# The largest empires in history

Empires ranked by the most land they ever ruled, using the peak-area figures compiled by historians (mainly Rein Taagepera) in Wikipedia's list of largest empires and WorldAtlas. Areas are approximate.

- 1687 votes · 20 items
- Aug 19, 2022 · retrogamer.lost
- https://even.best/en/l/184/the-largest-empires-in-history

## Top 20

1. **British Empire** (133 · ▲148 ▼15) — About 35.5 million km² in 1920, roughly a quarter of the world's land: 'the empire on which the sun never sets'.
2. **Mongol Empire** (103 · ▲115 ▼12) — About 24 million km² around 1270-1309; the largest contiguous land empire ever, founded by Genghis Khan in 1206.
3. **Russian Empire** (102 · ▲111 ▼9) — About 22.8 million km² in 1895, stretching from Poland to Alaska (sold in 1867) and the Pacific.
4. **Qing dynasty** (82 · ▲97 ▼15) — About 14.7 million km² around 1790; China's last imperial dynasty, which ended in 1912.
5. **Spanish Empire** (77 · ▲90 ▼13) — About 13.7 million km² around 1810, from the Americas to the Philippines.
6. **Abbasid Caliphate** (72 · ▲81 ▼9) — About 11.1 million km² at its peak, ruled from Baghdad from 762.
7. **Umayyad Caliphate** (70 · ▲80 ▼10) — About 11 million km² around 720, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Indus.
8. **Yuan dynasty** (59 · ▲72 ▼13) — About 11 million km² around 1310; the Mongol dynasty founded in China by Kublai Khan.
9. **Ottoman Empire** (58 · ▲67 ▼9) — At its height in 1683, at the second siege of Vienna, it ruled south-east Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
10. **French colonial empire** (57 · ▲71 ▼14) — About 11.5 million km² around 1920, with most of its territory in Africa.
11. **Portuguese Empire** (52 · ▲63 ▼11) — About 10.4 million km² around 1820, with Brazil as its largest territory; the first global empire.
12. **Macedonian Empire** (48 · ▲61 ▼13) — Alexander the Great's conquests, from Greece to India, in just over a decade until 323 BC.
13. **Roman Empire** (48 · ▲59 ▼11) — At its peak under Trajan in AD 117, it surrounded the whole Mediterranean.
14. **Achaemenid Empire** (44 · ▲57 ▼13) — The Persian empire of Cyrus and Darius I, around 500 BC the largest the world had yet seen.
15. **Tang dynasty** (42 · ▲55 ▼13) — China's Tang dynasty (618-907), which reached deep into Central Asia.
16. **Han dynasty** (41 · ▲52 ▼11) — China's Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), contemporary and rival in size to Rome.
17. **Mughal Empire** (36 · ▲47 ▼11) — The empire of the Indian subcontinent, at its largest under Aurangzeb around 1700.
18. **Empire of Japan** (29 · ▲43 ▼14) — At its largest in 1942, during World War II, across East and South-East Asia and the Pacific.
19. **Golden Horde** (21 · ▲36 ▼15) — The Mongol khanate of the western steppes that ruled over the Russian principalities.
20. **Inca Empire** (19 · ▲35 ▼16) — Tawantinsuyu, the largest empire of the pre-Columbian Americas, along the Andes until 1533.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.