Before I begin this I know that many people of faith consider the oldest human ever to be Methuselah, who is said to have lived to the age of 969 years old. And then there is Shirali Muslimovc, who is claimed to have lived to the age of 163 years. These claim cannot be proven or disproven. This post is about the oldest known person with verified age by reputable sources.
According to the Guinness World Book of Records the oldest person to ever live was Jeanne Calment. A woman from Arles, France, who entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1988 for being the female to live, and then on October 17, 1995 she became the oldest person to ever live.
Jeanne was born on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997. Total life span equals 122 years and 164 days. Calment was the last documented person to have lived in the 1870s.
Side note: Jeanne Clement smoked cigarettes up until the age of 117, she drank port wine daily, and consumed a kilo of chocolate every week. The second oldest person to ever live also smoked. Something to think about.