Carlos Slim is the richest man alive. But you won't be surprised to learn that he barely makes the list when stacked against the inflation-adjusted fortunes of history.

$74.5 billion doesn't mean what it used to.

Our list of the twenty richest people of all time includes entrepreneurs, warriors and robber barons. We did not include monarchs, whose wealth could be considered public. Our list is based on scholarly estimates, but obviously remains highly speculative.

You'll notice much of the list come from England and America. Partly this happens because that's where estimates were available. But it's also true that extreme private wealth occurred only several times in history, such as the great lords of England, the Gilded Age, and right now.

NOTE: This list looks at peak wealth. Carlos Slim, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett reached their inflation-adjusted peak wealth before the Dot Com Crash or the Recession.