10 Wealthiest Historical Figures That Ever Lived
3. John D. Rockefeller - £200 Billion
John D. Rockefeller was an American industrialist who was one of the first philanthropic billionaires, in the same vein as Andrew Carnegie. Rockefeller was born in New York state in 1839, the son of a travelling con artist. From humble beginnings, he made his vast fortune in the burgeoning petroleum industry. Rockefellers Standard Oil company became so dominant that it was broken up by the Supreme Court, who determined that it had monopolized the entire industry. In fact, many of todays major oil companies are descendants of the various companies that were created in the break-up of Standard Oil.
Rockefeller had a net worth of £200 billion, and his name lives on in various schools and buildings that bear his name - since many of them were built using money he donated, especially in his native New York City.