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Meet The Richest Man Who Ever Lived - YouTube

Channel: MagnatesMedia

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the current richest people in the world

[2]

like elon musk

[3]

jeff bezos and bill gates all have

[6]

fortunes worth well

[8]

over 100 billion dollars

[11]

and yet if we account for inflation

[14]

their wealth is not even close to making

[16]

them the richest people

[18]

ever so today we're delving into the

[22]

past

[23]

to explore the richest people in history

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and how they made their unthinkably

[28]

large

[28]

fortunes and we start with number one

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john d rockefeller the oil magnate

[35]

that's widely considered the richest

[38]

self-made man

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in modern history with an approximate

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net worth of around 400 billion

[44]

dollars in today's money even after

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giving a substantial amount of his

[48]

fortune

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away and yet he started from very humble

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beginnings

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john d rockefeller was born into a large

[57]

family with a

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father who was frequently absent and was

[60]

regarded as a con man

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who sold worthless potions so from a

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young age

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john needed to help provide for the

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family and took on odd jobs

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like looking after the neighbor's

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turkeys or selling potatoes and candy

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even though these things didn't pay a

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lot jon was really good at them and

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worked really hard

[80]

so he was able to save enough money to

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start offering small loans

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to other people so even as a young boy

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that entrepreneurial instinct was there

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but when he turned 16 he dropped out of

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school

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and got his first real job as a

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bookkeeper earning just 50 cents a day

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however after working there for around

[100]

two years

[102]

his employers still refused to give him

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a meaningful raise

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and so he decided to start his own

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produce business

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as he had a goal to make one hundred

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thousand dollars

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and he knew he'd need to build something

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of his own to reach that target

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luckily this first job had already

[119]

taught him a lot

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and gave him the experience connections

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and reputation

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to raise four thousand dollars for

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starting his own venture

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a business selling goods like meat hay

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and grain

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which did well in the first year of

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trading

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it made almost half a million dollars of

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course

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rockefeller didn't keep all of that

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himself a lot of it went back into

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business expenses and loans but it meant

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when a big opportunity arose

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rockefeller now had some real money to

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invest

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and that opportunity was oil

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in 1859 the first american oil well was

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discovered

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which began at the pennsylvania oil rush

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however rockefeller realized that while

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most people were trying to get rich

[166]

from drilling oil the bigger profits

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were actually in oil

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refinery so at just 24 years old

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he used the money from his first

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business to build an oil refinery

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now around this time he met a man named

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henry flagler

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who was interested in investing in his

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business

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and so together they incorporated the

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standard oil company

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and began the process of buying out all

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the smaller

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nearby oil refineries that they were in

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competition with

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whenever any of these refineries refused

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to sell their business to him

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he simply started selling his oil at a

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loss

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so that all their customers flocked to

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him instead

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which would put these smaller companies

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out of business

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these kind of practices allowed the

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standard oil company

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to keep expanding across the entire

[217]

country

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they kept buying out rivals undercutting

[220]

competitors

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and cutting costs wherever possible the

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more they grew

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the more negotiating power they had so

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they could push for better rates and

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prices

[229]

and discounts on everything rockefeller

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was also known for some secret shady

[234]

deals

[235]

and so with all of these factors

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combined by the 1870s

[240]

rockefeller's oil company owned 90

[242]

percent of the world's

[244]

oil refining industry he also hired the

[247]

owners of the oil refineries he bought

[249]

as board trustees which meant that all

[252]

the smartest oil experts

[254]

were all working within one super

[256]

company

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with rockefeller at the head of it he

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owned

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twenty thousand oil wells had over a

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hundred thousand employees

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and at the very peak some estimate its

[267]

total value

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would today have been worth almost a

[270]

trillion

[271]

dollars this kind of empire was pretty

[274]

unheard of

[275]

but rockefeller wasn't done yet at this

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point in time

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the two biggest industries were oil and

[282]

railroads

[283]

so rockefeller set out to do a similar

[285]

thing he'd just done with oil

[287]

with railroads however as he began

[290]

monopolizing another industry

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he also began to become a bit of a

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public enemy

[295]

he was depicted as the ultimate symbol

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of corporate greed

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and cruelty in response to rockefeller's

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ever-growing empire

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legislation was passed to try and

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prevent these kind of monopolies

[308]

in particular the sherman anti-trust act

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was passed

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which would lead to the breakup of

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standard oil into different subsidiaries

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except over time many of these

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subsidiaries would simply merge back

[320]

together

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and are still around to this day such as

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[324]

and chevron and since rockefeller kept

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his share in all those companies

[328]

even after they split up it meant that

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at the time of his death

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he was still the richest person in the

[334]

world and likely the richest self-made

[337]

man

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in all of modern history now

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what should we actually think about john

[343]

d rockefeller

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[Music]

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on the one hand he made oil an

[351]

affordable commodity

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and brought it to the masses he went

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from nothing

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to building a business empire that may

[357]

never be matched again

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he gave around 540 million dollars to

[362]

charitable causes

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which when you adjust for inflation

