A comparison of wealth across history

Who had more money, John D. Rockefeller or Genghis Khan? It’s a simple question with a very difficult answer.

This ranking of the richest people of all time is based on hours of interviews with academic economists and historians. To read more about how the order was determined despite the difficulty of comparing wealth across a wide range of time periods and economic systems, read this.

But for now, suffice to say that the following is a rigorous but highly debatable attempt to list the wealthiest historical figures in order of their economic influence.


10. Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan
Lived: 1162-1227

Country: Mongolian Empire

Wealth: Lots of land, not much else

Genghis Khan is undoubtedly one of the most successful military leaders of all time. As leader of the Mongol Empire, which at its height stretched from China to Europe, he controlled the largest contiguous empire in history. However, despite his great power, scholars say Genghis never hoarded his wealth. On the contrary, the Khan’s generosity was key to his influence.

“One of the basis of his success is sharing the spoils with his soldiers and other commanders,” says Morris Rossabi, a distinguished professor of history at CUNY’s Queens College.

Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, explains that Mongol soldiers, unlike many pre-modern armies, were banned from taking personal loot. After an area was conquered, every item taken was inventoried by official clerks and then later distributed amongst the military and their families.

Genghis still received a share of the spoils, but that hardly made him rich. “He built no palace for himself or family, no temple, no tomb, and not even a house,” says Weatherford. “He was born in a wool ger [yurt] and he died in a wool ger. At death he was wrapped in felt, like any common person, and then buried. ”


9. Bill Gates

Bill Gates
Edgar Su—Reuters
Bill Gates
Lived: 1955-present

Country: United States

Wealth: $78.9 billion

As the richest living person, Bill Gates’ wealth is refreshingly easy to determine. As of this year, Forbes estimates the Microsoft founder’s net worth at $78.9 billion. That’s about $8 billion more than Zara co-founder Amancio Ortega, the second-richest person in the world.


8. Alan Rufus (a.k.a. Alan the Red)

Alan Rufus
Bodleian Library Oxford—The Art Archive
Lived: 1040–1093

Country: England

Wealth: $194 billion

The nephew of William the Conqueror, Rufus joined his uncle in the Norman conquest. He died with £11,000, according to Philip Beresford and Bill Rubinstein, authors of The Richest of the Rich, which they say amounted to 7% of England’s GDP at the time. That would amount to $194 billion in 2014 dollars.


7. John D. Rockefeller

Lived: 1839–1937

Country: United States

Wealth: $341 billion

Rockefeller began investing in the petroleum industry in 1863 and by 1880 his Standard Oil company controlled 90% of American oil production.

According to his New York Times obituary, Rockefeller was valued at about $1.5 billion based on a 1918 federal income tax return and estimates of his overall fortune—the equivalent of almost 2% of U.S. economic output that year according to data compiled by MeasuringWorth (the U.S. did not keep official records on national income until 1932).

The same economic share in 2014 would be equivalent to $341 billion.


6. Andrew Carnegie

circa 1910s.
Lived: 1835–1919

Country: United States

Wealth: $372 billion

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 name, giving Carnegie economic power equivalent to $372 billion in 2014.


5. Joseph Stalin

Lived: 1878–1953

Country: USSR

Wealth: Complete control of a nation with 9.6% of global GDP

Stalin is an uncommon figure in modern economic history: a dictator with absolute power who also controlled one of the largest economies in the world. While it is virtually impossible to separate Stalin’s wealth from the wealth of the Soviet Union, his unique combination of economic might and complete control of the USSR lead multiple economists to nominate him as one of the richest people of all time.

You can easily see their logic. Data from the OECD shows that in 1950, three years before Stalin’s death, the USSR made up roughly 9.5% of global economic output. As of 2014, that level of production would be equivalent to nearly $7.5 trillion dollars.

While that money didn’t belong directly to Stalin, he had the ability to leverage Soviet economic might for any reason he chose.

