I would like a list of at least 10 benovelent but successful rulers of
people through history. I am trying to prove that benovelent rulers
though rare, have existed. My friends claim Lee Kuan Yew (PM of
Singapore 1959-1990) is the only benevolent ruler they can recall. I
have a hard time believing the claim, given a good 6 thousand years of
recorded history. I need solid links to rulers of "almost"
undisputable benovelence.

Hi Kongulu~

I have shortened the list to rulers who are undoubtedly benevolent
dictators or enlightened despots. ("Undoubtedly" means that it would
be very difficult to argue that they shouldn't be on this list.) I
will let you decide which Answer to keep and which Answer to throw
away :)

1. Frederick the Great ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/x/x-f1redg1r.asp )
2. Catherine the Great (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/x/x-c1athring1rt.asp )
3. Maria Theresa ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/m/mariat1he.asp )
4. Joseph II ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/F/FrancisJ1.asp )
5. Louis XV (http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/louis15fr_earlyreign.asp )
6. Louis XVI ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/l/louis16f1r.asp )
7. Charles III ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/c/charles3s1p.asp )
8. Gustav II ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/G/Gustavus2.asp )
9. Leopold II ( http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/l/leopo2h1r1e1.asp )
10. Anwar Sadat (Wikipedia link on Sadat:
http://haiti.asinah.net/en/wikipedia/a/an/anwar_sadat.html )
11+. King David, King Joash, King Amaziah, King Azariah, King Jotham,
King Hezekiah, and Deborah, and Moses of the Bible


Regards,
Kriswrite


KEYWORDS USED:
"benevolent dictators" history
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22benevolent+dictators%22+history&btnG=Google+Search

"enlightened despots"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22enlightened+despots%22

Thank you. I have used your research as a rebuttal. Now I will see what comes back.

I think that it's going to be very difficult to improve on kriswrite's
list in answer to your earlier question.

Did you take into account one of the first if not the first ruler in
history, a Greek or Macedonian,who 2000 years ahead of his time saw
the great injustice of allowing a concentration of welath and property
with the nobles and elite and enacted laws to force same to hand over
all lands which he then redistributed to the peasantry. Unheard of
then or in next millenium as I recall and of course lasted only 50
years or so before next rulers took back land of peasnats and gave it
to its "rightful" owners, the nobles.

 Then of course there ws the indian warrior-king who invaded another
part of India  devastating the countryside and its people. When he
finally saw what his conquest had done he spent the next big part of
his life trying to repair what he had done and basically apoligising
to the conqured for the rest of his life.

 There was that near 100 year old king of Mali, Niger or one of those
north African countries who in recent times going back only 10 or
twenty years was considered truly benevolent.

 There was also some very benevolent island rulers of either Hawaii or
Tahiti or close by.

Hiero II of Syracuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiero_II_of_Syracuse

Antoninus Pius
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01586a.htm

Marcus Aurelius
http://www.roman-empire.net/highpoint/marcaurelius.html

Haroun al-Raschid
http://www.encyclopedia4u.com/h/haroun-al-raschid.html

Saladin
http://www.bartleby.com/65/sa/Saladin.html

hlabadie-ga

Federico da Montefeltro/Guidabaldo Montefeltro
http://www.fact-index.com/f/fe/federico_ii_da_montefeltro.html


Tupac Inca Yupanqui/Huayna Capac
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/southamerican/HistoryoftheConquestofPeru/chap14.html

"In the latter part of the fifteenth century died Tupac Inca Yupanqui,
one of the most renowned of the "Children of the Sun," who, carrying
the Peruvian arms across the burning sands of Atacama, penetrated to
the remote borders of Chili, while in the opposite direction he
enlarged the limits of the empire by the acquisition of the southern
provinces of Quito. The war in this quarter was conducted by his son
Huayna Capac, who succeeded his father on the throne, and fully
equalled him in military daring and in capacity for government.

Under this prince, the whole of the powerful state of Quito, which
rivalled that of Peru itself in wealth and refinement, was brought
under the sceptre of the Incas; whose empire received, by this
conquest, the most important accession yet made to it since the
foundation of the dynasty of Manco Capac. The remaining days of the
victorious monarch were passed in reducing the independent tribes on
the remote limits of his territory, and, still more, in cementing his
conquests by the introduction of the Peruvian polity. He was actively
engaged in completing the great works of his father, especially the
high-roads which led from Quito to the capital. He perfected the
establishment of posts, took great pains to introduce the Quichua
dialect throughout the empire, promoted a better system of
agriculture, and, in fine, encouraged the different branches of
domestic industry and the various enlightened plans of his
predecessors for the improvement of his people. Under his sway, the
Peruvian monarchy reached its most palmy state; and under both him and
his illustrious father it was advancing with such rapid strides in the
march of civilization as would soon have carried it to a level with
the more refined despotisms of Asia, furnishing the world, perhaps,
with higher evidence of the capabilities of the American Indian than
is elsewhere to be found on the great western continent."

hlabadie-ga