So which empire throughout history was the largest? My web searchings have been for naught, as I’ve seen claims that the Soviet Union, Victorian England, the Mongol Empire, the Ottoman Empire–hell, even the Roman Empire were the largest. I seem to recall Charles V’s Spanish Empire, controlling most of Europe and the Americas, as pretty big, too. I know this isn’t going to be a clear cut answer (while we might draw the Mongols controlling all of Siberia on a map, how much did they really control? Who was out there to control? etc.)… I was just hoping to get some more scholarly thoughts than my own.
I’ve heard time and time again that the Mongols had the biggest empire, at least as far as area is concerned. As for how much of it they actually controlled… well, that’s another matter.
As far as population goes, however, i don’t think any historical empire could beat modern China (the People’s Republic, that is).
I did do a search before I posted, I swear, but I searched for “largest empire,” not “greatest empire.” Thanks again, and apologies for the unoriginal and unnecessary thread. I still reserve the right to post back to this thread if I read over that old thread and have any questions
Looking strictly at real estate, the British Empire seems to have been tops, at about one-quarter of the world’s land surface. (And more than one-quarter of its total population, but population would be a whole other post.) Actual numbers for the land area of the British Empire at its height seem to run from 11.4 to 12 million square miles; this seems rather lower than one-quarter of the world’s land area, and in fact different sources describe the Empire as “20% of the world’s land area”, which seems more accurate, or even “one-sixth”, although that last seems low.
Apart from this rather, ah, eccentric site it’s hard to find quantitative numbers on the extent of the Mongol domains. (This author, who seems rather partisan, claims the Mongols are the champs; he gives a rather high number for the British–almost 12.8 million square miles–but outdoes that by awarding the Mongols 13.7 million. [The author’s even higher figure of 14.5 million square miles can be safely ignored, since he’s including “potential territories” which the mighty Mongols could have conquered if they’d really wanted to. Hey, and the British could have whipped Belgium’s butt and taken over the whole Belgian Congo-Zaire-Congo (Kinshasa). Or maybe not. Who knows? It didn’t happen.] However, his derivation of even the lower number is suspect, since he includes the entire area of the former Soviet Union in the Mongol Empire, and every historical map I’ve ever seen shows large areas of Siberia and northern European Russia outside of the Mongol dominions. He also seems to have thrown in a bunch of stuff about Prohibition and the war on drugs in there, which I didn’t really follow.) Some real quick back-of-the-envelope calculations of my own with a National Geographic historical map showing both the boundaries of the Mongol Empire at its territorial height and modern national boundaries, together with the land area statistics from the World Almanac, seem to give the Mongols something under 11 million square miles. Most sources tend to agree that the Mongol Empire was “the largest empire until the British Empire in the 19th Century” or was “the largest land empire” (i.e., the largest contiguous block of territory).
One could also add that the British were capable of exerting significant economic and diplomatic influence even in areas where they had comparatively small formal holdings, like South America, whereas there were whole continents where no one had ever heard of Genghis or Kublai Khan. A sea-based empire is arguably more powerful in that respect than a land empire. It’s also worth noting that neither the British Empire nor the Mongol Empire lasted for very long after reaching their peak territorial extents; both began gradually breaking up into increasingly autonomous areas very soon afterwards.
There’s some argument for the United States at present. We’re not an empire in the traditional sense; that is, we don’t directly control that much land outside of the 50 states. But we have a huge amount of worldwide influence, our corporations have offices everywhere, and our military is always poking its nose into other nations’ conflicts.
I certainly didn’t want to accuse you of not searching. As far as I remember that thread never reached a conclusion anyway. OTOH, if you needed input here & now, it could’ve served as background reading. It’s an entertaining discussion anyway…
define largest
1 greatest land area (sq mi)
2 greatest population
3 greatest % of total world population
4 some other measure
4a economic power
4b military dominance
4c cultural significance
4d political stability
Large land area doesn’t necessarily translate into economic influence (contemporary Russia) while a small nation sometimes wields considerable economic power (Japan).
Military dominance encompasses both success in battle (Rome) and control of key chunks of real estate such as Gibraltar (Britain).
An otherwise minor power may leave a great legacy (Athens) while a large empire sometimes leaves little trace (the Hittites).
Although Egypt never controlled much land area, it was a dominant power for most of its 7000 year history. At the other extreme, both Alexander’s and Charlemagne’s empires died with them.
Nope, Egypt was important on an international scale only really during the new kingdom. After that it was pretty much a has-been in terms of power (and often a province).
“Nope, Egypt was important on an international scale only really during the new kingdom. After that it was pretty much a has-been in terms of power (and often a province).”
Actually the New Kingdom marked the end of Egypt’s greatness. That name should be a hint to people who like to ahem check their facts.
Agriculture came to Egypt before 5000 b.c.e. Egypt’s earliest cities arose at the same time as Sumeria. Egypt’s precious metal deposits, its fertile soil, and its easily defensible borders made it among the richest of ancient empires.
Unlike the Sumerian city-states, which never unified, Upper and Lower Egypt came under a single ruler c. 3200 b.c.e. During the III dynasty of the Old Kingdom (the 28th century b.c.e.) the traits that we recognize as Egyptian began to appear: sun worship, mummification, and stone monuments.
Egypt survived the barbarian invasions of 1200 b.c.e. that decimated other neighboring empires (the Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Hittites), but then underwent a period of slow decline. The Assyrians briefly ruled Egypt in the 7th century b.c.e. The Persians invaded a century later. After Alexander’s brief conquest his general Ptolemy maneuvered onto the Egyptian throne. Egypt continued to be an important power in the Mediterranean until the Roman conquest. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, pp 838-840).
Egypt was a leading power for five of seven millenia. Yes, that sounds like most of its history.
