The Largest Empires In History

[Tobias]

G'day everyone. I was doing a bit of research on the British Empire, and the book i was using (a little pro-british i admit) boasted of Britain as being the strongest and largest empire in History. I was wondering if some of you people could supply me with a top ten of the largest empires in History, with total area covered at their peaks if at all possible. I had an argument with a person in a different forum about whether the Soviet Union was bigger then the British Empire, so it'd be interesting if i could be proven right or wrong. I just won't tell the chap i was arguing with if i was wrong:)

[Princeps]

This is a picture of the British Empire. I would say it's a similar size to the soviet union.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2...Empire_1897.jpg

 

The Soviet Union was apparently 22,402,200 km

[longbow]

01 The British Empire and Commonwealth

The greatest extent of the British Empire was achieved between 1918 and 1922. The figures exclude the eastern seaboard of the United States, which became independent long before the British colonial expansion of the 19th century. 14,157,000 sq. miles (36,666,630 sq. km.)

02 The Soviet Empire

The Communist states were never entirely under a single ruler - Although Josef Stalin probably came closest 1948-53. The main division was between the Soviet Bloc, led by Russia, and the Eastern Bloc, led by China. The area given for the whole Communist world does not include later, semi-nonaligned states such as Angola, Tanzania, or Laos.

The entire

Communist world 13,800,000 sq. miles (35,742,000 sq. km.)

The Soviet Bloc

(incl. Cuba) 09,883,591 sq. miles (25,598,500 sq. km.)

03 The Mongol Empire

The greatest extent of the Mongol hegemony was reached in

roughly 1238-68. 12,800,000 sq. miles (33,152,000 sq. km.)

04 The Spanish Colonial Empire

At its largest reach, roughly 1740-1790 Spain controlled about half of South America, more than a third of North America, and had significant holdings in the Pacific basin. 07,500,000 sq. miles (19,425,000 sq. km.)

05 The Russian Federation

Russia is, of course, a subunit and the core of the Soviet Empire noted above. Even in its reduced state, it is still by far the largest single state on the planet. 06,592,000 sq. miles (17,073,280 sq. km.)

06 The Fascist Axis

The Axis powers of the World War II era were never under a single ruler, they were a group of three major powers and a handful of minor ones. Some of the lesser states were, in fact, only nominally associated with the Axis, owing to the needs of defence against mutual foes (as in the case of Finland, which I do not include), or outright intimidation, as in the case of Thailand (which I do).

Japanese territory

and conquests 02,864,000 sq. miles (07,417,760 sq. km.)

German territory

and conquests 01,420,000 sq. miles (03,677,800 sq. km.)

Italian territory

and conquests 00840,000 sq. miles (02175600 sq. km.)

Other Axis allies 00249,800 sq. miles (00646982 sq. km.)

total 05,373,800 sq. miles (13,918,142 sq. km.)

07 The Caliphate

The Early Caliphate was a remarkable thing - a vast stretch of territory spanning Spain, North Africa, the Middle East, Iran, and much of Central Asia: all of which absorbed by Arab conquerors in a bit less than 100 years. Too vast to be stable, it began to fragment less than 200 years after. 05,100,000 sq. miles (13,209,000 sq. km.)

08 The French Colonial Empire

The French colonial experience was primarily within Africa, although there were significant territories in Asia and the Americas as well. The figures do not include Quebec or Louisiana, long lost before French colonial expansion in the 19th century. 04,863,000 sq. miles (12,595,170 sq. km.)

09 The Chinese Empire

Modern China is somewhat smaller than the figures show - they indicate the approximate size of the state governed by the Qing Emperors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which included Tibet and Mongolia as dependencies. 04,300,000 sq. miles (11,137,000 sq. km.)

10 The Portuguese Colonial Empire

At it's greatest extent, c. 1815-1820, Portugal controlled major territories in South America and Africa. Like many other colonial powers, Portugal had held a previous empire (centered mostly in Asia) which was lost. 04,000,000 sq. miles (10,360,000 sq. km.)

11 Dominion of Canada

Canada is a subunit of the British Commonwealth and, as an independent state, the second largest on earth at this time. 03,849,000 sq. miles (09,968,910 sq. km.)

12 United States of America

The figures reflect the United States at its greatest territorial influence, circa 1915-1934, when it controlled not only the Philippines, but also had occupied Haiti. 03,746,087 sq. miles (09,702,365 sq. km.)

13 Federative Republic of Brazil

Brazil is the major subunit of the Portuguese colonial empire, and remains today the fifth largest state in the world in terms of territory. 03,300,000 sq. miles (08,547,000 sq. km.)

14 Commonwealth of Australia

This continent-sized land mass hosts but a single state, one which is significantly larger than all the great empires of classical times. The figures are for the period 1918-1975, when Australia administered Papua and New Guinea. 03,147,700 sq. miles (08,152,550 sq. km.)

15 The Persian Empire

This is the oldest of the super-states listed herein - it is the vast empire successfully held off by the Greek city-states in the 5th century BCE. 02,382,000 sq. miles (06,169,380 sq. km.)

