The World’s Wealthiest Person In Each Decade Of The Last 200 Years
Most-moneyed people in the past two centuries. What did it take to be the richest person in the world in 1820, 1850, or even in 1900? And how does that compare to today?
1. 1820s: Stephen Girard
The son of a naval captain, Stephen Girard was born in Bordeaux, France in 1750 and went to sea at an early age. He settled in Philadelphia in 1776, where he set himself up as a merchant. Girard racked up an immense fortune importing and exporting goods in the bustling city, and became the richest private individual in the world by 1810.
2. 1830s: Nathan Mayer Rothschild 
Following Girard’s death in 1831, the scion of the Rothschild banking dynasty, Nathan Mayer Rothschild, took his place the richest person in the world. Born in Frankfurt in 1777, the German financier moved to England in 1798, setting up textile and banking businesses that netted him a huge fortune.
3. 1840s: John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor was born in Walldorf, Germany in 1763 and emigrated to America at the age of 21 where he entered the fur trade, building up a lucrative monopoly.
At the time of his death in 1848, the German-American businessman, who was also a big player in the real estate and opium industries, had a net worth of $20 million, equivalent to $798 million in today’s money
