Top richest from history, one hyperinflated the economy single handedly!

[Flexystar]

I was watching a documentary associated with historical economies and the richest people.

You will be shocked to see how much money these people had during the period when having thousands of USD was worth millions to billions in todays conversion rate!

I am going to list them from the lowest to highest. If you love it, then do checkout the Top #1 richest man ever lived and it's definitely mind wobbling how he lived and how much his wealth was.

Rank	Name of the Person	Period	Wealth in $$
#10	Henry Ford	1863-1947	$199 billion
#09	Muammar Gaddafi	1942-2011	200 billion
#08	William The Conqueror	1027-1087	$229.5 billion
#07	Mir Osman Ali Khan	1886-1967	$230 billion
#06	Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov	1868-1918	$300 billion
#05	John D Rockefeller	1839-1937	$341 billion
#04	Andrew Carnegie	1835-1919	$372 billion
#03	Akbar I	1542-1605	Wealth incalculable
#02	Augustus Caesar	63 BC-AD 14	$4.6 trillion
#01	Mansa Musa	1280-1337	Wealth incalculable

The king Mansa Musa was the one with incalculable wealth while Akbar was the another person in line to be that much rich.

Musa seems to be popularly known because he was the only richest person who donated so much Gold that it caused the gold rates drop heavily and caused hyperinflation in the Egypt. It was so high that it took almost 10 years to recover from this inflation.

Guess how the inflation was controlled? Well, Musa himself bought back the Gold at higher interest rate and thus helped the Egyptians to control their inflations. Even with the help of higher interest rate and buying back the gold it took ten years so we can imagine how enormous this inflation was.

He was so rich that during his commute from the Mali kingdom to Haj, they carried 60,000 people along with them and every time they stopped on Friday they built mosques and stays everywhere.

They donated gold to every city they roamed through and finally it was Egypt where they stayed for long and caused the inflation just by donating the Gold bars.

This is one of the interesting fact that I learnt in the Economic section and hence wanted to share it as fun story. Crazy!!!!



References:
The history rich list: the 10 wealthiest people ever
Not Jeff Bezos Or Elon Musk, These 11 People Are The Richest People In Human History

[1714793313]

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[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

I believe you must have made some research to have discovered a number of these elites ones the richest but unfortunately enough none of them today is being recognized as rich fellow any longer, well many reasons might have been attributed to this because of how the economy was during their own time, some might have died, while some still leaving couldn't have been able to maintain their riches not to talk of transferring them to their children, there are many demands it requires in making one rich and sustaining the riches over generations, i don't know how many richest men of this present dispensation women will still be mentioned in decades to come.

[Flexystar]

I believe you must have made some research to have discovered a number of these elites ones the richest but unfortunately enough none of them today is being recognized as rich fellow any longer, well many reasons might have been attributed to this because of how the economy was during their own time, some might have died, while some still leaving couldn't have been able to maintain their riches not to talk of transferring them to their children, there are many demands it requires in making one rich and sustaining the riches over generations, i don't know how many richest men of this present dispensation women will still be mentioned in decades to come.

I am not sure about the others and what happened to them but I know a bit about Mansa Musa and Akbar I. Both of them were best kings of their time and their wealth was unlimited due to the fact that they had access to treasures throughout the region where they ruled their dynasty.

The problem started when colonies started to form from the European countries. In case of Akbar I, it took lot of time since there were mixed colonisation from around the world in different kingdoms.

However, it is said that in case of Musa, they came in quickly since the region was very small. They were able to destroy it just like they did in the fairly modern world.

[pawel7777]

Thanks for an interesting topic.

The problem with those historic wealth estimations is there is a chance they can be completely inaccurate. Positions 1 and 3 are incalculable so not sure how are they ranked in those places. In the case of the rulers, there's often no distinction between personal wealth and the wealth of the entire empire, so we end up comparing apples to oranges.

I had no clue Henry Ford was that rich. He was a decent guy from what I know.

The problem started when colonies started to form from the European countries. In case of Akbar I, it took lot of time since there were mixed colonisation from around the world in different kingdoms.

You can't colonise a successful and well-run country, such would have to be conquered. Colonies were established where there in underdeveloped or unpopulated areas. I'm not an expert on African history but believe most of the African empires fall on their own or due to infighting.

[Hamza2424]

__SNIP__

Interesting...
Op please add more details of the period & timeline if possible in the table. I have also analyzed a few of such documents in my native language but the point is what they are worth now .. 0 ... what they have now is Nothing..

This represents the most beautiful and unpalatable truth of life that it will end. Money is really not everything A bit off-topic but quite realatable.

