List of wealthiest historical figures

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Portrait of Jakob Fugger by Albrecht Dürer, 1518 (Staatsgalerie Altdeutsche Meister), Augsburg.^[1]

With a peak net worth of approximately US$418 billion in 2019 dollars, American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller is the richest person in American history, and the richest person in the post-Industrial Revolution era.

The list of the wealthiest historical figures gathers published estimates of the (inflation-adjusted) net worth and fortunes of the wealthiest historical figures. Due to complications arising from different definitions of wealth, how it is measured, various economic models throughout history, as well as other ambiguous factors, this article discusses the wealthiest individuals in the following separate historical time periods: Antiquity, Middle Ages and modern period. Accordingly—because of the previously mentioned difficulties—it is not possible to determine the single richest person in all history.

For the modern period, wealth can be measured more or less objectively via inflation adjustment, e.g. comparing the nominal GDP of the United States of the respective periods, and then converting it into contemporary United States dollars. For medieval and ancient history, comparison of wealth becomes more problematic, principally due to the inaccuracy or unreliability of records, and also due to the difficulty of comparing a pre-industrial economy to a modern one, and especially in the presence of absolute monarchy, where an entire kingdom or empire is considered the ruler's personal property. The latter factor is also an issue in the early modern to modern period, e.g. various economists nominate Joseph Stalin among The 10 Richest People of All Time for his "complete control of a nation with 9.6% of global GDP".^[2]

Excluding monarchs and autocrats, the wealthiest private individuals in the history of capitalism are variously identified as Jakob Fugger (died 1525), who was of the early modern Fugger family of merchants and bankers,^[3] prominent figures of India's Delhi and Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Empire, and early 20th-century American entrepreneurs Andrew Carnegie (died 1919)^[4] and John D. Rockefeller (died 1937). Frequently, one of these individuals is considered to be the richest person of all time.

While the Rothschild family rose to the status of the wealthiest family of bankers in the 19th century, their wealth was distributed among a number of family members, preventing them from appearing among the wealthiest individuals. The richest among the Rothschilds was the head of its English branch—Nathan Mayer Rothschild (d. 1836)—the richest person of his time.^[5] Bernstein and Swan in All the Money in the World (2008) mention the top four richest Americans ever—all tycoons of the Gilded Age—respectively: John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and William Henry Vanderbilt; Henry Ford was ranked only 12th.^[6]

According to Close (2016), the wealthiest woman in the history of capitalism, excluding monarchs, was L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, whose net worth was $40.7 billion in 2015.^[7] Including monarchs, he mentions Empress Wu for Antiquity, Razia Sultana and Isabella of Castile for Middle Ages, and Catherine the Great for modern history.^[8]

Early modern to modern period[]

Listed individuals are thought to have had a net worth of at least the equivalent of 100 billion United States dollars. Therefore, it excludes Andrew Mellon, Richard B. Mellon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Alexander Turney Stewart, Heshen, J. P. Morgan, J. Paul Getty, and others.

Ranking (present world billionaires if alive)	Name	Principal country of residence	Lifetime	Net worth equivalent (billion USD)	Description
1	John D. Rockefeller	United States	1839–1937 (97 years)	318–420[2]	On September 29, 1916, Rockefeller became the first person ever to reach a nominal personal fortune of US$1 billion (equivalent to US$16 billion in 2019).[9] Rockefeller amassed his fortune from the Standard Oil company, of which he was a founder, chairman and major shareholder. By the time of his death in 1937, estimates (if using his wealth as a percentage of US GDP) place his net worth in the range of US$300 billion to US$400 billion. Using the inflation model, in adjusted dollars for late 2017, his net worth would be US$350 billion.
2	Jakob Fugger	Augsburg ( Holy Roman Empire)	1459–1525 (66 years)	221–400[3]	German merchant, mining entrepreneur and banker. He expanded Fugger family's assets by spreading their operations across Europe. At one point, Fugger & family had an almost monopolistic hold on the European copper market.[10] At his death, Jakob Fugger bequeathed to his nephew Anton Fugger company assets totaling 2,032,652 guilders.[11] Referred to as "Fugger the Rich"
3	Andrew Carnegie	United States	1835–1919 (84 years)	310[2]	Scotland-born Carnegie founded the Carnegie Steel Company, which was the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations in the United States; in 1901, Carnegie sold his company for US$480 million to J.P. Morgan, who then merged his company into U.S. Steel.[12] Capitalized at US$1.4 billion at the time, U.S. Steel was the first billion-dollar company in the world. In his final years, Carnegie's net worth was US$475 million, but by the time of his death in 1919 he had donated most of his wealth to charities and other philanthropic endeavors and had only US$30 million left to his personal fortune. Carnegie's hundreds of millions accounted for about 0.60% of the U.S. annual GDP and has a real value estimated at about US$75 billion adjusted for the late 2000s (decade).[13][14]
4	Mir Osman Ali Khan	Hyderabad State (Present-day  India)	1886–1967 (81 years)	210	The last Nizam of Hyderabad State in British India. Regarded as the wealthiest person in the world during his lifetime, his portrait was on the cover of Time magazine in 1937.[15] As a semi-autonomous monarch, he had his own mint, printing his own currency, the Hyderabadi rupee, and had a private treasury that was said to contain £100m in gold and silver bullion, and a further £400m of jewels (in 2008 terms). The major source of his wealth was the Golconda mines, the only supplier of diamonds in the world at that time.[16][17] Among them was the Jacob Diamond, valued at some £50m (in 2008 terms),[18][19][20] and used by the Nizam as a paperweight.[21]
5	Henry Ford	United States	1863–1947 (84 years)	188–199	Henry Ford was an American automotive engineer, entrepreneur, and founder of the Ford Motor Company. By designing the Model T Ford with mass production in mind and employing the assembly line method of rapid production, he was able to radically lower the base price of his automobiles and reach a wider market. As production increased, Ford further reduced prices and increased salaries to reduce worker turnover. This resulted in a rapid increase in output, with Ford production rising from roughly 18,000 cars in 1909 to over 1 million cars in 1920. Despite Ford stating that his focus was increasing Ford Motor Company's benefit to society and to its employees, even at one point being sued by the Dodge brothers based on this premise, his company was massively profitable. His highest earnings were recorded at age 57 and he died at the age of 83 in 1947 at a net worth of US$188.1 billion (inflation-adjusted value in 2008 dollars)
6	John Jacob Astor	United States	1763–1848 (85 years)	120–138[22]	German-American businessman, merchant, opium smuggler, fur trader, and investor. In 1801, Astor's nominal wealth was some US$250,000, and by the time of his death in 1848 his fortune had grown to US$20 million, making him America's first multi-millionaire.[13][14][23]
7	Cornelius Vanderbilt	United States	1794–1877 (82 years)	105[24]–205[22]	American business magnate and philanthropist who built his wealth in railroads and shipping
8	Stephen Girard	United States	1750–1831 (81 years)	105[25]–120[22]	French-born American banker. Before becoming a banker, he was a merchant and owned a fleet of trading ships.
9	William Henry Vanderbilt	United States	1821–1885 (64 years)	52–239[26]	Railroad owner. Inherited much of his wealth from his father, Cornelius Vanderbilt,[25] who initiated the Vanderbilt family's involvement in railroad and shipping business. He doubled his father's fortune, to an amount estimated between $52 billion and $239 billion (inflation adjusted).[26]