[365]

makes him one of the most accomplished

[367]

philanthropists ever however

[371]

on the other hand rockefeller was a

[374]

greedy

[375]

ruthless tyrant of business who often

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bullied

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extorted and exploited others on his

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merciless path

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to dominance especially the tactics used

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to crush the competition

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biographer ron chernow argues his good

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side was

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every bit as good as his bad side was

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bad

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seldom has history produced such a

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contradictory figure

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but what's undeniable is he will always

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be remembered

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for his insanely vast fortune and the

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impact he had

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but wait we now need to travel back in

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time

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even further to someone who was arguably

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much richer than rockefeller

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and yet many people have never heard of

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him

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however quick side note before that the

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further back in history we go

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the harder it is to definitively rank

[428]

wealth

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when we're talking about modern history

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it's a lot easier

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for example we can say with a good level

[434]

of certainty

[436]

but andrew carnegie had an empire worth

[438]

around 310

[440]

billion dollars as he founded the

[442]

carnegie steel company

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which later became u.s steel the first

[447]

billion dollar company in the world we

[450]

also know that henry ford had an empire

[452]

worth around 200 billion dollars

[454]

when he died in 1947 because

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he founded ford motor company and

[459]

pioneered assembly line

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mass production and so with businessmen

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like that

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it's much easier to calculate their

[466]

wealth but

[468]

once we start talking about the value of

[470]

owning countries

[471]

and land things get a little blurrier

[474]

even in present day some people would

[476]

disagree with the forbes rich list

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that puts elon musk and jeff bezos as

[481]

the richest people in the world

[483]

it's been argued that someone like

[485]

vladimir putin

[486]

may be the real wealthiest person alive

[489]

today it's just

[490]

difficult to verify exactly what he owns

[493]

so bearing all of that in mind let's go

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back to our list of the richest people

[497]

in history

[498]

and venture all the way back to the 14th

[501]

century

[502]

where we find mansa musa considered by

[505]

many historians

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as the richest human to ever live

[510]

mansa musa ruled the mali empire in

[512]

africa for 25 years

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which was extremely rich in salt and

[517]

gold

[518]

in fact some sources estimate they were

[521]

the largest gold producer in the world

[523]

and had more than half of the world's

[525]

total supply and so

[527]

mansa spent the early part of his reign

[529]

expanding mali's trade routes

[531]

which allowed them to trade their gold

[533]

and salt all across

[535]

africa and asia under his leadership

[538]

the mali empire tripled in size he

[541]

conquered

[542]

24 major cities and it's believed he

[545]

never lost a battle in his lifetime

[547]

however

[548]

manta also got many territories to join

[551]

the mali empire

[552]

willingly due to the relatively high

[554]

quality of life

[555]

that its citizens had however

[558]

manta wasn't content with that he wanted

[560]

to truly put the mali

[562]

empire on the map to the whole world now

[565]

since he was a devoutly religious muslim

[567]

he'd already planned to go on a

[568]

pilgrimage to mecca

[570]

and then he realized he could use this

[572]

trip as an opportunity

[574]

to capture the world's attention and

[577]

thus

[577]

in 1324 he began at the most extravagant

[581]

pilgrimage

[582]

in human history the voyage which would

[585]

span an estimated 4 000 miles

[587]

was travelled by mansa musa with tens of

[590]

thousands of soldiers

[591]

slaves and heralds draped in persian

[594]

silk

[595]

and carrying golden staffs one account

[598]

estimated

[598]

up to 60 000 people travelled with him

[601]

each carrying

[602]

up to hundreds of pounds in gold it's

[605]

fair to say

[606]

it was a spectacle that got noticed but

[609]

mansa also gave away huge amounts of

[611]

gold to the poor that he met along his

[613]

route

[614]

and it was also reported he built a

[616]

mosque every friday

[618]

having said that his generosity somewhat

[621]

backfired

[622]

because it's also claimed that he spent

[624]

so much gold on souvenirs during his

[626]

journey

[627]

that he destabilized the local economy

[630]

and caused

[631]

mass inflation since these territories

[634]

had never had so much gold before

[635]

and he was handing it out so freely and

[639]

if you really think about that it

[640]

highlights how absurdly rich

[642]

mansa musa was that he essentially

[644]

caused a financial crisis

[646]

by spending too much on his travels

[649]

when he did finally return from his

[651]

pilgrimage though the mali empire had

[653]

annexed

[654]

timbuktu under his orders and he

[656]

established that

[657]

as the epicenter for commerce in the

[659]

region he'd also brought back with him

[662]

scholars and architects who helped him

[664]

build schools

[665]

and mosques mansa even established the

[668]

first major university in the region

[670]

which could take up to 25 000 students

[673]

and had one of the

[674]

largest libraries in the world all of

[676]

these different building projects

[678]

further elevated the city's reputation

[680]

and helped attract even more top

[682]

scholars

[683]

from all over africa and beyond and

[686]

therefore

[686]

many historians credit mansa with

[689]

leading the mali empire

[690]

to even greater prosperity and

[692]

development

[694]

