The Empire
Throughout history, there have been many great empires that span many continents and oceans. Over time though, The Empire started to become unpopular and eventually disappeared and was replaced by today’s nation-states. But even if they are gone, they shaped history in a way that still affects the world to this day. These are the top 10 largest empires.
10. Xiongnu Empire
The Xiongnu were a more primitive type of empire that consisted of a loosely knit group of tribal nomads who roamed around in an area stretching from modern-day Mongolia to Kazakhstan. At its territorial peak, The empire covered around 9 million sq. km (3.47 million square miles)
9. The Yuan Dynasty
As The Mongol Empire aggressively increased its territory, it started to break up. The Yuan Dynasty was a successor to the Mongol Empire that ruled over China, Mongolia, and The Korean Peninsula. Though the Mongol Empire had broken up, Kublai Khan, the ruler of The Yuan Dynasty, still had some degree of overlordship over the other former parts of The Mongol Empire. Kublai Khan also had the pleasure of meeting the famous European explorer, Marco Polo.
8. Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate was the last major Caliphate that took power after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This caliphate overthrew the Ummayyad Dynasty and controlled land from modern-day Tunisia in North Africa to Uzbekistan in Central Asia. This Caliphate started to fall apart when al-Mamum, ruler of the dynasty, died and his sons fought over the throne in a series of civil wars. This is what marked the decline of The Caliphate as heavy taxation and revolts made it gradually weaker until it was finally invaded by The Mongols and its capital, Baghdad, was sacked.
7. The Ummayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate succeeded The Rashidun Caliphate as the second major caliphate that took power after the death of Muhammad. The Umayyads had much of the same territory as their successors, The Abbasids. In addition to that, they controlled all of North Africa’s Mediterranean coast all the way to The Atlantic Ocean. The Umayyads took great interest in The Mediterranean, as shown by their invasion of The Visigothic Kingdom, which controlled all of The Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, & Andorra). The Umayyads destroyed The Visigothic Kingdom and gained a foothold in Europe. This empire came to an end after an Abbasid rebellion overthrew the dynasty and started The Abbasid Caliphate
6. 2nd French Colonial Empire
The Second French empire was absolutely massive. It controlled vast swaths of land in West Africa, a good portion of Southeast Asia, and modern-day Syria and Lebanon in the Middle East. The empire started in 1830 when the French took Algiers in Algeria and ended in the late 1900s with (mostly) peaceful decolonization. At its peak, it controlled 11.5 sq. km (4.44 sq. miles).
5. Spanish Empire
The empire started when The Kingdom Of Castille and The Kingdom Of Aragon unified. After the discovery of The Americas, Spain immediately sent Conquistadors (Conquerors) to conquer massive swaths of land. The Spanish Empire was responsible for The Fall Of The Aztec in Mexico and The Inca in Peru. England and France began to compete with the empire. The Empire started to decline because skilled people had immigrated from Spain to its colonies in The Americas. Spain had also found massive amounts of silver in its colonies and imported them to the mainland. This might sound great, but this kept Spain developing its own manufactured goods as it relied heavily on raw materials, such as silver, for wealth. The Spanish Empire suffered heavily massive blows when Napoleon invaded Spain and The Spanish were distracted from their colonies as they were too busy fighting France. Spanish colonies took this time to declare independence. The remaining Spanish colonies, such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, & The Philippines, were taken from them by The United States in The Spanish-American War in 1898.
4. Qing Dynasty
The Qing was China’s last imperial dynasty. The Qing rose to power in 1644 when they defeated The Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty ruled all of China and Mongolia and had other bits of land in Russia, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. It also had control of The Korean Peninsula as a tributary state. The Empire started to wither away around the 1900s as bad harvests, rebellions, and wars with countries such as Britain and Japan led to it’s collapse.
3. Russian Empire
The Russian Empire rose to power as neighboring empires such as Sweden, Persia, and The Qing were in decline. Russia saw rapid territorial expansion in Siberia and Central Asia, Even sending out explorations to Alaska and Canada’s west coast. It started to rise to power after The fall of The Swedish Empire and The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Russian Empire was also responsible for the defeat of Napoleon as his failed invasion of Russia was a major turning point in European history. At its peak, The Russian empire spanned all it was from Germany To Japan and deep into Central Asia, bordering Afghanistan. The Russian Empire went through a revolution that ended the Empire and created The Russian Republic. The Russian Republic itself went through a civil war with The Communists and was defeated, thus creating The U.S.S.R.
2. Mongol Empire
Perhaps the most famous one of all, The Mongols created a vast empire stretching all the way from modern Day Poland and Turkey to The Korean Peninsula and China. The Empire was started by Genghis Khan (or Chinggis Khan, as he’s known locally in Mongolia) in the Asian Steppe. Genghis quickly conquered the local tribes and then went on a rampage, conquering most of northern China and Central Asia before his death in 1227. His sons and grandsons went on to conquer The Middle East, Anatolia, Korea, Eastern Europe, and The rest of China.
1. The British Empire
At its peak in 1921, it controlled a quarter of all land in the world and almost a quarter of the world’s population. It controlled land on all the continents in the world except Antarctica. It rose to power in the late 1600s when it established the first colonies in The Caribbean and North America. From there, it used superior military and technological ability to conquer vast swaths of land on every corner of the world. Britain was known as ‘the land where the sun never sets.’ because there would always be one part of the empire on which the sun was shining. The empire started to decline after The First World War, during the Cold War period. This was because both The U.S.A and The U.S.S.R heavily disapproved of imperialism and colonialism. The British empire is widely thought to have come to an end in 1999, when the last major colony, Hong Kong, was handed back to China.
