10 Richest People in History
By Karson Chuang
Introduction
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Warren Buffet: you’ve probably heard of all these people before and they all share one thing in common– they are swimming in gold, literally! These people are the richest and most influential people in our modern world, but the past is filled with rich people as well. Since inflation has gone up and things are not as valuable as before, we will list them by the percentage of today’s economy.
10. John D. Rockefeller (1839 - 1937)
America’s first billionaire, John D. Rockefeller, was said to have owned incredible amounts of oil reserves in the United States, in addition to having at least 2% of the American economy. He was also said to have owned over 90% of American pipelines and refineries by the early 1880s, solidifying his position as one of the richest people in history, with a modern-day calculated net worth of over USD 561.2 billion!
He donated over 500 million to building schools and to help the community during the end of his life. He also played a crucial role in scientific research as he has given so much money to help with discoveries.
9. Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)
Andrew was born in Scotland in 1835 but later moved to the United States. He played an incredibly important role in the early American Steel industry, building up part of America’s GDP and economy. He also profited from this by founding the Carnegie Steel Company. His net worth was over 2.1% of the American Economy at around USD 667.5 billion in today’s money!
In 1901, he sold his Carnegie Steel Company to JP Morgan for USD 530 million (today’s money) and donated over 90% of his earnings and wealth to charities to help with growing inflation and philanthropic causes near the time of his death in 1919.
8. Catherine The Great (1729 - 1796)
Catherine the Great seized the Russian throne in 1760 and quickly made investments, having investments of up to 5% of the Russian GDP. She would have a GDP of around USD 2 trillion today! She played a crucial role in the Russian Empire's military strategy and helped fight the ongoing inflation and growing poverty in Russia.
7. Augustus Caesar (63 BC - 14 AD)
Augustus Ceasar was one of the greatest conquerors and emperors of the Roman Empire, greatly influencing the Roman people and spiking the Roman economy higher and higher, with his empire controlling around 25-30% of the world’s GDP. One-fifth of the economy and wealth of the Empire went to his gain, with his net worth reaching around USD 5.8 trillion today!
6. Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953)
Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union for over 20 years, heavily influencing the Russian economy and people to lean more toward communist reforms. He also spread communism to many regions of the world, forming the Warsaw Pact and other great things.
His wealth was inseparable from the Soviet economy, which controlled around 9.5% of the GDP in 1950, which would make his net worth around USD 11.1 trillion today! He unfortunately passed away in 1953 due to a stroke.
5. Empress Wu Zetian (624 - 705)
As China’s first and only female regent of history, Empress Wu Zetian formed the Wu Zhou Dynasty in 690 AD, a monarch-controlled empire that focused on promoting Wu’s power across the nation. The Tang Empire was also very wealthy, having around 20-25% of the world’s wealth, which could be translated to $25 trillion today.
4. Akbar I (1542 - 1605)
Akbar the Great was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire, living a lavish lifestyle greater than European nations with similar wealth. He lived in leisure luxury for most of his life and had good economic strategies, making the Mughal Empire incredibly wealthy. He also knew how to have high tax rates but still a steady economy and happy people.
Due to the high tax rates and international trade, he made the government very rich, having around 25% of the world’s GDP, which is around $28.9 trillion today!
3. Emperor Shenzong (1048 - 1085)
The Song Dynasty was the wealthiest in Chinese history: it had a stable government, economy, a good military, and good trade relations with the rest of the world. Emperor Shenzong was the 6th leader of the Song Dynasty and led during its peak economy. Back then, monarchs would own 100% of the land and wealth of their respective countries. The Song Dynasty gained all its wealth from incredible trade relationships, a massive abundance of natural resources, and a good economic plan to make sure that the economy stayed high above everything else.
During the rule of Emperor Shenzong, the Song Dynasty controlled between 30 - 40% of the world’s wealth, which would be translated to around $44.5 trillion today!
2. Genghis Khan (1162 - 1227)
As the first and most powerful ruler of the largest land empire ever- the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan was very rich: mainly because of its land area. The actual wealth of the Mongol Empire was unknown, but it was said to have trillions of dollars worth of diamonds, 2 million tons of gold, and trillions more in other gems. This and the territory it owned would drive the empire into having USD 120 trillion worth of assets! This meant that the single ancient empire was richer than our modern world!
Genghis Khan was so powerful that his DNA can be traced to over 16 million people today. His empire at its peak stretched from West Poland to Persia, to Northeast Russia, China, and Vietnam. It controlled over 23.5 million square kilometers (9.1 million square miles)!
1. Mansa Musa (1280 - 1337)
Mansa Musa is, in fact, the richest person in history, with a wealth that is incomprehensible. Mansa Musa was the 9th ruler of the Mali Empire, who made the economy so powerful that he controlled more money than the rest of the world combined; it was said to be incomprehensible. His empire had control of over a third of the world’s gold and precious gems. The Mali Empire grew massively, both economically and militarily.
There are many stories prescribing his riches as ‘indescribable’ or ‘incomprehensible,’ with some talking about his tales of traveling there and destroying economies with just his presence. When he went on a vacation to Cairo in Egypt, he brought over 60,000 men, including camel riders and slaves. He spent so much in Cairo that the amount of gold there affected the gold trade and drastically destroyed the gold economy for over 12 years! His wealth is speculated by some to have been around USD 400 billion, but more proof suggests that his riches could have been worth so much that the modern world “just simply doesn’t have enough assets to describe”. He could’ve had quadrillions of dollars worth of assets but we cannot calculate it.