List of largest empires

 ( Empires ) 

Several in human history have been contenders for the largest of all time, depending on definition and mode of measurement. Possible ways of measuring size include area, population, economy, and power. Of these, area is the most commonly used because it has a fairly precise definition and can be feasibly measured with some degree of accuracy. Estonian political scientist Rein Taagepera, who published a series of academic articles about the territorial extents of historical empires between 1978 and 1997, defined an empire as "any relatively large sovereign political entity whose components are not sovereign" and its size as the area over which the empire has some undisputed military and taxation prerogatives. The list is not exhaustive owing to a lack of available data for several empires; for this reason and because of the inherent uncertainty in the estimates, no rankings are given.

---

Largest empires by land area For context, the land area of the Earth, excluding the continent of Antarctica, is .

---

Empires at their greatest extent Empire size in this list is defined as the dry land area it controlled at the time, which may differ considerably from the area it claimed. For example: in the year 1800, European powers collectively claimed approximately % of the Earth's land surface that they did not effectively control.

Harry Magdoff (1979). 9780853454984, NYU Press. . ISBN 9780853454984

Where estimates vary, entries are sorted by the lowest estimate. Where more than one entry has the same area, they are listed alphabetically.

British Empire	35.5
Mongol Empire	24.0			or
Russian Empire	22.8
Qing dynasty	14.7
Spanish Empire	13.7
Second French colonial empire	11.5
Abbasid Caliphate	11.1
Umayyad Caliphate	11.1
Yuan dynasty	11.0
Xiongnu Empire	9.0
Empire of Brazil
Empire of Japan	7.4–	–3.285 David H. James (2010). 9781136925467, Routledge. . ISBN 9781136925467	–
Eastern Han dynasty	6.5
Ming dynasty	6.5
Rashidun Caliphate	6.4
First Turkic Khaganate	6.0
Golden Horde	6.0
Western Han dynasty	6.0
Achaemenid Empire	5.5
Second Portuguese Empire	5.5
Tang dynasty	5.4
Macedonian Empire	5.2
Ottoman Empire	5.2
Northern Yuan dynasty	5.0
Roman Empire	5.0
Xin dynasty	4.7
Tibetan Empire	4.6
Xianbei state	4.5 (2025). 9780199773114, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199773114
First Mexican Empire	4.429 (1997). 9780842026628, Scholarly Resources Inc.. ISBN 9780842026628
Timurid Empire	4.4
Fatimid Caliphate	4.1
Eastern Turkic Khaganate	4.0
Hunnic Empire	4.0
Mughal Empire	4.0
Great Seljuq Empire	3.9
Seleucid Empire	3.9
Italian Empire
Ilkhanate	3.75
Dzungar Khanate	3.6
Chagatai Khanate	3.5			or
Sasanian Empire	3.5
Western Turkic Khaganate	3.5
Western Xiongnu	3.5
First French colonial empire	3.4
Ghaznavids	3.4
Maurya Empire	3.4–5.0	–	–	or
Delhi Sultanate	3.2
German colonial empire
Northern Song dynasty	3.1
Uyghur Khaganate	3.1
Western Jin dynasty	3.1
Danish Empire	3.0
Sui dynasty	3.0
Safavid empire	2.9
Samanid Empire	2.85
Eastern Jin dynasty	2.8
Median Empire	2.8
Parthian Empire	2.8			1
Rouran Khaganate	2.8
Byzantine Empire	2.7–2.8	–	–	or
Indo-Scythians	2.6
Liao dynasty	2.6
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom	2.5
Later Zhao	2.5
Maratha Empire	2.5
Belgian colonial empire	–	–	–	or
