Wealth
List of wealthiest historical figures
The list of the wealthiest historical figures gathers published estimates as to the (inflation-adjusted) net-worth and fortunes of the wealthiest historical figures in comparison. Due to problems arising from different definitions of wealth, ways of measuring it, various economic models throughout history, as well as multiple other reasons—this article discusses the wealthiest people 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 of 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 the medieval and ancient history, comparison of wealth becomes more problematic, on one hand due to the inaccuracy or unreliability of records, on the other 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), 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 few people 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, 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'Orรฉal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, whose net worth was at $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 figures such as Andrew Mellon, Richard B. Mellon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Alexander Turney Stewart, Heshen, J. P. Morgan, and others.
Middle Ages
Absolute rulers or conquerors are sometimes listed for the territory they controlled rather than for their immediate personal wealth (Davidson (2015) for TIME.com listed the four Mughal Emperors, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb and their ancestors Genghis Khan and Timur for their imperial possessions, while Alan Rufus is listed for his immediate possessions within the feudal system of Norman England).[2]
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
References
- ^ Thad Morgan, "This 14th-Century African Emperor Remains the Richest Person in History" Archived 2019-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, History.com, March 19, 2018
- ^ a b c d e f Jacob Davidson, time.com The 10 Richest People of All Time, 30 July 2015
- ^ a b Daniel Eckert,So wurde Jakob Fugger zum reichsten Menschen der Historie ("This is how Jakob Fugger became the wealthiest person in history"), Die Welt, 6 June 2016 (in German). "Auf heutige Verhรคltnisse hochgerechnet lรคge das Vermรถgen des Bauernenkels bei unglaublichen 400 Milliarden Dollar (354 Milliarden Euro). In die Nรคhe dieses Wertes kamen nur die Rothschilds, die in ihrer Glanzzeit im 19. Jahrhundert die mรคchtigste Bankiersfamilie der Welt waren" ("Adjusted to current-day conditions, the net worth of the farmer's grandson would be close to astonishing 400 billion dollars (354 billion Euro). Only the Rothschild family, at their peak in the 19th century the most powerful family of bankers, came close to such a figure.")
- ^ listed at 372 billion US$2014 by Jacob Davidson, time.com The 10 Richest People of All Time, 30 July 2015: "Rockefeller gets all the press, but Andrew Carnegie may be the richest American of all time. The Scottish immigrant sold his company, U.S. Steel, to J.P. Morgan for $480 million in 1901. That sum equates to about slightly over 2.1% of U.S. GDP at the time, giving Carnegie economic power equivalent to $372 billion in 2014."
- ^ GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History p. 65
- ^ All the Money in the World (2008) by Bernstein and Swan, p. 17 "Introduction"
- ^ Kerry Close, The 10 Richest Women of All Time, time.com, 1 February 2016. Bettencourt ranks at #6 in this list, after five ancient rulers and monarchs of the Middle Ages and early modern period.
- ^ Kerry Close, The 10 Richest Women of All Time, time.com. Empress Wu ranks at #1 in this list, Catherine the Great at #3, and Isabella of Castile at #5.
- ^ Peter Geffcken: Fugger – Geschichte einer Familie: "Die Handelsherren mit dem Dreizack". In: DAMALS 7/2004
- ^ "Anton Fugger". Encyclopรฆdia Britannica.
- ^ Thomas, Ryland; Williamson, Samuel H. (2020). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved September 22, 2020. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series.
- ^ "The Men Who Built America: Andrew Carnegie". History.com.
- ^ a b Staff (15 July 2007). "The Wealthiest Americans Ever". New York Times. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ^ a b "Richest Americans in History". Forbes. 24 August 1998. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ "The Nizam of Hyderabad". Time.
- ^ "Globalisation of Golconda".
- ^ "Making money the royal way !". Retrieved 8 February 2019.
- ^ McCaffrey, Julie (3 February 2012). "Exclusive: The last Nizam of Hyderabad was so rich he had a £50m diamond paperweight." Mirror.co.uk. London.
- ^ Bedi, Rahul (12 April 2008). "India finally settles £1million Nizam dispute". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ^ "Exhibitions at National Museum of India,New Delhi(India)". 2 April 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2009.
- ^ Shah, Tahir. "Alan the Red, the Brit who makes Bill Gates a pauper." Times Online. The Sunday Times. 7 October 2007. Web. 19 9ay 2010.
- ^ a b c Hargreaves, Steve. "The richest Americans in history".
- ^ "The richest Americans". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 16, 2009. Retrieved 22 December2009.
- ^ Fortune Magazine's "richest Americans" Archived 2009-09-13 at the Wayback Machine. Fortune estimated his wealth at death at $105,000,000, or 1/87 of the nation's GDP.
- ^ a b c Gus Lubin, business insider The 20 Richest People Of All Time, 2 September 2010
- ^ a b "William Henry Vanderbilt". www.newnetherlandinstitute.org.
- ^ "Meet Mansa Musa I of Mali – the richest human being in all history". 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
- ^ "10 Richest People of All Time". 2016-09-04. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
- ^ Jacob Davidson. "The 10 Richest People of All Time". CNNMoney..
- ^ a b c "Estimate from historian William Rubenstein via The Times, converted to dollars at average rate since ’07 (1:1.7) and adjusted for inflation."The 20 Richest People Of All Time, 4 September 2010. "Although he became a monarch, we're counting the spoils of war before he took the throne, based on what he gave out to his sons Odo and Robert." "he left the equivalent of $229.5 billion to his sons."
- ^ The Domesday Book: England's Heritage Then and Now, ed. Thomas Hinde (UK: Coombe Books, 1996)
- ^ Jonathan Sumption, Divided Houses: The Hundred Years War III (London: Faber & Faber, 2009), p. 9.
- ^ Wallechinsky, David & Irving Wallace. "Richest People in History Ancient Roman Crassus". Trivia-Library. The People's Almanac. 1975–1981. Weborn 23 December 2009.
- ^ "Often named as the richest man ever, a more accurate conversion of sesterce would put his modern figure between $200 million and $20 billion." Peter L. Bernstein. The 20 Richest People Of All Time
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.
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