10 Richest People in History
What's the biggest amount of wealth one could accumulate over his lifespan? If your guess is anywhere below 100 trillion dollars, you're in for a surprise. Today we will discuss the wealthiest people who ever lived, and while most of them are long gone, centuries later, we can still see the ultra-luxurious life they were leading even by today's standards.
On this Channel we share everything about Luxury and help you experience the billionaire lifestyle. We rank the most expensive things in the world and we have a look inside the lives of the wealthiest people on the planet.
Consider subscribing for inspiration and luxury experiences!
What's the biggest amount of wealth one could accumulate over his lifespan? If your guess is anywhere below 100 trillion dollars, you're in for a surprise. Today we will discuss the wealthiest people who ever lived, and while most of them are long gone, centuries later, we can still see the ultra-luxurious life they were leading even by today's standards.
On this Channel we share everything about Luxury and help you experience the billionaire lifestyle. We rank the most expensive things in the world and we have a look inside the lives of the wealthiest people on the planet.
Consider subscribing for inspiration and luxury experiences!
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00:00What is the biggest amount of wealth one could accumulate over his lifespan?
00:04If your guess is anywhere below 100 trillion dollars, you're in for a surprise.
00:09Today, we will discuss the wealthiest people who ever lived.
00:13And while most of them are long gone, centuries later,
00:16we can still see the ultra-luxurious life they were leading, even by today's standards.
00:23William the Conqueror
00:25The royal family of England is often regarded as one of the wealthiest families in the world.
00:31With their 88 billion dollars, they are definitely not going to sleep under a bridge anytime soon.
00:37But their immense wealth pales compared to their ancestor, the first king of England.
00:44William the Conqueror not only managed to take power on the British island when he was 38,
00:51but also accumulated a vast fortune, which today would equal 228 billion dollars.
00:58Around one third of them were only from taxes, which he collected from peasants in Normandy.
01:04So, they were either very rich peasants or were extremely heavily taxed into impoverishment.
01:10I'll let you guess which is more likely.
01:13The rest of his riches, naturally, came from the conquered British territory.
01:17Local barons who wanted to keep their land, and heads,
01:20had to swear an oath to the new king and pay huge taxes,
01:24which William decided were way too small to share.
01:28So, with 228 billion dollars, he decided to finally live a little.
01:33He spent the vast majority on building infrastructure.
01:36Before his death, he had erected over 100 structures,
01:40like castles, fortresses, churches, and the iconic White Tower.
01:46They were decorated with intricate tapestries.
01:48Gold was definitely his favorite color,
01:51and at the time, it was easier to just make everything gold than paint it.
01:56So, in William's domain, there were seas of gold and silver.
02:01Osman Ali Khan
02:03Being the wealthiest Indian who ever lived should say a lot.
02:07Today, there are people in the Asian country who live in 27-story houses.
02:12Yet they can't even come close to Osman Ali Khan,
02:16the last ruler of Hyderabad.
02:18Ali Khan was head of the princely state from 1911 until India annexed the country in 1948.
02:26When your ruler is known as the wealthiest man on earth,
02:29despite sharing one era with J.P. Morgan, Rockefeller, Rothschild,
02:34and other well-known tycoons,
02:36it's really a miracle the country remained independent for that long.
02:40Especially when it had the only running diamond mine in the world at the time.
02:45Being in charge of a mint of a country that was the sole supplier of the global diamond trade,
02:50accumulating 230 billion is the bare minimum one could achieve.
02:56Well, the Nizam could have earned more if he hadn't reinvested the profits in making life better for his citizens.
03:02Despite introducing electricity, railways, roads, and an airport to his country,
03:09the ruler managed to acquire some lavish things for himself,
03:12like $100 million worth of gold and silver,
03:16over half a billion in jewels,
03:18and one of the biggest diamonds in the world,
03:21the Jacob diamond,
03:23worth approximately $50 million.
03:26To show off his wealth,
03:28the Nizam gifted Queen Elizabeth II diamond jewels,
03:32a tiara,
03:33and a necklace for her marriage.
03:35This shows that Ali Khan wasn't just the wealthiest man in the world,
03:39but at the biggest balls as well,
03:42showing off his wealth to the person who oppressed his country just several decades earlier.
03:49Nicholas Romanov
03:51Not everyone can boast that they brought communism into the world.
