreneur and banker of Europe between ca.
1495-1525. He was a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in
the Free Imperial City of Augsburg, where he was also born and later
also
The foundation of the family’s wealth was created mainly by the textile trade with Italy. The company grew rapidly after the brothers Ulrich, Georg and Jakob began banking transactions with the House of Habsburg as well as the Roman Curia, and at the same time began mining operations in Tyrol, and from 1493 on the extraction of silver and copper in the present Czech Republic and Slovakia. As of 1525 they also had the right to mine quicksilver and cinnabar in Almadén.
Becomes the Grand Burgher of Augsburg
Elevated
through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg (German Großbürger zu
Augsburg). Within a few decades, he expanded the family firm to a
business operating in all of Europe. He began his education with the age
of 14 in Venice, which also remained his main residence until 1487. At
the same time he was a cleric and held several prebendaries, even though
he never lived in a monastery.
At his death on 30 December
1525 Jakob Fugger bequeathed to his nephew Anton Fugger company assets
totaling 2,032,652 guilders. He is considered to be one of the richest
people of all time. Today he is well known as Jakob Fugger ‘the Rich’.
He is among the most well known Germans and arguably the most famous
citizen of Augsburg. In 1967 a bust of him was placed in the Walhalla, a
“hall of fame” near Regensburg that honors laudable and distinguished
Germans.
Mir Osman Ali Khan Net Worth = $230 billion
(6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967)
He
was the last Nizam (or ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad and of
Berar. Ruled Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, until it was merged into
India. He was styled His Exalted Highness The Nizam of Hyderabad.
During
his days as Nizam, he was reputed to be the richest man in the world,
having a fortune estimated at US$2 billion in the early 1940s ($32.8
billion in today dollars) or 2 per cent of the US economy then. At that
time the treasury of the newly independent Union government of India
reported annual revenue of US$1 billion only.
He was featured
on the cover of TIME magazine, portrayed as such. The Nizam is widely
believed to have remained as the richest man in South Asia until his
death in 1967, though his fortunes fell to US$1 billion by then and
became a subject of multiple legal disputes between bitterly fighting
rival descendants. His wealth include a vast private treasury. Its
coffers were said to contain £100m in gold and silver bullion, and a
further £400m of jewels.
Among them was the fabulously rare
Jacob diamond, valued at some £100m (2008), and used by the Nizam as a
paperweight. There were pearls, too – enough to pave Piccadilly –
hundreds of race horses, thousands of uniforms, tonnes of royal regalia
and Rolls-Royces by the dozen. Calculating his modern day worth by
accounting for inflation, the Nizam was worth $236 billion, making him
one of the wealthiest people to have ever lived.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia Net Worth = $300 Billion
(18 May [O.S.] 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918)
Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia, born in 1868 as Nikolai Alexandrovich into the
House of Romanov, was the emperor of the Russian Empire from 1894 until
the February Revolution of 1917. Around age 48 (in 1916) his wealth was
valued at up to US$881 million, which equals US$290 billion in today’s
money.
He is seen as the wealthiest monarch and head of state
in history and further as the wealthiest saint as the Russian Orthodox
Church declared him, his wife and his children martyrs after being
murdered in 1918 by the Bolsheviks.
Under his rule, Russia was
humiliatingly defeated in the Russo-Japanese War, which saw the almost
total annihilation of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of
Tsushima. The Anglo-Russian Entente, designed to counter German attempts
to gain influence in the Middle East, ended the Great Game between
Russia and the United Kingdom. As head of state, Nicholas approved the
Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the beginning of
Russia’s involvement in World War I, a war in which 3.3 million Russians
were killed
At the time of his death, his net worth was $900
million, which is the inflation adjusted equivalent to $305 billion in
today’s dollars, thus making him one of the richest people in human
history
Andrew Carnegie Net Worth = $310 Billion
(November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919)
Carnegie
was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and emigrated to the United States
with his parents in 1848. Carnegie started as a telegrapher and by the
1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges and
oil derricks. He built further wealth as a bond salesman raising money
for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel
Company, which he sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901 for $480 million, creating
the U.S. Steel Corporation.
