SPECKS OF LIFE – 10 wealthiest women of all time

I am presenting a topic today that might prick the interest of our women readers. Somehow, and most of the time, only the richest men in this universe have been presented to the public.
Let’s start the ball rolling. No. 10 ranked is CHARLENE de CARVALHO HEINEKEN. Beer drinkers are probably aware of her name that bears the world famous drink. She is a Dutch-English businesswoman who owns 25% of the beer brewery Heineken International. Her net worth is $12.5B.
No. 9 is ANN COX CHAMBERS has stake in the American media empire worth around $17B, according to Forbes magazine. She is the 28th richest person in the US and the 53rd in the world.
SUZANNE KLATTEN occupies 8th place. Per Forbes mag, she is the richest woman in Germany and 54th richest in the world. As of 2016, Klatten’s net worth is estimated at $19B, much of which was inherited from her father. She has 50.1% stake in the pharmaceutical manufacturer ALTANA and 12.5% in BMW.
Number 7 finds YANG HUIYAN. As her name suggests she is Chinese and the main shareholder of Country Garden Shareholdings. She inherited $16.2B from her father. Yang is the YOUNGEST female billionaire in Asia, the 24th richest person in China. After the financial crisis in the country, her net worth fell to $5.1B.
LILLIAN BETTENCOURT ranks number 6. Her father founded L’OREAL in 1907 which later on rose to become the largest cosmetics company in the world. One of the company’s shareholders, Lillian is worth $36.6B and is currently the richest woman in the world and 10th richest person in the world.
At number 5 is QUEEN ISABELLA I of Castile. With husband Ferdinand of Aragon, they ordered the infamous Spanish Inquisition – the forced exile and conversion of Spain’s Jews and Muslims. Isabella financed the Christopher Columbus expedition to the New World. The Spanish Inquisition was an extreme tactic but placed Spain as the first global power in Europe. Isabella had an arsenal worth 1.45M in gold coins.
Everybody, historically speaking, is familiar with Cleopatra, ruler of the Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt. Remember the love story of Julius Ceasar and Cleopatra we read in history books? Through inheritance and pure savvy, she was able to amass great wealth estimated by historians to be around $95.8B that placed her as the number 4 richest woman of all time.
At number 3 is CATHERINE THE GREAT who reigned longest as the Czarina of Russia from 1762 to 1796, a period of 34 years, right? Under her reule, Russia rose to great power in Europe. Her riches is estimated to be at $1.5 Trillion. Wow! Even if we live ten or twenty lifetimes, we may not be able to spend all this fortune.
Number 2 spot goes to HATSHEPSUT, one of Egypt’s most successful pharaohs. She is considered the richest female ruler in Egypt’s history and the 5th pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. She also established trade routes that brought her dynasty great wealth. Her fortune is estimated to be around $2B.
Topping this elite list of the world’s richest women of all-time is EMPRESS WU ZETIAN. A former concubine of the emperor of China, she expanded China’s reach into central Asia. Over 300 million units of currency were produced during the Tang dynasty. Wu was the ONLY female ruler in Chinese history to reign for almost half a century.
There you are. As you have read, you might notice that Filipino billionaires still pale in comparison with the riches amassed by the top ten in this list.
I do not know, however, if there are people in government who are trying to accumulate as much wealth as they can to approximate even a fourth of the riches of these women. Hahahaha. Ooops, sorry did I hurt someone? (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com). God bless the Philippines!