03:55Not that anyone in their right mind would, but still.
03:58Nicholas Romanov, also known as the last Russian emperor,
04:02ruled so incompetently
04:04that he managed to make Russia the breeding ground for the ideology
04:08that to this day haunts the world.
04:11One would guess that such a man can't be that rich,
04:14but unlike with Russia,
04:16when it comes to his wealth,
04:18Nicholas did pretty well.
04:20With $300 billion in his bank account,
04:23while his subjects literally ate grass and dirt,
04:27one could easily spot some minor social injustices.
04:31One would be forgiven to wonder
04:33how could this tsar get such vast wealth
04:36when his citizens were so poor?
04:39The answer lies with America.
04:42More accurately, Alaska.
04:44Romanov was the one who sold the oil-rich peninsula
04:48to the USA in fear of losing it to the British.
04:52Of course, when he sold it,
04:54he had no idea how rich in resources the land was,
04:57but, well, it's not as if he lost his head over...
05:00Oh, wait, never mind.
05:02Of course, the tsar and his family lived in supreme luxury
05:06that could even be the envy of today's billionaires.
05:10One can only witness the opulence they lived in
05:13when seeing the magnificent palaces in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
05:17One of these palaces is the Kremlin,
05:20where today another power-hungry maniac is residing.
05:25His end would be the same?
05:27We will see.
05:29John D. Rockefeller
05:31Being dubbed as the most productive man who ever lived
05:35is a testament to how John D. Rockefeller
05:38became the richest man on this planet
05:41in the middle of the 20th century.
05:43Over his entire life,
05:45Rockefeller is estimated to have earned
05:47over 1.5 trillion dollars.
05:51By the end of his life,
05:53he is estimated to be around 400 billion dollars.
05:56And how could it be otherwise?
05:59With his standard oil,
06:01he controlled 90% of the US oil market
06:04for a few decades
06:06at the end of the 19th century
06:08and the start of the 20th.
06:10Unlike today's billionaires,
06:12Rockefeller knew how to spend his money,
06:14not just raise them.
06:16One of his first big purchases was his life.
06:19He paid not to be drafted into the American Civil War,
06:22which most probably saved his life.
06:25In his later year,
06:27he had the idea to pay British Prime Minister
06:29Winston Churchill to write his biography.
06:32Well, that didn't happen,
06:34but the idea was great regardless.
06:36But of course,
06:38one of John's biggest expenditures
06:40was to build all the family mansions,
06:42which today are nothing short
06:44of cultural landmarks.
06:46They are not only architectural masterpieces,
06:49but also are richly decorated
06:51with beautiful pieces of art
06:53from famous painters.
06:55Rockefeller was also one of the first
06:57billionaires who had a thing for cars.
06:59Back then,
07:01owning a car was nothing short of a statement
07:03and John had one of the first
07:05automobiles ever produced.
07:07Unfortunately,
07:09he unintentionally set a standard
07:11where everyone who reaches 10 figures
07:13in their bank account
07:15has to have a garage of ultra-expensive cars.
07:17So it wasn't all good
07:20Mansa Musa
07:22Being rich and from Mali
07:24today sounds like the beginning
07:26of a very inappropriate joke,
07:28but back in the 14th century
07:30the standards were a bit different.
07:32Back then,
07:34the resource-rich Mali
07:36hadn't been decimated by colonialism
07:38and its emperor, Musa I,
07:40was considered the wealthiest man on the planet
07:42with an estimated net worth
07:44of 415 billion dollars,
07:46adjusted to today's money.
07:49When Mansa Musa came to power
07:51in 1312,
07:53Europe was one of the worst places to live.
07:55Famine,
07:57constant wars,
07:59and various plagues ravaged the land.
08:01The Black Death was on its way
08:03and soon would decimate
08:05the entire continent.
08:07That gave the opportunity
08:09for some African kingdoms to rise
08:11and flourish,
08:13and Mali was on top of the list.
08:15Once in power, Musa conquered the city
08:17of Timbuktu,
08:19which was the most important trade city
08:21in Africa at the moment,
08:23comparable to Constantinople.
08:25These conquests came with
08:27some lucrative perks,
08:29quickly making Musa the wealthiest man
08:31on Earth.
08:33In 1324, he showed off his enormous wealth
08:35by traveling to Mecca
08:37with a caravan stretching
08:39as far as the eye could see.
