# The largest empires and states in history by area at their peak

From the British and Mongol empires to the Ottoman and Roman: the 28 largest states in world history by maximum area, as listed by Russian Wikipedia (estimates by Taagepera, the Great Soviet Encyclopedia and other historians). Disputed cases show the range of estimates.

- 30 votes · 28 items
- Jun 16, 2026 · archivist_happy
- https://even.best/en/l/5298/the-largest-empires-and-states-in-history-by-area-at-their-peak

## Top 28

1. **Soviet Union** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 22.3–22.4 million km² (1945–1991). Capital: Moscow.
2. **Abbasid Caliphate** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Area at its peak: 11.1 million km² (750). Capital: Baghdad.
3. **Spanish Empire** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 13.7–20 million km² (1790). Capital: Madrid.
4. **Qing Empire** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 14.7 million km² (1790). Capital: Beijing.
5. **Turkic Khaganate** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 6.0 million km² (557). Capital: Suyab.
6. **British Empire** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Area at its peak: 31.9–36.6 million km² (1919–1922). Capital: London.
7. **Mongol Empire** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 24–33 million km² (1224–1279). Capital: Karakorum, later Khanbaliq.
8. **Tsardom of Russia** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 14.0 million km² (1689). Capital: Moscow.
9. **Second French colonial empire** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 13 million km² (1938). Capital: Paris.
10. **Xiongnu** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 9.0 million km² (176 BC). Capital: Chigu.
11. **Han dynasty** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 6.5 million km² (AD 100). Capital: Chang'an, Luoyang.
12. **Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 6.0 million km² (840–848). Capital: Ordu-Baliq.
13. **Macedonian Empire** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 5.2 million km² (323 BC). Capital: Pella.
14. **Rashidun Caliphate** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Area at its peak: 6.7 million km² (661). Capital: Medina, later Kufa.
15. **Yuan Empire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 14.0 million km² (1310). Capital: Khanbaliq.
16. **Umayyad Caliphate** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 11.1 million km² (720–750). Capital: Damascus.
17. **Portuguese colonial empire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 10.4 million km² (1815). Capital: Lisbon.
18. **American colonial empire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 9.8 million km² (1899). Capital: Washington.
19. **Empire of Brazil** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 8.3 million km² (1880). Capital: Rio de Janeiro.
20. **Empire of Japan** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 7.4 million km² (1942). Capital: Tokyo.
21. **Golden Horde** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 6.0 million km² (1310). Capital: Sarai Batu, Sarai Berke.
22. **Achaemenid Empire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 5.5 million km² (480 BC). Capital: Persepolis, Pasargadae, Susa, Babylon.
23. **Tang dynasty** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 5.4 million km² (715). Capital: Chang'an.
24. **Ottoman Empire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 5.2 million km² (1683). Capital: Istanbul.
25. **Fatimid Caliphate** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 5.1 million km² (969). Capital: Mahdia, later Cairo.
26. **Roman Empire** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Area at its peak: 5.0 million km² (AD 117). Capital: Rome.
27. **Ming dynasty** (-1 · ▲1 ▼2) — Area at its peak: 6.5 million km² (1450). Capital: Nanjing, later Beijing.
28. **Russian Empire** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Area at its peak: 22.8 million km² (1895–1905). Capital: Saint Petersburg.

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.