[batang_bitcoin]

Interesting, was King Solomon for real and could have been part of the list? Because with those that I've read before says that he's probably the richest even til' now. I don't know but those weren't able to provide proof though. But it's interesting to see on how these people have been too wealthy since the ancient times and able to mitigate inflation yet or when it was too little. Can imagine that if they're still alive right now, they are still not going to be problematic on how to deal with inflation. LOL, the reality has slapped me once again that there's more to life and there's a need to be more pushy in everything we does to achieve financial freedom.

[pawel7777]

Interesting...
Op please add more details of the period & timeline if possible in the table.

He has included that in the table already, unless you mean something different.

This represents the most beautiful and unpalatable truth of life that it will end. Money is really not everything A bit off-topic but quite realatable.

Amen.

It's also worth adding that each of us very likely has much higher comfort of life than any of the ancient rulers. That's simply due to technological progress, access to running water, sewage systems, electricity, and most of all - to nutrition and modern medicine (the last one is much overrated but still).

[bussybuddy]

Well, it's a pretty interesting topic and it has a bit of a similarity to the conversation I had with the kids in my family, where they asked the question "who is the richest in the world?", and honestly I don't know, with the OP's share it's somewhat like, in the past we are not entirely sure that we know of people who used to have a lot of money to be the richest ( the common thing is that they are all very rich) . And I know there are some very interesting stories about getting rich and sharing success with others.

[Fiatless]

One man singlehandedly caused hyperinflation in an entire region, that's wonderful. I stand to be corrected Bitcoin is one of the most reliable shields against inflation. Yes, my stand is arguable because it is highly volatile but its total cap of 21 million is its unique difference. The market can be flooded with gold because many nations of the world still have massive gold reserves. Lands and other resources are limitless which means that their prices can fall if the supply rises but bitcoin has limited supply. A single country with a large gold reserve can make the market crumble but Bitcoin is decentralised. Yes, the market can be manipulated by some unhealthy practices by whales but their influence is limited. If Bitcoin gains a stable price in the future, it will become an undisputed hedge against inflation.

[Lucius]

You will be shocked to see how much money these people had during the period when having thousands of USD was worth millions to billions in todays conversion rate!
~snip~

Even today, many people would be surprised to find out who the richest people in the world are, and they are certainly not people about whom hundreds or thousands of articles are written every day. These are people (or families) whose wealth was not created in a short period of time (several tens of years), but who acquired that wealth over centuries, and it is not measured in billions, but in trillions of $.

These are people who, unlike some others, do not need and do not want media attention, and the so-called richest people are for them children playing with change.

[Alpha Marine]

It is difficult to compare the wealth of people from different times. That is why people are always regarded as "the richest man of his time"  as Mansa Musa is usually regarded.
Mansa simply means King, so that translates to "King Musa". That means he was a monarch and we can't determine what portion of his wealth belonged to the empire and which was his personal wealth.

Before Musa became king Mali was already a very strong and big empire. They were so sophisticated that they were able to send out 200 ships to explore the Atlantic Ocean, which was the "first exploratory mission". The second exploratory mission of the Atlantic Ocean by the Mali empire was with 2000 ships.
I'm just putting this out so y'all can get a rough idea of how rich and sophisticated they were at the time. I don't think even the British Empire could afford that at the time.

Some people argue that in those times, the wealth of the empire belonged to the ruling Monarch.

Some claim that Mansa Musa's wealth was equivalent to about $ 400 billion, but like most historians love to argue, his wealth is impossible to accurately calculate.
Some believe that Musa had more gold than people even imagined and I have to believe this. I believe if his wealth is calculated accurately it would be more than $400billion.
When you read about the things that he did, and the amount of gold he travels with you'll understand why I feel that way.
Musa went to the hajj with 18 tons of gold, that's like a billion dollars in today's value. So yeah, he might be richer than we imagine. 

[Gozie51]

One man singlehandedly caused hyperinflation in an entire region, that's wonderful. I stand to be corrected Bitcoin is one of the most reliable shields against inflation. Yes, my stand is arguable because it is highly volatile but its total cap of 21 million is its unique difference. The market can be flooded with gold because many nations of the world still have massive gold reserves. Lands and other resources are limitless which means that their prices can fall if the supply rises but bitcoin has limited supply. A single country with a large gold reserve can make the market crumble but Bitcoin is decentralised. Yes, the market can be manipulated by some unhealthy practices by whales but their influence is limited. If Bitcoin gains a stable price in the future, it will become an undisputed hedge against inflation.

Agreed that inflation may not be what will affect bitcoin but regards to dump in the price of bitcoin, that is very possible and it is happening. Just last week the allege sale of Elon musk SpaceX acquired bitcoin dump caused the price shield of 9% which is about $4k drop in price which is already huge for within 24hours. So just like an individual can use his gold to crash the market and cause inflation, so also that could happen with bitcoin. But like you have the view, bitcoin won't be affected by inflation because gold or fiat dumped which was evident during the COVID-19.

[jrrsparkles]

Fun fact: Mansa Musa became so wealthy by trading salt and gold.

