Mayer Amschel Rothschild
1744 – 1812 · 68 years · Frankfurt · Europe
Raised in Frankfurt's Jewish ghetto, he dealt in rare coins and became banker to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. He set up his five sons at the head of banks in Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Naples.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 18th century
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe — German poet and thinker, 5 years younger
- Napoleon Bonaparte — Emperor of the French, 25 years younger
- Ludwig van Beethoven — German composer, 26 years younger
- Maximilien Robespierre — Jacobin leader, 14 years younger
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Austrian composer, 12 years younger
- Voltaire — French Enlightenment writer, 50 years older
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Catherine the Great — Empress of Russia, 15 years older
- Mikhail Lomonosov — Russian polymath, 33 years older
- Alexander Pushkin — Russian poet, 55 years younger
- Mikhail Kutuzov — Russian field marshal, 1 year younger
- Alexander Suvorov — Russian generalissimo, 14 years older
- Paul I — emperor who reformed the succession law, killed by conspirators, 10 years younger
Middle East
- Mahmud II — sultan who destroyed the Janissaries, 41 years younger
- Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab — Islamic religious reformer, 41 years older
- Selim III — reforming Ottoman sultan, 17 years younger
- Abdul Hamid I — sultan of the Küçük Kaynarca peace and the loss of Crimea, 19 years older
- Mustafa III — sultan who lost the war to Catherine II, 27 years older
- Mustafa IV — sultan who overthrew the reformer Selim III, 35 years younger
Africa
- Muhammad Ali of Egypt — ruler of Egypt, 25 years younger
- Shaka — King of the Zulu, 43 years younger
- Usman dan Fodio — founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, 10 years younger
- Ranavalona I — Queen of Madagascar, 34 years younger
- Moshoeshoe I — founder of Lesotho, 42 years younger
Asia
- Qianlong Emperor — Qing emperor of China, 33 years older
- Katsushika Hokusai — Japanese artist, 16 years younger
- Tipu Sultan — ruler of Mysore, 7 years younger
- Tokugawa Ienari — longest-serving shogun, for half a century, 29 years younger
- Tokugawa Ieharu — shogun of the Tanuma era and the Tenmei famine, 7 years older
- Cao Xueqin — Chinese novelist, 29 years older
Americas
- George Washington — first President of the United States, 12 years older
- Benjamin Franklin — American scientist and statesman, 38 years older
- Simón Bolívar — liberator of South America, 39 years younger
- Thomas Jefferson — third President of the United States, 1 year older
- Toussaint Louverture — leader of the Haitian Revolution, 1 year older
- Andrew Jackson — 7th US president, the Trail of Tears and the Jacksonian era, 23 years younger
Oceania
- James Cook — British navigator, 16 years older
- Kamehameha I — first King of Hawaii, 14 years younger
- Tupaia — Tahitian navigator and priest, 19 years older
- Arthur Phillip — first Governor of New South Wales, 6 years older
- Bennelong — Aboriginal intermediary, 20 years younger
- Hongi Hika — Ngāpuhi Māori chief, 28 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani founds the Afghan state — aged 3, Middle East
- 1755 Lisbon earthquake — aged 11, Europe
- 1755–1758 The Dzungar genocide — aged 11, Asia
- 1756–1763 Seven Years' War — aged 12, Europe
- 1757 Battle of Plassey — aged 13, Asia
- c. 1760 Start of the Industrial Revolution — aged 16, Europe
- 1761 Third Battle of Panipat — aged 17, Asia
- 1762 Accession of Catherine the Great — aged 18, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1764 Founding of the Hermitage — aged 20, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1768–1771 Cook's first voyage — aged 24, Oceania
- c. 1768 Extinction of Steller's sea cow — aged 24, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1769 Watt's steam engine — aged 25, Europe
- 1772–1795 Partitions of Poland — aged 28, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca — aged 30, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1776 US Declaration of Independence — aged 32, Americas
- 1781 Surrender at Yorktown — aged 37, Americas
- 1783–1784 Laki eruption — aged 39, Europe
- 1783 Russian annexation of Crimea (1783) — aged 39, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1783 First manned balloon flight — aged 39, Europe
- 1787 US Constitution — aged 43, Americas
- 1788 First Fleet arrives in Australia — aged 44, Oceania
- 1789 Storming of the Bastille — aged 45, Europe
- 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen — aged 45, Europe
- 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution — aged 47, Americas
- 1793 Execution of Louis XVI — aged 49, Europe
- 1796 Jenner's first vaccination — aged 52, Europe
- 1798 Battle of the Pyramids — aged 54, Africa
- 1799 Coup of 18 Brumaire — aged 55, Europe
- 1800 Volta's pile, the first battery — aged 56, Europe
- 1801 Russia abolishes the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti — aged 57, Middle East
- 1803 Louisiana Purchase — aged 59, Americas
- 1804 Coronation of Napoleon — aged 60, Europe
- 1804–1813 First Serbian Uprising — aged 60, Europe
- 1804–1903 Usman dan Fodio's jihad and the Sokoto Caliphate — aged 60, Africa
- 1804 Napoleonic Code — aged 60, Europe
- 1805–1848 Muhammad Ali becomes ruler of Egypt — aged 61, Africa
- 1805 Battle of Trafalgar — aged 61, Europe
- 1805 Battle of Austerlitz — aged 61, Europe
- 1806 End of the Holy Roman Empire — aged 62, Europe
- 1812 Napoleon's invasion of Russia — aged 68, Eastern Europe & Russia