Excluding
royal dynasties and land-owning
aristocracy, the wealthiest families since the emergence of
banking and early
capitalism in the
Italian Renaissance were: • The
Rothschild family of bankers became the richest family in the mid-19th century. The family's accumulated wealth has been divided among many descendants, only one of which (
Benjamin de Rothschild) was officially recognized as a billionaire. Determining the family's exact wealth has been deemed implausible;
conspiracy theories claiming the family is worth
trillions of dollars have not been proven. • The
Bardi family of
Florence (14th century) • The
Medici family, as owners of the
Medici Bank, the richest family in 15th-century Europe. • The
Gondi family of Florence, financial partners of the Medici family in the 15th century. • The
Fugger family of mercantile bankers and venture capitalists, the richest family in the 16th century. • The
Welser family, alongside the Fugger one of the most important families of merchant bankers in 16th-century Europe. • The
Baring family, owners of an important
merchant bank in
London in the 18th to 19th centuries. • The
Schröder family, a leading
Hanseatic family of
Hamburg in the 18th to 19th centuries. • The
Goldman–Sachs family, owners of the
Goldman Sachs investment bank from 1869 to 1912. • The
Venetian noble houses, notably the
Contarini,
Cornaro,
Dandolo,
Giustinian,
Loredan,
Mocenigo, and
Morosini families, monopolised pre-modern trade while ruling the
Venetian Republic as a mercantile oligarchy. == Notes ==