Middle Ages[]

Absolute rulers or conquerors are sometimes listed for the territory they controlled rather than for their immediate personal wealth.^[27] Davidson (2015) for TIME.com listed the four Mughal Emperors (Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb) and their ancestors Genghis Khan and Timur as being the wealthiest historical figures based on their imperial possessions, while Alan Rufus is listed as one of the wealthiest historical figures for his immediate possessions within the feudal system of Norman England.^[2]

Name	Principal country of residence	Lifetime	Description
Musa I of Mali	Mali Empire	c. 1280 – c. 1337	Mansa Musa, or Musa I of Mali is considered one of the richest people ever. Musa was the tenth emperor of the Mali Empire, one of the prosperous Sahelian kingdoms that developed along the trans-saharan trade routes in the later medieval period. Mansa Musa made his fortune by exploiting his country's salt and gold production.[2][28][29] Musa is said to have brought several tonnes of gold to Mecca when he made a pilgrimage there in 1324, deflating the value of gold across much, if not all, of North Africa. Reported as being inconceivably rich by contemporaries, "There’s really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth."[30]
William the Conqueror	Normandy England	c. 1028–1087	William the Conqueror became personally enormously wealthy from spoils of war during the Norman Conquest of England.[31]
Basil II	Eastern Roman Empire	958–1025	Byzantine emperor from 960 to 1025 at the time of the Eastern Roman Empire's greatest medieval territorial extent, also a time of considerable prosperity for the Empire.
Alan Rufus	Angevin Empire (included parts of modern-day  France, the  United Kingdom, and  Ireland)	c. 1040–1093	Alan Rufus, 1st Lord of Richmond, was a relative and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II of Normandy) during the Norman Conquest of England. By 1086 he had become one of the richest and most powerful men of England.[31]
William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey	Angevin Empire	d. 1088	Fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and was rewarded with considerable land holdings in England.[25][31][32]
Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel	England	c. 1306–1376	English nobleman and admiral. Succeeded to the Earldom of Surrey in 1347.
John of Gaunt	England	1340–1399	Third son of King Edward III of England. Duke of Lancaster. Owned land in almost every county in England, with a household comparable to that of a monarch.[33]

Antiquity[]

For Classical Antiquity, even more than for the High Middle Ages, the definition of personal wealth becomes difficult to compare with the modern period; especially in the case of divine kings such as the pharaohs and Roman Emperors, where an entire empire might be considered the personal property of a deified emperor.

See also[]

• The World's Billionaires, an annual ranking of billionaires by Forbes
• List of richest Americans in history
• List of wealthiest organizations
• List of wealthiest families
• List of wealthiest animals

References[]

Further reading[]

• Philip Beresford, William D. Rubinstein, The Richest of the Rich: The Wealthiest 250 People in Britain since 1066, Harriman House, 2011, ISBN 978-0-85719-065-9.
• Michael Klepper, Robert Gunther, The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates—A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, Citadel Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-80651-800-8.
• Rich & Richer-Fifty of the Wealthiest People of the Past 1,000 Years