John Jacob Astor was a German-American businessman, merchant, and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States. He made his fortune primarily in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting opium to China, and through lucrative real estate investments in and around New York City. Born in Walldorf, Germany, he immigrated to the United States after the American Revolutionary War and built a vast business empire that stretched across North America. At the time of his death in 1848, he was the wealthiest person in the country, leaving an estate valued at an estimated $20 million.