History's richest men: Gates is an average-Joe in Akbar's eyes
If someone asks who are the richest people in the world right now, the answer would be pretty easy. It's Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Jeff Bezos. They are worth billions of dollars and every year they get featured on the Forbes list. However, what if someone asks you who were the richest people in the world since the dawn of time? Find out.
What are we talking about?
Visual Capitalist estimates that the richest person in history was worth something around a whopping $4.6 trillion. The person, who could boast such spectacular opulence, was the first Roman emperor Augustus Caesar of 63 BCE. He owned most of the powerful states in the world and had individual holdings as well. He, in his heydays, owned the nation of Egypt.
So how rich were they?
Another fabled trillionaire was King Solomon of Israel in 970 BCE, whose name is even mentioned in the Bible. His wealth came from business, trade, and tributes from Arabia and Levant. In fact, his wealth made silver became as worthless as rubble. Another person, whose wealth can't be fathomed in dollar terms, is also present in this list. He is Mughal Indian ruler Akbar.
This is called money power
One can't exactly pinpoint how much Akbar owned, but Visual Capitalist estimates, as the ruler of the Indian subcontinent, his dominion aka the Mughal Empire was worth 25% of the global GDP. No wonder he was called Akbar, the Great. If you brush aside kings and emperors, one banker and businessman also made it to this list.
101 on measuring how rich you are
Jakob Fugger of Germany in his lifetime had around $277 billion in wealth with interests in mining, banking, and trading. He funded kings, popes, and his support could change the courses of wars. Another man was Marcus Licinius Crassus of 115 BCE Rome. His personal wealth of $170 billion was equal to that of the Roman treasury.
Don't fret over it
However, it should be remembered that these numbers are not etched in concrete. Whatever information Visual Capitalist had collated was out of texts and sources that might have painted a lesser picture or a more grandiose picture than the reality. Moreover, things were mostly tied to lands and properties back then and a proper evaluation is not really possible.