08:41Not the one knowing how to travel
08:43on a budget,
08:45Musa had hundreds of tons of gold
08:47with several thousand camels and horses,
08:49had tens of thousands of people
08:51as entourage,
08:53and built mosques everywhere he stopped,
08:55just so he could pray to Allah properly.
08:57I guess he had some reason
08:59to be personally thankful to his God.
09:01Wherever Musa went,
09:03he left the economy in ruins
09:05due to his frivolous spending,
09:07which drove high inflation so fast
09:09that local economies couldn't keep up
09:11and simply collapsed.
09:13That's how you conquer a country
09:15in style. You make the locals
09:17so rich that the economy no longer
09:19can support them.
09:21The US can take a page out of Musa's book.
09:23King Solomon
09:25Compared to this Jewish king,
09:27the previous entries could be considered
09:29ill-fortunate hobos.
09:31King Solomon is regarded
09:33in the Bible as the wealthiest
09:35ruler in the world.
09:37And we all know how trustworthy the Book of Books is.
09:39According to the Old Testament,
09:41King Solomon received
09:43around 25 tons of gold
09:45annually for 39
09:47years straight.
09:49That's enough to build a palace
09:51from the golden bricks themselves,
09:53without having to give them to anyone.
09:55Something like Lego,
09:57only just a tiny bit more expensive.
09:59Experts have estimated
10:01that over his rule,
10:03thanks to this tribute, taxation,
10:05and other income, Solomon's
10:07wealth would be equal to around
10:092.2 trillion dollars
10:11in today's money.
10:13Naturally, due to the nature of the
10:15information source, we can't
10:17expect to see the king spending his money
10:19on booze, drugs, and women.
10:21Instead, the Bible insisted
10:23that all his spendings were strictly
10:25virtuous. And he even built
10:27the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
10:29I'll leave it up to you to decide
10:31whether the Bible's suggestion or mine
10:33is more believable.
10:35Augustus Caesar
10:37Appointing yourself the first
10:39emperor of the world's biggest
10:41country may sound like something
10:43Vladimir Putin may do any moment now,
10:45but he won't be the first to have done
10:47such a thing. Augustus Caesar
10:49did the same around 2,000
10:51years ago, and this move certainly
10:53worked in his favor. With this
10:55simple political move, Augustus
10:57gained riches, which, adjusted to
10:59today's money, would amount to
11:014.6 trillion dollars.
11:03This almost
11:05unimaginable net worth sounds
11:07a bit far-fetched
11:09until you realize
11:11Augustus personally owned
11:13Egypt, which was responsible
11:15for feeding half of the empire.
11:17Yes, Caesar
11:19could have drunk his coffee inside
11:21a pyramid or on the Sphinx's head
11:23if he so wished.
11:25Along with owning an entire country,
11:27Augustus was estimated to have at least
11:2910 million gold coins
11:31left by his uncle Julius.
11:33The 10 million gold coins
11:35are estimated to be equal to
11:37200 billion dollars
11:39in today's money.
11:41So, not too bad of a start in life
11:43considering. Much of
11:45this money was spent on infrastructure.
11:47Roads, monuments
11:49and temples were built with
11:51Augustus' money as he infused
11:53his personal finances with
11:55that of the Roman Empire.
11:57In addition, several million
11:59were spent annually on public
12:01entertainment as the emperor financed
12:03chariot races, gladiator
12:05fights and other sports events.
12:07However, probably his
12:09most important possession was
12:11his personal army of
12:13250,000 soldiers.
12:15They were instrumental
12:17in his plans to keep the
12:19country under his rule,
12:21so he paid them generously.
12:23This would have cost Augustus
12:25around a quarter of a billion dollars
12:27annually in today's money.
12:29But what can I say?
12:31Staying in power, ruling the biggest country
12:33on Earth and gaining 4.6
12:35trillion dollars is well worth
12:37this spare change.
12:39Akbar I
12:41If you ask
12:43someone what the Mughal's empire
12:45is, they would probably think it's
12:47some new kind of virus that would force another
12:49lockdown on the entire world.
12:51Yes, the far eastern empire
12:53that once ruled most of the Indian
12:55subcontinent and the lands south
12:57and west of the Himalayas hadn't
12:59had much impact on western culture.
13:01But to South Asia,
13:03its influence was crucial.
