rockefeller was probably the richest american ever...it was absurdly difficult to be a billionaire back then and he is truly the richest person in the last 100 years...
historically speaking, the rothschilds were actually trillionares...its the biggest personal wealth ever accumulated...second only to ramzes the great, this was "empire wealth" and was basically everything worth shit in the known world = ramzes took it...
my favorite character from history is emperor musa of mali
and I quote:
"Musa spent so much gold, particularly in Egypt, that the price of the rare metal was devalued and caused the economy of that nation to be devastated for years."