Is there a record somewhere that lists a verifiable lineage of some famous people from history? Who are the modern descendents of Roman emperors, Greek philospophers, etc? Who has the largest group of great-great-great... grandkids in the modern world?
There are two answers to this, in pre-history and in history.
Concerning pre-history Genetics have calculated the most recent common ancestor of ll humans to be an individual living about 5000 years ago.
That does not mean literally Noah and his arc, from the same study is inferred that the general population never dipped below 10000 individuals at any time. This is due to a phenomenon caled ancestor collapse.
Hartwell, Leland (2004). Genetics: From Genes to Genomes (2nd ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. As well as Walsh B (June 2001). "Estimating the time to the most recent common ancestor for the Y chromosome or mitochondrial DNA for a pair of individuals". Genetics 158 (2): 897–912
In History there it has to be Ghenghis Khan or one of his Sons (this is difficult to determine exactly).
Not only had the Khan and his royal descendent an elevated position and many wifes they actively tried to spread their genetics as far as possible.
The Genetic evidence is located in a subsection of the genome called y-haplogroups. The haplogroup most commonly found in central asia is Haplogroup C-M217.
This haplogroup (colloquially known as the star cluster) has a particular quirk to it. A lot of recent mutations occured from a single line and unlike other lineages this means that it expanded through enourmous reproduction from a single individual (or closely related individuals) diagram here
ZERJAL, T. (2003). The Genetic Legacy of the Mongols The American Journal of Human Genetics, 72 (3), 717-721
To quote :"Several scenarios, which are not mutually exclusive, could explain its rapid spread: (1) all populations carrying star-cluster chromosomes could have descended from a common ancestral population in which it was present at high frequency; (2) many or most Mongols at the time of the Mongol empire could have carried these chromosomes; (3) it could have been restricted to Genghis Khan and his close male-line relatives, and this specific lineage could have spread as a result of their activities. Explanation 1 is unlikely because these populations do not share other Y haplotypes, and explanation 2 is difficult to reconcile with the high Y-haplotype diversity of modern Mongolians…The historically documented events accompanying the establishment of the Mongol empire would have contributed directly to the spread of this lineage by Genghis Khan and his relatives, but perhaps as important was the establishment of a long-lasting male dynasty. This scenario shows selection acting on a group of related men; group selection has been much discussed…and is distinguished by the property that the increased fitness of the group is not reducible to the increased fitness of the individuals. It is unclear whether this is the case here. Our findings nevertheless demonstrate a novel form of selection in human populations on the basis of social prestige. A founder effect of this magnitude will have influenced allele frequencies elsewhere in the genome: mitochondrial DNA lineages will not be affected, since males do not transmit their mitochondrial DNA, but, in the simplest models, the founder male will have been the ancestor of each autosomal sequence in 4% of the population and X-chromosomal sequence in 2.7%, with implications for the medical genetics of the region..."
In short a single male individual in the timeframe of Ghenghis Khan´s life or few closely related male specimens spread their line to about 4% of all living human males in the region of eastern europe and asia, both near and far east.
So even if you are (like me) a direct male line descendent of Ghenghis Khan, it´s still nothing to brag about.
I think a tip of the hat to Douglas Adams is in order here.
Your question may or may not violate the "current event" rule (sorry, I'm new here). But, that said, Japan has the longest-running hereditary monarchy in history. It has continued throughout the rules of various Shoguns and even during American occupation after WWII. I am most familiar with post-Tokugawa Japanese history. Perhaps the best general text on the era is McClain's Japan: A Modern History, or Keene's Emperor of Japan for a more comprehensive look at the Meiji ruler, and his predecessors/descendants.