13:05Its importance is mainly due
13:07to Akbar I,
13:09who at one time is said to have ruled
13:11over 25%
13:13of the world's GDP.
13:15Of course, this makes his
13:17immense wealth of 21 trillion
13:19dollars a bit less impressive.
13:21But still,
13:23anyone can appreciate what an inconceivable
13:25amount of money that is.
13:27If I had 21 trillion dollars,
13:29I'd surely live a secluded and
13:31humble life.
13:33Akbar, however, had a different idea.
13:35He lived a lavish
13:37and luxurious lifestyle,
13:39even by today's standards.
13:41Akbar built himself three
13:43astounding palaces in Delhi,
13:45Agra and Fatehpur Sikri
13:47and decorated them lavishly
13:49with so much gold
13:51that Donald Trump would get an aneurysm
13:53just looking at it.
13:55The interior was also decorated with
13:57silk, marble and a lot of artwork.
13:59Akbar was a great
14:01patron of the arts and spent
14:03millions on paintings, books,
14:05music and all sorts
14:07of artwork. He even tried to
14:09create his own religion by mixing
14:11Hinduism and Islam.
14:13While you may think that this was a move inspired
14:15by his ego, it was actually a political
14:17maneuver trying to solidify
14:19a nation that was violently
14:21divided by religion.
14:23Unfortunately for the region, he failed
14:25and India would pay dearly
14:27for generations to come.
14:29Shen Song
14:31Being the
14:33Chinese emperor during one of the most
14:35abundant periods in the country's history
14:37surely has its perks.
14:39Shen Song ruled China
14:41between 1067 and 1085
14:43and brought high
14:45prosperity along with him.
14:47New social policies brought
14:49much needed relief to the poorest
14:51farmers while the country
14:53enjoyed peace and economic growth.
14:55Shen Song is estimated
14:57to have controlled over 30%
14:59of the global GDP
15:01at that moment. Experts
15:03estimate that at the peak of his might
15:05the emperor had the equivalent
15:07of 30 trillion dollars
15:09to his name. Of course,
15:11Shen Song lived lavishly in
15:13palaces that to this day are architectural
15:15landmarks. Still,
15:17most of his spending was on bettering
15:19the lives of his subjects and
15:21not many records have been left to tell us more
15:23about his personal lifestyle.
15:25Genghis Khan
15:27When talking
15:29about the wealthiest person in
15:31the world of all times,
15:33one could easily imagine a well
15:35educated visionary with access
15:37to power, an industrious
15:39spirit and a flair for trade
15:41and business growth.
15:43Well, Genghis Khan was none of the
15:45above. Though the Mongol ruler
15:47is most well known for his
15:49brutal warfare bringing devastation,
15:51mayhem and massacres
15:53all the way to Europe,
15:55he did manage to accumulate wealth
15:57equal to over 100
15:59trillion dollars.
16:01Considering he killed
16:03roughly 10% of the world's population
16:05in the span of 20 years,
16:07I wouldn't recommend
16:09taking business lessons from this ruler.
16:11Well, Genghis Khan did invent
16:13the first bioweapon,
16:15so that's a kind of innovative thinking.
16:17Yes, thanks to the
16:19tactics Genghis used to conquer
16:21half of the known world,
16:23two centuries later, the bubonic
16:25plague will once again decimate
16:27the world, this time killing
16:29about 25%
16:31of the entire world's population.
16:33That's how you leave a legacy.
16:35Despite his immense riches,
16:37Temüjin, as was
16:39Genghis Khan's birth name,
16:41who was born into slavery,
16:43actually redistributed his riches
16:45among his subjects.
16:47Well, he did have several hundred wives,
16:49from all of which he had
16:51numerous kids.
16:53Thank God he had 100 trillion to pay
16:55all of his alimony.
16:57So, it seems that if you want to be
16:59among the wealthiest people of all time,
17:01all you have to do is
17:03rule a country with an iron fist,
17:05infuse its economy with your
17:07personal finances and be cruel
17:09to your neighbors.
17:11Somehow, that reminds me of a particular
17:13world leader today.
17:15What entrepreneurial lessons did you
17:17learn from the top 10 wealthiest people
17:19in history? Let me know
17:21in the comments below.
17:23If you enjoyed this video, make sure
17:25to watch our video on the richest
17:27royal families in the world.
17:29Thanks for watching. I'll see
17:31you next time.