It's a common perception that today people are richer than ever but that's not necessarily the case there are paths to wealth that may have differed but all of these people have a mass massive sums of wealth. top 10 richest people in history. These are in fact educated estimates by the way as it's completely impossible to know exactly who was the richest person ever in history.

 Top 10 Richest People in History

 William de Warren 

William de Warren he was a Norman nobleman with a net worth of 147 billion dollars after inflation under William II Rufus William de Warren was the Earl of Suri William de Roaring is said to have fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 at the Domesday survey he ruled vast lands in 13 different countries William Barron was one of the Norman Barons summoned to a council by Duke William to oppose King Harold II's Ascension to the English Throne. 


Stephen Gerard

Steven Gerard was a philanthropist and Banker from France who had an estimated net worth of 105 billion dollars during the War of 1812 Stephen Gerrard personally saved the United States government from Financial collapse and became one of the wealthiest people in America based on the ratio of his fortune to the current GDP he is one of the wealthiest Americans of all time after adjusting for inflation he devoted much of his fortune to philanthropy, particularly education, and Welfare of Orphans.


John Jacob Aster

John Jacob Aster was born in 1763 in Waldorf which is now located in present-day Germany John had a net worth of 124 billion dollars he made a name for himself in New York City as one of the wealthiest businessmen of the Gilded Age and he amassed his fortune and wealth through a variety of business ventures including fur trading real estate and investment now in the year 1808 after he established the American Ferg company and began establishing a chain of posts and trading settlements across the Pacific to expand his trading and shipping of first as demand for Furs began to decline in the mid-19th-century trading business in 1830 and he discovered that real estate was a more profitable way to make money and then he amassed billions.


Alan Rufus

Alan Rufus was William the Conqueror's 11th-century military companion and he had an estimated net worth of 178.65 5 billion dollars during the Norman conquest of England he served under William the Conqueror Alan Rufus a mass property in Rome in France and Rose to the position of Lord of Richmond and Alan roof is his Acquisitions throughout England came with many Land Titles in 1067 he witnessed King William's Charter to the monks of Saint Peter's at Westminster and Rufus had began building Richmond Castle four years later he was also an active donor to several religious houses.


Cornelius Vanderbilt II

 Cornelius, he actually ended up borrowing a hundred dollars from his mother when he was just 16 years old in the year 1810 and he used that money to a massive Fortune of over a hundred million dollars now that is actually worth more than 200 billion dollars today and it was roughly equal to half of the US's treasury holding things at that time now the level of wealth was unheard of at the time it elevated Vanderbilt to the ranks of America's wealthiest men but within 50 years of Cornelius's passing well the Vanderbilt family fortune had vanished.


Henry Ford

 Ford started his own business in 1901 and had a massive net worth of more than 200 billion dollars according to Modern estimates Ford did not agree with his investors who pushed him to build expensive cars for a select few rather than affordable models for the masses as Ford had always envisioned and Ford ended up leaving his own company which was later renamed Cadillac automobile company in the year 1902 and instead he founded the Ford Motors Company in 1903. Aside from being a successful business owner Ford also tried to establish himself as a politician but he was defeated in the year 1918 during the elections in 1920 he even bought the Dearborn Independent Newspaper which he used to spread anti-jewish conspiracy theories but either way the legacy of Ford lives on because the company still manufactures cars and trucks.


William Henry Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt comes up next his fortune was estimated to be around 230 billion dollars aside from being a railroad magnet Vanderbilt was also a major philanthropist in America he donated to a variety of Charities including the YMCA and the young men's Christian Association in addition he established his university Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee William Vanderbilt he passed away in his New York City home on December 8, 1885, only nine years after his father he was survived by his wife and eight children.


Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was the world's third richest non-ruler and the richest nonroyal British person of all time the Carnegie family came from a long line of Scottish Weavers and in the year 1892 he established the Carnegie Steel company which quickly grew to become the largest steel producer in the United States and later the entire world by the turn of the century the company had also become the most valuable company in the entire world and Andrew Carnegie's total wealth is estimated to be around 310 billion dollars.


 John Rockefeller

 In the year 1870, Rockefeller founded his own company Standard Oil and he is the wealthiest American of all time as a result the oil company was able to quickly acquire competing oil refineries Rockefeller's Standard Oil became the world's largest oil producer by far Rockefeller he owned roughly 9-20 percent of the United States total oil production at the turn of the 20th century accounting for 85 percent of the world's oil production at the time so yes this made Rockefeller the wealthiest man in the world with a fortune worth over 350 billion dollars.


Jakob Fugger

 Jakob Fugger is estimated to be the wealthiest person who has ever lived he was worth approximately 2.1 million guilders which is the name of the gold coins used during the Roman Empire which equates to approximately 400 billion dollars today on March 6, 1459, the German Merchant was born in the free Imperial City of Augsburg which was then part of the Roman Empire which is now modern-day Germany the majority of Fugger's wealth came from Mining and trading in medals and particularly the metal of copper other than that he was also a banker and saw pretty big successes in it. 


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