[m2017]

I assume that the wealth of these people, although expressed in money (you have in dollars), but in fact, this wealth was not in bank accounts or deposits, but for the most part was in property, means of production, jewelry, art and luxuries, and so on. Therefore, all these figures are very subjective, because it is impossible to evaluate it objectively. Which follows from the next paragraph. The next inaccuracy is the years of activity of these rich people. They all lived in different periods of time (different centuries). Therefore, is it even possible to compare their wealth. And another nuance is that the majority on this list are the rulers of countries who had access to huge wealth only by birthright, with the exception of Rockefeller (banker), Ford and Carnegie (entrepreneurs), who essentially earned this huge money themselves.

I am curious to know otherwise, if the people on this list lived in our time, then which of them would invest in bitcoin.

[Yamane_Keto]

I do not believe this list, as it is for people who lived in different periods, and therefore the value of the dollar in those periods is completely different from its value now. I heard the story of King Mansa Musa several times, but there is no evidence to confirm it, and with the printing of money, it became easy for some people to have an infinite amount of money compared to the past, as the gold supply remains limited despite all the mines around the world.

I was watching a documentary associated with historical economies and the richest people.

Documentary films are not considered a source of information because some events may be distorted to fit the narrative, but you can consider them as the beginning of the search for sources.

[xSkylarx]

That's really huge, imagining how the cost before was, and again, they are for sure powerful. Though I've just been curious on what documentary this is and how reliable their calculation or sources are on this because it's too much, I am again amazed at how they accumulated it or, like, what is their formula for getting such huge money. Those people are for sure smart because they found a way to earn that money, and money works for them.

[davis196]

Mansa Musa is more of a mythical figure and the legends surrounding him should not be viewed as facts.
I think that the medieval economy of Egypt was relatively small, so creating inflation by spending gold there wasn't as difficult as it seems.
Mali had lots of gold mines centuries ago, but I wonder where did all this wealth disappear. If the Mali empire was so rich, when why it didn't expand towards southern Europe(Spain and Portugal)? The story of Mansa Musa proves that simply having natural resources like gold and silver cannot make a country rich. The true source of wealth lies in having advanced technology and capital.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

Those were the richest of their time in the sense that they were the most resourceful of their time and had a lot of people at their disposal but in this respect I remember Warren Buffet saying how modern productivity has made a middle class person in many ways richer than these rich people of long ago. He said that if Rockefeller wanted to watch a baseball game he had to physically go to the stadium, and even if he had the best seat, nowadays we can watch all the baseball games we want from our home with a huge screen, with an ideal temperature thanks to heating or air conditioning, and if we want to know something about a player or about the league statistics we can consult it from our mobile phone.

The difference is more noticeable the further back in time we go. Many middle and working class people have travelled halfway around the world thanks to cheap flights, they buy clothes every now and then, they own cars and have tasted a thousand flavours of food in various restaurants, something that Mansa Musa or Augustus Caesar could not do.

[flyingcarpet]

Those were the richest of their time in the sense that they were the most resourceful of their time and had a lot of people at their disposal but in this respect I remember Warren Buffet saying how modern productivity has made a middle class person in many ways richer than these rich people of long ago. He said that if Rockefeller wanted to watch a baseball game he had to physically go to the stadium, and even if he had the best seat, nowadays we can watch all the baseball games we want from our home with a huge screen, with an ideal temperature thanks to heating or air conditioning, and if we want to know something about a player or about the league statistics we can consult it from our mobile phone.

The difference is more noticeable the further back in time we go. Many middle and working class people have travelled halfway around the world thanks to cheap flights, they buy clothes every now and then, they own cars and have tasted a thousand flavours of food in various restaurants, something that Mansa Musa or Augustus Caesar could not do.

We are people trying to get a small piece of the pie. Those on the list are the ones who decide what the cake will be made of. There have been such people at every stage of history. In the past, these people were few in number, but now there are many people like them, known/unknown.

I don't know exactly what the difference is between a middle-class person's chance of being rich in the past and a middle-class person living today. We have more possibilities, but the world is not the same as before. Everything is in our hands and depends on our effort, but still, I am not sure whether we are the luckier ones in the past.

[pawel7777]

Mansa Musa is more of a mythical figure and the legends surrounding him should not be viewed as facts.
I think that the medieval economy of Egypt was relatively small, so creating inflation by spending gold there wasn't as difficult as it seems.

It's not just the size of economy, but also the lower mobility of the capital could play a factor. With no internet or even fast means of travel, arbitrage took a very long time (as compared to today's world), so any local effects lasted longer.
But according to the Wikipedia, the effect on the price of gold wasn't as great as some might think. According to some Arabic writers, gold dropped from 25 to 22 silver dirhams for about a year, which, according to some historians was within a normal fluctuation of that time.