The largest empires in history
The top 3 according to 1,687 votes from people: British Empire · Mongol Empire · Russian Empire. (Updated Aug 19, 2022.)
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.
Top 20
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1
British Empire
About 35.5 million km² in 1920, roughly a quarter of the world's land: 'the empire on which the sun never sets'.
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2
Mongol Empire
About 24 million km² around 1270-1309; the largest contiguous land empire ever, founded by Genghis Khan in 1206.
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3
Russian Empire
About 22.8 million km² in 1895, stretching from Poland to Alaska (sold in 1867) and the Pacific.
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4
Qing dynasty
About 14.7 million km² around 1790; China's last imperial dynasty, which ended in 1912.
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5
Spanish Empire
About 13.7 million km² around 1810, from the Americas to the Philippines.
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6
Abbasid Caliphate
About 11.1 million km² at its peak, ruled from Baghdad from 762.
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7
Umayyad Caliphate
About 11 million km² around 720, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Indus.
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8
Yuan dynasty
About 11 million km² around 1310; the Mongol dynasty founded in China by Kublai Khan.
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9
Ottoman Empire
At its height in 1683, at the second siege of Vienna, it ruled south-east Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
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10
French colonial empire
About 11.5 million km² around 1920, with most of its territory in Africa.
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11
Portuguese Empire
About 10.4 million km² around 1820, with Brazil as its largest territory; the first global empire.
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12
Macedonian Empire
Alexander the Great's conquests, from Greece to India, in just over a decade until 323 BC.
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13
Roman Empire
At its peak under Trajan in AD 117, it surrounded the whole Mediterranean.
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14
Achaemenid Empire
The Persian empire of Cyrus and Darius I, around 500 BC the largest the world had yet seen.
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15
Tang dynasty
China's Tang dynasty (618-907), which reached deep into Central Asia.
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16
Han dynasty
China's Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), contemporary and rival in size to Rome.
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17
Mughal Empire
The empire of the Indian subcontinent, at its largest under Aurangzeb around 1700.
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18
Empire of Japan
At its largest in 1942, during World War II, across East and South-East Asia and the Pacific.
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19
Golden Horde
The Mongol khanate of the western steppes that ruled over the Russian principalities.
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20
Inca Empire
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.
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Comments (5)
Would love to see a version by population share instead of land area.
The Abbasid and Umayyad caliphates, amazing to see them here.
The Qing at #4 surprises a lot of people, but the territory was huge.
The Spanish Empire, the one where the sun never set, before the British used the phrase.
The Mongols conquered the largest contiguous empire, the British were spread around the globe.