16 The Seljuq Empire

The Seljuqs were a Turkish people who established a Middle Eastern Empire in the late 11th century CE. It swiftly fragmented into more localized spheres of influence, notably in Iran, Anatolia, and the Fertile Crescent region. 02,300,000 sq. miles (05,957,000 sq. km.)

17 The Roman Empire

The Romans were at their greatest extent in the early 2nd century of the Common Era, when Trajan briefly annexed Mesopotamia. 02,200,000 sq. miles (05,698,000 sq. km.)

18 The Ottoman Empire

The Osmanli Turks established a state in Bithynia which eventually grew to encompass Anatolia, the Levant, the Balkans, North Africa, Crimea, the Caucasus, and western Arabia as far south as Yemen. 02,160,000 sq. miles (05,594,400 sq. km.)

19 The Macedonian Empire

Alexander the Great briefly established a vast empire on the carcase of the Persian super-state (#15); but it fragmented almost immediately after his death. 02,100,000 sq. miles (05,439,000 sq. km.)

20 Mexico

When Mexico became independent (first as an Empire and shortly thereafter a republic) in 1821, it inherited a vast stretch of former Spanish claims reaching from Nevada to Costa Rica. The figures are for the period 1821-23, after which Central America broke away. 01,890,983 sq. miles (04,871,733 sq. km.)

21 Almoravid Empire

The Almoravids were a western Berber folk who boiled out of Mauretania in the 11th century, to rapidly encompass all of northwestern Africa and about half of Spain-Portugal for a brief time. Establishing a radically puritanical sect of Islam, and founding the city of Marrakesh in 1065, they were at the height of their influence c. 1105-1145. 1,500,000 sq. miles (03,885,000 sq. km.)

22 Timur's Empire

Timur the Lame was a tribal leader of Mongol extraction who set up a Middle Eastern empire centered around Iran in the period between 1380 and 1405. 1,445,000 sq. miles (03,742,550 sq. km.)

23 The Mughal Empire

There have been large, centralized states on the Indian

subcontinent for a very long while - the Mughal empire in the latter half of the 17th century probably achieved the greatest size, although the current republic isn't much smaller. 01,425,000 sq. miles ( 2,294,250 sq. km.)

24 The Seleucid Empire

The Seleucid state was a successor empire to Alexander's

Macedonian Empire (#19). At it's greatest extent, it reached from western Anatolia to Afghanistan. 01,325,000 sq. miles (03,431,750 sq. km.)

25 Argentine Republic

Aside from the Andean highlands, Argentina encompasses all the southernmost reach of South America. 01,073,400 sq. miles (02,780,106 sq. km.)

26 Republic of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is a vast semi-arid region of central Asia, and a subunit within the Soviet Empire up until its independence in 1991. 01,052,090 sq. miles (02,724,913 sq. km.)

27 The Ghaznavid Empire

A Mediaeval state within what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, portions of central Asia, and eastern Iran. It's greatest extent was in the early 11th century.1,000,000sq.miles(2,590,000sq.km)

 

 

Longbow

[Tobias]

Thank you very much longbow, that went far beyond my expectations

[Lacertus]

Thats great, Longbow!

I thing you have do nothing against it if I'll copy this text for my write work...

 

TIA

[Viggen]

can someone define empire?

 

i found those three defenitions at Princeton.edu

 

---(the domain ruled by an emperor or empress; the region over which imperial dominion is exercised)

---(a group of countries under a single authority)

---(a monarchy with an emperor as head of state)

 

so maybe it would be easier to compare if we know what we are talking about...

 

cheers

viggen

[Tobias]

I believe i meant to change the subject to mean largest nations in history, i just never got around to it lol

[Princeps]

can someone define empire?

 

i found those three defenitions at Princeton.edu

 

---(the domain ruled by an emperor or empress; the region over which imperial dominion is exercised)

---(a group of countries under a single authority)

---(a monarchy with an emperor as head of state)

 

so maybe it would be easier to compare if we know what we are talking about...

 

cheers

viggen

 

 

 

---(a group of countries under a single authority)

An accurate definition for both the British Empire and the USSR.

[Vespasion]

Fantastic list! But just to expand on the British Empire it covered a quarter of the globe and had a huge population loyal to Britain.

It

[longbow]

I woudnt say its dissapointing that the British Army's only got 100,000 soldiers,how many do we actually need these days?theres only 100,000 of them but there highly trained,i dont think the Army needs to be any bigger than that.

[Tobias]

A thought that reached me the other day that may be slightly irrelevant to the topic, but relevant to Britain's ability to defend itself in past days is the current size of her navy; how big is it now? From what research i've done, nowhere near the size of the glory days, but then larger then average for a nation of it's size.

[Vespasion]

I beleive there are 35,000 soldiers in the army

30,000 in the RAF

and 35,000 soldiers in the navy

Edited November 18, 2005 by Vespasion

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Uh, only 35,000 soldiers in the Navy right? Is that number actually the number of sailors in the British Navy?

If not, anyone Brit. want to tell me how big the British Fleet is nowday in comparision to the US fleet.

[Tobias]

I looked up an answer myself

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/2204.html

That shows the ships at Britain's Command.

I daresay the American Government has it's own website for it's Navy as well

Edited November 19, 2005 by Tobias

[Princeps]

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/static/pages/3499.html

 

Glad to see the Enterprise has made it's return