however whilst mansa did indeed put the

[697]

mali empire on the map

[698]

like he wanted it didn't quite have the

[701]

intended consequences

[703]

as news of their huge wealth and gold

[705]

supplies made its way to europe

[707]

several european powers saw an

[709]

opportunity to conquer the empire

[711]

and take the resources for themselves

[714]

but

[715]

by that point mansa would have died and

[717]

already cemented himself in history

[719]

as one of the richest people to ever

[721]

live

[722]

now as for how rich he was some

[725]

estimates put mance's modern day wealth

[727]

equivalent

[727]

at between 400 and 500 billion

[730]

dollars but remember it's extremely

[733]

difficult to accurately compare

[735]

today's money with a fortune that was

[737]

built on

[738]

salt gold and territory so i guess you

[741]

could say

[742]

take this estimate with a very big pinch

[745]

of salt

[746]

however because historians can't quite

[749]

agree on how to compare wealth

[751]

from so many centuries ago that means

[753]

the title of the richest person ever

[755]

is still up for debate so let's finish

[758]

this video

[759]

with three very honorable mentions who

[762]

may be contenders

[763]

one person that could have been the

[764]

richest in history is technically

[766]

genghis khan

[768]

the fierce and mongol leader conquered a

[770]

mind-blowing 12 million square miles of

[773]

land

[773]

between 1206 and his death in 1227

[777]

more than anyone else in history as he

[780]

conquered all of these different

[781]

kingdoms

[782]

he also took their wealth and

[784]

possessions which

[785]

combined with the value of the land that

[787]

he took would arguably have been worth

[789]

trillions of dollars or in other words

[792]

incomprehensibly large amounts that's

[794]

difficult to even quantify

[796]

it's an extremely brutal way to build

[798]

your fortune but it was certainly

[800]

effective

[801]

another candidate for the richest person

[803]

in history is jakob fuga

[805]

also known as jacob fuga the rich and

[808]

you don't get a name like that without

[810]

having a pretty giant fortune

[813]

in fact if you took europe's entire

[815]

economic output

[816]

at the time jacob was alive he owned 2.2

[819]

percent of

[820]

all of that of the entire continents

[824]

now jakob was the 10th of 11 children

[827]

but would go on to become

[828]

a banker who financed kings explorers

[831]

and religious leaders what's crucial

[833]

here though

[834]

is that before fuga came along

[836]

christians could not legally charge

[838]

interest on loans but he managed to

[841]

convince the pope to change this

[842]

and then profited from that rule change

[844]

immensely

[846]

in a biography written about him the

[848]

author explains that fugu just seemed to

[850]

have a gift

[851]

for making money and spotting

[853]

opportunities

[854]

especially when it came to business and

[856]

investments for example

[858]

when the archduke of austria desperately

[860]

needed a loan

[861]

fuga decided to offer it when no other

[863]

banker would

[864]

and it paid off big time he also had a

[867]

great talent for convincing other people

[869]

to lend him money

[870]

so that he can invest it and turn it

[872]

into a much bigger profit

[874]

he was undeniably very strategic and

[877]

shrewd

[877]

and built a fortune that would today be

[879]

worth an estimated 400 billion dollars

[883]

but now it's time for one final

[885]

candidate for the richest person

[887]

ever and that is caesar augustus

[890]

the first roman emperor reigning from 27

[893]

[894]

until his death in 1480 time magazine

[898]

once estimated his equivalent net worth

[900]

today as being 4.6

[903]

trillion dollars because he personally

[906]

owned

[906]

all of egypt but again going back this

[909]

far in time

[910]

it's virtually impossible to put an

[912]

accurate number on his wealth

[914]

so we can't say for certain who takes

[916]

the title of the richest person ever

[919]

but we can definitively say that all of

[921]

these names mentioned in this video

[923]

had obscene levels of wealth and were

[926]

amongst the wealthiest humans to ever

[928]

live with fortunes far bigger than jeff

[931]

bezos or elon musk

[933]

at least for now of course both of these

[936]

men

[937]

are still working and growing their

[938]

business empires

[940]

so if either of them have some more

[942]

major breakthroughs like

[943]

colonizing mars then who knows how vast

[946]

their fortunes

[947]

may become but now a question for you

[951]

what are your thoughts on all of these

[953]

incredibly wealthy historical figures

[956]

i know for some people hearing about

[958]

wealth can be kind of motivating

[960]

whereas for other people it can just

[962]

seem really unfair

[963]

but if you do feel that way then it's

[966]

worth remembering

[967]

that the fact you have access to

[969]

antibiotics

[970]

electricity internet and so on means

[972]

that in many ways

[974]

your quality of life is greater than

[976]

some of the richest kings

[978]

emperors and business magnates in

[980]

history that we've just heard about

[982]

after all you can do something that

[985]

rockefeller

[986]

mansa musa and all the others never

[988]

could

[989]

you can subscribe to magnate media and

[992]

if you did enjoy this video

[994]

we have plenty more mini documentaries

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coming very soon on this channel

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covering lots more money and business

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