Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: Who Is The Richest Man in History?

Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: who is the richest man in history?

Money, money, money–do you every get to aspirational daydreaming about being King Midas?  Only to realize that King Midas never lived? Today, we took at look at some real-life King Midas’ below!

It might sound pointless for most of us, especially for millennials eking out their rent each month, when the richest man we know is Bill Gates. Sure, he has topped the Billionaire’s List for many consecutive years, along with other consistent names in today’s wealth race. However, what is interesting here is what it means to be the richest.  There has been an evolution of what wealth can help one to acquire–from land to services to life itself. Healthcare and modern medicine leave a vast margin in “richness” between the richest men many centuries ago who couldn’t die from a paper cut and the Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s of our time.

The people topping the richest men of today secured their spots mostly thanks to technology. Bill Gates, for one, has amassed his $75b net worth from tech ventures including, of course, Microsoft. Mark Zuckerberg, 2016’s 6th richest man, made it to the top because of Facebook’s success. Even before technology and economy ruled the world, there are people–conquers in both the literal and figurative sense–who managed to amass a fortune that is truly impressive.

While they may not be rich in the sense of our methodology–two of the most notable richest men in history are Mansa Musa and Genghis Khan. So consider Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: Who Is The Richest Man in History?

Mansa Musa

One of the most popular emperors (Mansa) in 1324, several studies–The Daily News, The Daily Mail, The Independent–of the richest people to have ever walked the earth point to Mansa Musa as the one person with the most wealth ever known.

Business Insider researched to found how Mansa oversaw and ruled over many lands. Some of his kingdoms included countries known today as: Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The same research said he always traveled luxuriously, with an extravagant entourage of tens of thousands of slaves, soldiers, and civilians. Mansa Musa also had camels and horses that brought his enormous stock of gold bars.

In the 14th century, he was said to rule the entire Mali empire, and had with him half the world’s supply of gold. According to Cheatsheet, his fortune was worth a whopping $400 billion. When you think of it in today’s perspective, that is even four times more of what today’s richest man is currently worth.

He was also popular during his time–learning the lesson all the best/worst politicians know to be true–you can buy public opinion.  He was said to give his money to the poor living in the cities he frequented, and that he built mosques or had them built all over his Mali Empire. He was known to spend much in both Medina and Cairo, which then resulted in an influx of basic commodities’ prices.

Genghis Khan

Perhaps more popular than Mansa Musa, Genghis Khan made his own mark in world history as the leader of the Mongolian people. During his war, he was said to conquer 12 million square miles of land. Those measurements outdo everyone’s achievement in history.

Like Mansa Musa, Genghis Khan was also known to be generous with some of his people. He handed out his riches among them. Khan’s fortune had a peak net worth of $100 trillion.

Now, one could argue Genghis Khan has more wealth than Mansa Musa. However, there is no good evidence available to authenticate claims on Genghis Khan’s net worth. Because his loot is believed to have been redistributed, and record of this point in history have been distorted and destroyed–it is difficult for economists and historians alike to truly be certain of his wealth.

Additionally, as stated earlier Genghis Khan and Mansa Musa did not have access to most luxuries of even the average or below average earning American worker. In a sense you are richer than both of them–better healthcare, better food, more comfortable living conditions, etc. Therefore the richest people living today can truly be considered the richest men in history more so than our earlier question of Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: Who is the richest man in history?

After you go through our list below, be sure to check 11 Richest Arabs in the World to compare their wealth!

Now, let’s finally start with listing the wealthiest men in the world!

 

10 Richest People Of Today i.e. in History

 

10.  David Koch – $39.6 billion

Together with his brother Charles Koch, David owns the Koch Industries. Their family is known in the U.S. as business magnates, and have also been passionate about philanthropy. Formerly big political campaign donators, this year when they refused to fund either Trump or Clinton. Koch is also known to have donated an estimated $1 billion to charities.

 

9. Charles Koch – $ 39.6 billion

To answer the question: Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: who is the richest man in history?; was quite easy. Now the CEO and Chairman of Koch Industries, Charles has long been managing their business of oil and gas, manufacturing, chemicals, and pipelines. As mentioned the Koch brothers have been Republican donors and influencers for many years, but have instead focused on the House and Senate race during last year’s elections.

 

8. Michael Bloomberg – $40 billion

One of the most well-known self-made billionaires in the modern era, Michael Bloomberg started out at Wall Street in an entry level job at Salomon Brothers. Fast forward to today, he still has a major chunk of the firm he started. Bloomberg is still one of the most trusted American brands. Like the Koch brothers, he is also a mega-political donor, switching from Democrat to Republican to Independent and running New York City as the mayor for 11 years.

 

7. Larry Ellison – $43.6 billion

The founder of software giant Oracle, Larry Ellison has been all over the rungs of the billionaire ladder for the past few years, but has recently managed to catch up. He is now said to be steering the software, and bought Netsuite in November of last year earning $3.48 billion. Oracle is also said to expand its cloud-based platform to rival that of Amazon’s.

 

6.  Mark Zuckerberg – $44.6 billion

Facebook’s main man, it is no surprise that Mark has made himself a billionaire since his college project became such a worldwide blockbuster hit. He started Facebook when he was 19, and has since led it into the world social media leader it is today. He and his wife Priscilla Chan, who is a pediatrician, made a vow to donate $3 billion to cure and prevent all diseases in the world.

 

5. Jeff Bezos – $45.2 billion

The answer number five to the question: Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: who is the richest man in history. The owner of arguably the world’s biggest online marketplace, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has reportedly gained $20 billion to his net worth in just a span of 14 months. That is one of the highest rates than anyone has ever amassed such wealth to their fortune, all thanks to the now booming Amazon Web Services.

 

4. Carlos Slim Helu – $50 billion

Also known as today’s richest Mexican, Carlos Slim Helu is the Honorary Chairman of América Móvil–his mobile phone company. He is also a self-made billionaire, and has passed on most of his stocks to his two grandsons. His business might have gone through some serious beating in 2015 and into last year, but is still trying to catch up its losses.

 

3. Warren Buffett – $60.8B

Known as one of the most successful investors in history, Warren Buffett has been a consistent number two in Forbes 400 as well as  on our list of answers to the question: Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: who is the richest man in history? He had a streak that went on for 15 years, no falter. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, is still big on its investments. His investments are still producing quite well, including American Express, Geico, Dairy Queen, and Coca-Cola.

 

2. Amancio Ortega – $67 billion

The richest man in Europe, Amancio Ortega is the owner and founder of major fashion players Zara, Pull and Bear among other brands. A self-made man, he started through a small company, manufacturing textiles, before he and his wife decided to co-found Zara in 1975. He is now into real estate investments in several parts of the world.

 

1. Bill Gates – $75 billion

He is not only the richest man of today, but is also the owner of the world’s biggest private charity institution, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Apart from his investments in Microsoft, which he accounts most of his fortune despite regularly sharing his shares, Bill Gates also has investments in Canadian National Railway and Autonation. He also invests in helping the world develop cure and elimination of polio, malaria attack, etc.

Hopefully you enjoyed this look at Mansa Musa vs. Genghis Khan: who is the richest man in history? The world has so many resources and have had many generations with equal chances of experiencing them. While most of the today’s richest people can thank the modern technology of how they were able to amass such fortunes, the richer men of history has the old, more pristine beauty of the natural world for which to be thankful.