10 Richest People Who Ever Lived

1. John D Rockefeller - £440bn ($663bn)

It is unsurprising due to the names listed previously that John D Rockefeller tops the lot considering he was a late-19th-Century American businessmen. In fact, so rich was Rockefeller that at his most-wealthy he was worth almost twice Andrew Carnegie, who is second on the list. The business magnate accumulated his vast £440billion ($663billion) wealth through the co-founding of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the American petroleum industry. Controlling 90% of all of the US' oil at his peak, Rockefeller was the first American worth more than a billion dollars and he accounted for more than 1.5% of his nation's GDP upon his death in 1937. The richest man in history did use his wealth for charitable causes during the 40 years of his retirement, however, helping to fund both the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University, as well as create the Rockefeller Foundation in 1913 - which focused on contributing significantly to public health, medical training and the arts. Let's face it though - all of that would merely have been a drop in the ocean of his huge wealth.