Greatest Empires in the History
Several Greatest Empires in history for the largest, depending on the definition and mode of measurement of all time. Possible ways of measuring size have area, population, economy, and power. Of these, the area is the most commonly used because it has a precise definition and can measure with some degree of accuracy. The list is not thorough owing to a shortage of available data for several empires.
Greatest Empires at Their Greatest Extent
- The British Empire
- The Mongol Empire
- The Russian Empire
- The Qing Dynasty
- The Spanish Empire
- Second French Colonial Empire
- The Abbasid Empire
- Umayyad Caliphate
- Yuan Dynasty
- Xiongnu Empire
The British Empire #1 Greatest Empire in The History
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories administered by the United Kingdom and its ancestor states. It began with the overseas controls and trading posts founded by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was one of the Greatest Empires in History and, for over a century, was the foremost global power in history.
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- The British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23 percent of the world population at the time by 1913
- It covered 35.5 million km2 by 1920,
- 24 percent of the total land area of the earth, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. It was described as the empire of the British on which the sun never sets, as the Sun was always shining on one of its regions.
- • During the 15th and 16th centuries (the Age of Discovery), Portugal and Spain pioneered European investigation on the earth and established large overseas empires. The great wealth these empires generated.
- • England, France, and the Netherlands started to find colonies and trade networks in the Americas and Asia. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left England (Britain, the 1707 Act of Union with Scotland) the dominant colonial power in North America. And Britain became the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent.
- • In the American War of Independence, Britain lost its oldest and most populated colonies in North America by 1783. British alert then shifted toward Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. After the beating of France in the Napoleonic Wars in 1803–1815, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power and extended its imperial holdings of the 19th century.
The Mongol Empire #2 Greatest Empire in The History
The Mongol Empire was the Greatest in History spread in the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world.
Origination of Mongolia is in East Asia in present-day. The Mongol Empire’s height extended from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, expanding northward into regions of the Arctic eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent. Attempted attacks on Southeast Asia and defeated the Iranian Plateau, and westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.
- The Mongol empire extended throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. It grew from a collection of nomadic tribes in central Asia.
- At its height, it extends from Central Asia to Central Europe and the Sea of Japan. The most prominent leader of the empire, Genghis Khan, founded it in 1206 CE.
- The Mongol Empire surrounded 9.15 million square miles of land – more than 16% of the landmass. The empire kept 110 million people in 1270 and more than 25% of the world’s population in 1309.
- In history the largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire occurred from the unification of Mongol and Turkish tribes beneath Genghis Khan. The Mongols achieved advancements in varied technologies and ideologies.
- The Black Death started its rampage in Mongolia and brought the Empire into its extension in 1331, in 1783 slowly reduces that culminated with its annexation by Russia.
- The empire started to break due to wars over succession, as the grandchildren of Genghis Khan argued whether the royal line should follow from his son and initial heir Ögedei or one of his other sons, such as Tolui, Chagatai, or Jochi.
- Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China’s area controlled by the Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty established by the Jurchens conquered the Liao dynasty and tried to achieve control over former Liao territory in Mongolia.
- The Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully opposed the Khamag Mongol confederation in the 1130s, ruled at the time by Kabul Khan, great-grandfather of Genghis Khan.
- The Mongolian plateau was settled by five powerful tribal confederations (khan lig): Keralites, Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Merged, and Tatar.
- The Jin emperors follow the guideline of divide and rule, and motivated disputes among the tribes, especially between the Tatars and the Mongols, to control the nomadic tribes diverted by their battles and thereby away from Jin.
- Kabul’s successor was Ambaghai Khan, betrayed by the Tatars, conveyed to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols were punished by raiding the frontier which result in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143.
- In 1147, Jin switched their policy, signing a peace accord with the Mongols. The Mongols then continued attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, extending a long period of active hostilities. Jin and Tatar’s armies conquered the Mongols in 1161.
The Russian Empire #3
From 1721 to 1917, the Russian Empire, the country’s final era of monarchy, ruled over a sizable portion of Eurasia.
- After the Treaty of Nystad, which was the Great Northern War, it succeeded the Tsardom of Russia.
- The Swedish Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China all trained fall at around the same time as the Russian Empire was developing. Between 1799 and 1867, it had colonies in North America as well.
- It is still the third-largest empire in history, after the British Empire and the Mongol Empire, and it ruled over 125.6 million people according to the 1897 Russian census, which was the only one conducted throughout the entire imperial period.
- This empire covered an area of roughly 22,800,000 square kilometers (8,800,000 sq mi). It had significant racial, linguistic, religious, and economic variety during its height due to its geographic size, which at the time spanned three continents.
- Ivan III (1462-1505) tripled the land, laying the foundation for the creation of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III (1462–1505): tripled the territory of the Russian state, and also ending the dominance of the Golden Horde.
- From 1721 to 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov, and its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762 to 1917.
- The territory of the Russian Empire expanded from the Arctic Ocean in the 19th century.
- By the end of the 19th century, it had expanded over most of Central Asia and some parts of Northeast Asia. In 1891–92 the Russian Empire had been through famine, the advancement of Communism, especially Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, and suffering defeat from two wars.
The Qing Dynasty #4
The Qing dynasty Greatest Empire in History often known as the Great Qing was the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history and was ruled by the Manchus. The Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaking ethnic group that brought together other Jurchen tribes to forge a new “Manchu” ethnic identity, were responsible for the establishment of the Later Jin dynasty.