“He had enormous power, and through his power he could have anything he wanted,” says George O. Liber, a professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “He controlled 1/6th of the land surface of the planet without any checks or balances.”

Does that make Stalin rich in the traditional sense? Liber isn’t so sure. “Was he among the wealthiest men?” the professor wonders. “I suppose if you want to stretch the definition of wealth, but it was not his wealth. He controlled the wealth of the country.”

Even so, it’s hard not to include Stalin on a list of the most economically powerful people in history. His wealth might be uncertain, but there’s no question the premier’s personal economic influence is unrivaled in recent history.


4. Akbar I

The Great Akbar

Lived: 1542–1605

Country: India

Wealth: Ruled empire with 25% of global GDP

The greatest emperor of India’s Mughal dynasty, Akbar controlled an empire that accounted for about one-fourth of global economic output. Fortune’s Chris Matthews cites the late economic historian Angus Maddison, who speculates India’s GDP per capita under Akbar was comparable to Elizabethan England, but with “a ruling class whose extravagant lifestyle surpassed that of the European society.”

That assertion that India’s elite class was wealthier than their counterparts to the west is backed up by data from economist Branko Milanovic, whose research shows the Mughal Dynasty was one of the most effective empires of all time at extracting wealth from the population.


3. Emperor Shenzong

Lived: 1048–1085

Country: China

Wealth: Ruled empire with 25% to 30% of global GDP

China’s Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) was one of the most economically powerful empires of all time. According to Prof. Ronald A. Edwards, a Chinese economic historian of the Song Dynasty at Tamkang University, the nation accounted for between 25% and 30% of the world’s economic output during its peak.

The empire’s wealth came from both its technological innovations and extreme skill at tax collection, which Edwards says was hundreds of years ahead of European governments. The professor also noted the Song Dynasty’s government was highly centralized, meaning the emperor held enormous control over the economy.


2. Augustus Caesar


Lived: 63 BC–14 AD

Country: Rome

Wealth: $4.6 trillion

Not only was Augustus Caesar in charge of an empire that accounted for 25% to 30% of the world’s economic output, but according to Stanford history professor Ian Morris, Augustus at one point held personal wealth equivalent to one-fifth of his empire’s economy. That fortune would be the equivalent of about $4.6 trillion in 2014. “For a while,” Morris adds, Augustus “personally owned all of Egypt.” That’s hard to top.


1. Mansa Musa


Year: 1280–1337

Country: Mali

Wealth: Richer than anyone could describe

Mansa Musa, the king of Timbuktu, is often referred to as the wealthiest person in history. According to Ferrum College history professor Richard Smith, Musa’s west African kingdom was likely the largest producer of gold in the world—at a time which gold was in especially high demand.

Just how rich was Musa? There’s really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth. Records are scarce, if non-existent, and contemporary sources describe the king’s riches in terms that are impossible for the time.

Some tales of his famous pilgrimage to Mecca—during which Musa’s spending was so lavish that it caused a currency crisis in Egypt—mention dozens of camels each carrying hundreds of pounds of gold. (Smith says one year of Malian gold production probably generated about a ton.) Others said Musa’s army consisted of 200,000 men, including 40,000 archers—troop numbers even modern superpowers would have a difficult time bringing to the field.

But to get caught up in the king’s exact wealth is to miss the point. As Rudolph Ware, an associate professor of history at the University of Michigan, explains, Musa’s riches were so immense that people struggled to describe them.

“This is the richest guy anyone has ever seen, that’s the point,” says Ware. “They’re trying to find words to explain that. There are pictures of him holding a scepter of gold on a throne of gold holding a cup of gold with a golden crown on his head. Imagine as much gold as you think a human being could possess and double it, that’s what all the accounts are trying to communicate.”

