In 1531, Francisco Pizarro led 168 Spanish soldiers and two dozen horses inside the city of Cajamarca, then the capital of the Inca Empire, in what is now Peru. The Inca, with a huge army, did not see them as much of a threat, but they didn't know the deadly superiority of steel swords. The monarch of the empire, Atahualpa, was captured and confined to a room in his royal complex. With no way out and his empire at stake, Atahualpa began to offer treasure for his release.
Once he realized what the Spanish were really after, Atahualpa said he would give them enough gold to fill the room he was in up to the point he could reach (which was designated as a red line on the wall), plus enough silver to fill the room twice. The Spanish were very open to the idea, but made sure the gold and silver artworks were crushed and even melted down to maximize the take. The "ransom room" was 22 feet long and 17 feet wide, and the red line was more than eight feet up. It took two months to bring that much gold and silver to the room. The ransom ended up being 6,000 kilograms (13,227 pounds) of gold and twice as much silver, which would be worth almost half a billion dollars today.
How did that turn out for Atahualpa? You can imagine, but it would be better to read the story at Amusing Planet. The Inca Empire is gone, but the ransom room is still there, preserved for posterity.