- The dynasty was formed in Manchuria in 1636. (modern-day Northeast China and Outer Manchuria).
- It came into power in Beijing in 1644. Later, it expanded its hegemony to encompass all of Inner Asia, Taiwan, and mainland China.
- The dynasty survived until it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution of 1912, though.
- According to conventional Chinese historiography, the Republic of China came after the Ming dynasty and preceded the Qing dynasty.
- The nearly three-century-long, multiethnic Qing dynasty established the geographical foundation for contemporary China.
The Spanish Empire #5
One of the biggest and Greatest Empires in History the Spanish Empire—also known as the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy—became one of the first worldwide empires in recorded history.
- Spain fast overtook other countries as the largest empire after the Reconquista. It encouraged European exploration of the New World and the establishment of sizable Viceroyalties there at the time. The earliest transoceanic commercial routes were established by Spain as well.
- Between Spain and its viceroyalties in the Americas, the Spanish conducted trade across the Atlantic Ocean. Through the Spanish treasure fleet and the Manila galleons, they also conducted trade across the Pacific Ocean between the Asian-Pacific region and Mexico.
- The Aztec, Inca, and Maya Empires were conquered by Spanish conquistadors with the help of other native Americans.
- In North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, they seized sizable areas. Until the 19th century, Spain turned these lands into viceroyalties.
The Abbasid Caliphate #6
In 750 CE, the Abbasids, a different line of Meccan descent, overthrew the Umayyad monarchy. The Abbasids set themselves apart from the Umayyads by criticizing their morals and government. They targeted non-Arab Muslims, or mawali, in particular.
- By transferring the capital to Baghdad in 762 CE, the Abbasids defeated the Umayyad dynasty in 750 CE and supported the mawali, or non-Arab Muslims.
- As the Abbasids established the new roles of vizier and emir to transmit their central authority, the Persian bureaucracy gradually displaced the previous Arab aristocracy.
- For three centuries, the Abbasids kept an uninterrupted line of caliphs, solidifying Islamic management and encouraging significant philosophical and cultural advancements in the Middle East throughout the Golden Age of Islam.
- From 909 until 1171 CE, the Fatimid dynasty, which had split from the Abbasids, had its line of caliphs in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Palestine.
- As Abbasid rule gradually crumbled, the boundaries of the empire proclaimed local autonomy.
Second French Colonial Empire #7
The Second French and Greatest Empire in History sometimes known as the Second Empire or simply the French Empire, was Napoleon III’s 18-year Imperial Bonapartist rule between the Second and Third Republics of France, lasting from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870.
- In the 1930s and 1940s, historians frequently criticized the Second Empire as a precursor to fascism.
- By the late 20th century, they were using that interpretation—which is no longer commonly accepted—as an illustration of a modernizing government.
- • The Empire has typically received harsh assessments from historians for its foreign policy and slightly more positive assessments for its domestic policies, particularly when Napoleon III liberalized his power after 1858. He supported French trade and industry.
- The most significant accomplishment was a vast railway network that enabled trade and connected the nation with Paris as its hub. It encouraged economic growth and got prosperity to most areas of the country.
The Umayyad Caliphate #8
The second of the four main caliphates to be created after the death of Muhammad was the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE). The Umayyad dynasty controlled the caliphate.
The third Rashidun caliph, Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644-656), belonged to the clan.
The third Rashidun caliph, Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644-656), belonged to the clan.
- After the First Fitna ended in 661, Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, a longtime administrator of Greater Syria, became the sixth caliph, and the dynasty established dynastic, hereditary power.
- Conflicts over who would succeed Mu’awiyah led to the Second Fitna after his death in 680, and Marwan I from a different branch of the tribe eventually took control.
The Yuan Dynasty #9
The Yuan dynasty, officially known as the Great Yuan, or the “Great Yuan State,” was an imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Mongols after the division of the Mongol Empire.
- From 1271 to 1368, it was ruled over by Kublai, the fifth khagan emperor of the Mongol Empire and a member of the Borjigin tribe.
- The Yuan dynasty came before the Ming dynasty and came after the Song According to traditional Chinese historiography.
- Even though Genghis Khan had been crowned Emperor in the Han style in 1206.
- The Mongol Empire had controlled regions like modern-day northern China for decades, the dynasty was not formally established in the traditional Han style until Kublai Khan did it in 1271, when the Southern Song dynasty was defeated at the Battle of Yamen in 1279, bringing the conquest to an end. He now ruled over most of modern-day China and its surroundings, including modern-day Mongolia, and was separated from the other Mongol-led khanates.
Xiongnu Empire #10
According to ancient Chinese sources, the Xiongnu were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who lived on the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the third century BC to the end of the first century AD.
- The Xiongnu Empire was started by Modu Chanyu, the emir after 209 BC.
- The Xiongnu emerged as the dominant force on the East Asian steppes, based on the Mongolian Plateau, after their former adversaries, the Yuezhi, moved west into Central Asia during the second century BC.
- Additionally, the Xiongnu were present in Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Xinjiang. They experienced a difficult relationship with the neighboring Chinese dynasties to the southeast, rotating between various eras of peace, conflict, and enslavement.
- Ultimately, the Xiongnu were conquered by the Han dynasty, guided to the confederation splitting in two, and the forcible resettlement of enormous numbers of Xiongnu within Han borders.
