Posted on 10/16/2012 4:43:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
An obscure king who ruled West Africa in the 14th century has been named the richest person in history in a new inflation-adjusted list of the world's 25 wealthiest people of all time.
Spanning 1,000 years and with a combined fortune of $4.317 trillion, only three of the list's 25 are alive today; none of them are women and 14 of them are American.
Using the annual 2199.6per cent rate of inflation, where $100million in 1913 is equal to $2.299.63billion in 2012, Celebrity Net Worth's list includes familiar names like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett; but sitting at number one is Mansa Musa I of Mali.
The West Africa king, the richest person in history, and the ruler of the Malian Empire which covered modern day Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali in West Africa, had a personal net worth of $400billion at the time of his death in 1331.
The list also includes the man who gave America Wal-Mart, another who developed mail-order shopping around 1870, as well as a few nobles who helped with the Norman conquest of England in the Battle of Hastings nearly one thousand years ago.
The Rothschild family, second on the list, are the richest people on earth today with assets that total at least $350billion - their wealth divided amongst mining, banks, private asset management, mixed farming, wine, and charities.
Meanwhile John D. Rockefeller, third on the list, is the richest American to have ever lived, worth $340billion in today's USD at the time of his death in 1937.
In comparison, the poorest man on the list is 82-year-old Warren Buffett, who at his peak net worth, before he started giving his fortune to charity, was $64billion.
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE 25 RICHEST PEOPLE OF ALL TIME
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
A lot of the things that are so easy as modern conveniences were possible given enough labor to attend to them. That much gold would pay a large army, let alone a small one, to cater to your every need.
Or maybe Croesus.
Can’t touch Midas.... :)
++1
22.9963 times the nominal value in 99 years is 3.22% annual inflation rate. (22.9963 ^ (1/99) = 1.0322 for those interested)
Islamic missionaries arrived and converted most of Mali. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Uh...Solomon.
Great food? Maybe. But it has to be local, lest it spoil.
A castle? Maybe, but it would probably be cold and drafty.
Other than that you couldn't pay me $400 billion to live in the 14th century.
I'd rather have 400 million in 2012.
To add to that, I’d rather be a welfare recipient in America 2012, than be the richest man in history in 1331.
The ancient Romans had answers to cold and drafty castles, ranging from the hypocaust (a furnace beneath the castle floor) to concubines.
The biggest thing medieval kings didn’t have was modern medical and hygienic knowledge. If I could somehow ensure that I was never going to get sick, I’d go for it.
That is basically the story of King Midas.
Wrong, Solomon was the richest, and wisest. It is believed that King Midas character in the short story was based on Solomon.
So this king may have been the wealthiest man in that span of 1000 years, but that does NOT equal all of human history. Especially when they leave off such men as Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, the Pharaohs, or any of a number of rulers who lived in the ancient times.
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