When no one can even comprehend your wealth, that means you’re pretty darned rich.

source: http://time.com/money/3977798/the-10-richest-people-of-all-time/

carnegie
stalin
akbar1
henzong

caesar

mansa musa

Chai

King Solomon should be Number one.

SMH That list not complete without my name!

This aint nothing but crap .

Where is kinq solomon or dat lavish kinq spender?? Abasha

So, going by this, the richest man of all time is an African.

An African Man is the Richest in history as far back as year 1220.

Nice article
You forgot the Rothschilds , they are inarguably the richest family that ever existed.
Unless u are talking about individuals.

In my experience, peering into the bank accounts of the super-rich is an entirely frivolous pursuit.


I would just like to leave this here about king Solomon. King of Israel. I Kings - 23, 24

23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

Dollyak:
In my experience, peering into the bank accounts of the super-rich is an entirely frivolous pursuit.


I would just like to leave this here about king Solomon. King of Israel. I Kings - 23, 24

23 So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25 And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year.

That is not history but fary tale

Atigba:

That is not history but fary tale

Your opinion obviously. Anyway, each to their own.

Where Oga Solomon?

op y my name no show nw... u de partiality niii..

King Solomon na their oga.

Solomon is numero un

Wow

dustmalik:
So, going by this, the richest man of all time is an African.

I don't think so but the biggest spender of gold is an African!

wiarismyname....illsueyou

makzeze:
caesar

mansa musa

op I doubt that of Andrew Carnegie cos he didn't worth that figure as at when he died. According to discovery world's program on how we got here, Rockefeller was said to be the richest American that ever lived.

This list shouldn't be richest people of all time. More like "most economically powerful people of all time".

Quite an interesting read though.

How comes Bill Gates made the list when families far richer than him - the Rothschilds and the Queen of England are left out

major466:
How comes Bill Gates made the list when families far richer than him - the Rothschilds and the Qween of England are left out

not exactly about families!

baralatie:

I don't think so but the biggest spender of gold is an African!

Bro you are under rating Africans. There are indeed very great Africans. The Pharaohs were Africans, the moors that conquered spain and ruled it for more than 700 years were Africans, during their reign, spain was the most developed country in europe. Hanibal considered one of the greatest generals of all time is an African, you need to read what he did when he used his little force to invade europe.

This man Mensa Musa the way his wealth was described by europeans and Arab historians at his time, no other person wealth as been described like that. When I first heard about him, I thought it was a fable, when I did my research, I was thrilled. He controlled all the gold mines from mali to chad

OP the title does not do justice to our educational system in Nigeria.

Oya modify shap shap!

phyllosilicate:
Bro you are under rating Africans. There are indeed very great Africans. The Pharaohs were Africans, the moors that conquered spain and ruled it for more than 700 years were Africans, during their reign, spain was the most developed country in europe. Hanibal considered one of the greatest generals of all time is an African, you need to read what he did when he used his little force to invade europe.

This man Mensa Musa the way his wealth was described by europeans and Arab historians at his time, no other person wealth as been described like that. When I first heard about him, I thought it was a fable, when I did my research, I was thrilled. He controlled all the gold mines from mali to chad

well African history is indeed well documented during the time of the pharoahs and this is because it was written down.
but mansa Musa case was trully much of spending than acquired wealth.it was because he spent so much gold in mecca that moved the mentality of the outside world towards him but as to exact value of wealth (it is blank )

What really went wrong in Africa that we started well and going this bad

baralatie:

well African history is indeed well documented during the time of the pharoahs and this is because it was written down.
but mansa Musa case was trully much of spending than acquired wealth.it was because he spent so much gold in mecca that moved the mentality of the outside world towards him but as to exact value of wealth (it is blank )

Bro after his journey, people came to visit his kingdom, he brought architects that build structures that are still standing today, those people confirmed his wealth. If only we take his Journey alone, it is enough to make him number one. He spent all those money without getting broke. For europeans to humble themselves and call a black man the richest man ever, know he deserved it.