Carnegie devoted the remainder of
his life to large-scale philanthropy. With special emphasis on local
libraries, world peace, education and scientific research.
From the
fortune he made from business, he built Carnegie Hall, and founded the
Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the
Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University
and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others. His life has
often been referred to as a true “rags to riches” story.
Mansa Musa Net Worth = $400 Billion
(c. 1280 – c. 1337)
Mansa
Musa, was the tenth Mansa, which translates as “King of Kings” or
“Emperor”, of the wealthy Malian Empire. Musa made his pilgrimage in
1324, his procession reported to include 60,000 men, 12,000 slaves who
each carried 4-lb gold bars, heralds dressed in silks who bore gold
staffs, organized horses and handled bags. Musa provided all necessities
for the procession, feeding the entire company of men and animals.
Also
in the train were 80 camels, which varying reports claim carried
between 50 and 300 pounds of gold dust each. He gave away the gold to
the poor he met along his route. Musa not only gave to the cities he
passed on the way to Mecca, including Cairo and Medina, but also traded
gold for souvenirs. Also, it has been recorded that he built a mosque
each and every Friday.
Musa’s journey was documented by
several eyewitnesses along his route, who were in awe of his wealth and
extensive procession. Records exist in a variety of sources, including
journals, oral accounts and histories to support this. Musa is known to
have visited with the Mamluk sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad of Egypt in July
1324.
Misplaced Generosity
Musa’s generous
actions, however, inadvertently devastated the economy of the region. In
the cities of Cairo, Medina and Mecca, the sudden influx of gold
devalued the metal for the next decade. Prices on goods and wares where
super inflated in an attempt to adjust to the newfound wealth that was
spreading throughout local populations.
To rectify the gold
market, Musa borrowed all the gold he could carry from money-lenders in
Cairo, at high interest. This is the only time recorded in history that
one man directly controlled the price of gold in the Mediterranean. The
amount of gold he controlled is valued at $400billion in today’s market,
making him one of the richest people ever lived.
John D. Rockefeller – Net Worth = $663.4 billion
(July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937)
He
was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil
industry. He was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller
revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of
modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded Standard Oil Company and
aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897.
Rockefeller
founded Standard Oil as an Ohio partnership with his brother William
along with Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a
silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in
importance, Rockefeller’s wealth soared and he became the world’s
richest man and the first American worth more than a billion dollars.
Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in
history.
Rockefeller spent the last 40 years of his life in
retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic
approach of targeted philanthropy. He was able to do this through the
creation of foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education
and scientific research. His foundations pioneered the development of
medical research and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm
and yellow fever.
King Solomon Net Worth = $2.1 Trillion
[Worth $1.056 trillion in 1992] (Reign 970 to 931 BCE)
The
Bible states that King Solomon held a fortune that dwarfed any and
every person who lived before him. This made him the richest person ever
lived in the world. King Solomon reigned for 40 years. Each year, he
received 25 tons of gold.
1 ton of Gold is worth $64.3 Million
dollars at $2000/oz Therefore, 25 tone times 40 years of his reign
amounts to $64,300,800,000 This did not include income derived from
business, trade, nor the annual tribute paid to him by all of the kings
and governors of Arabia.
Gold in the Palace
King
Solomon’s throne was coated in pure gold and inlaid with ivory. It had 6
stairs, 12 lion statues (1 on either side of each step) and a solid
gold foot stool. Two larger lion statues stood on either side of the
throne.
All of the goblets and household articles in Solomon’s
palace were pure gold. He was reportedly so rich, that during the years
of his reign over Jerusalem, the immense wealth caused silver to be
considered of little value and as common as rocks. As such, nothing in
Solomon’s palace was made of silver.