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)	2.3
Khwarazmian Empire	2.3–3.6	–	–	or
Qin dynasty	2.3
Dutch Empire	2.1
First French Empire	2.1
Kievan Rus'	2.1
Mamluk Sultanate	2.1			or
Southern Song dynasty	2.1
Third Portuguese Empire	2.1
Almohad Caliphate	2.0–2.3	–	–	or
Cao Wei	2.0
Former Qin	2.0
Former Zhao	2.0
Ghurid dynasty	2.0
Inca Empire	2.0
Kushan Empire	2.0–2.5	–	–
Liu Song dynasty	2.0
Northern Wei	2.0
Western Roman Empire	2.0
Ayyubid dynasty	1.7–2.0	–	–	or
Gupta Empire	1.7–3.5	–	–	or
Hephthalite Empire	1.7–4.0	–	–	or
Buyid dynasty	1.6
Eastern Wu	1.5
Northern Qi	1.5
Northern Xiongnu	1.5
Northern Zhou	1.5
Neo-Assyrian Empire	1.4
Eastern Maurya Empire	1.3
Liang dynasty	1.3			, , or
Qajar Empire		0.50
Kingdom of Aksum	1.25
Shang dynasty	1.25
Francia	1.2
Srivijaya	1.2
Indo-Greek Kingdom	1.1
Mali Empire	1.1
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	1.1			or
Almoravid dynasty	1.0
Pushyabhuti dynasty	1.0			or
Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty	1.0
Holy Roman Empire	1.0
Khazar Khanate	1.0–3.0	–	–	or
Khmer Empire	1.0
New Kingdom of Egypt	1.0			or
Ptolemaic Kingdom	1.0
Qara Khitai	1.0–1.5	–	–	or
Scythia	1.0
Shu Han	1.0
Tahirid dynasty	1.0
Western Xia	1.0
Swedish Empire	0.99 Ulf Sundberg (2025). 9789517658973, Åbo Akademis förlag. . ISBN 9789517658973
Kingdom of Armenia	0.9
Nazi Germany
Akkadian Empire	0.8
Avar Khaganate	0.8
Chu	0.8
Huns	0.8
Songhai Empire	0.8
Hyksos	0.65
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt	0.65
Rozvi Empire	0.624 James Cornell (1978). 9780806939261, Sterling Publishing Company. . ISBN 9780806939261
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Caliphate of Córdoba	0.6
First Portuguese Empire	0.6
Visigothic Kingdom	0.6
Zhou dynasty	0.55
Sikh Empire		0.20 Amarpal Singh (2010). 9781445620381, Amberley Publishing Limited. . ISBN 9781445620381
Emirate of Córdoba	0.5
Kosala	0.5
Lydia	0.5
Magadha	0.5
Middle Kingdom of Egypt	0.5
Neo-Babylonian Empire	0.5
Satavahana dynasty	0.5
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt	0.5
Western Satraps	0.5
New Hittite Kingdom	0.45
Xia dynasty	0.45
Bulgarian Empire	0.4 (2025). 9789543270392, Класика и стил. ISBN 9789543270392			(2025). 9789543270392, Класика и стил. ISBN 9789543270392
Kingdom of France (Middle Ages)	0.4
Middle Assyrian Empire	0.4
Old Kingdom of Egypt	0.4
Sokoto Caliphate	0.4 H. L. Wesseling (2015). 9781317895077, Routledge. . ISBN 9781317895077
Latin Empire	0.35
Ancient Carthage	0.3
Indus Valley Civilisation	0.3
Mitanni	0.3
Ashanti Empire	0.25 John Iliffe (1995). 9780521484220, Cambridge University Press. . ISBN 9780521484220
First Babylonian Empire	0.25
Aztec Empire	0.22
Zulu Empire		0.08
Elamite Empire	0.2
Phrygia	0.2
Second Dynasty of Isin	0.2
Urartu	0.2
Eastern Zhou	0.15
Middle Hittite Kingdom	0.15
Old Assyrian Empire	0.15
Old Hittite Empire	0.15
Oyo Empire	0.15 John Thornton (1998). 9780521627245, Cambridge University Press. . ISBN 9780521627245
Bornu Empire		0.05
Larsa	0.1
Neo-Sumerian Empire	0.1
Tarascan empire	0.075
Lagash	0.05
Sumer	0.05

---

Timeline of largest empires to date The earliest empire which can with certainty be stated to have been larger than all previous empires was that of Upper and Lower Egypt, which covered ten times the area of the previous largest civilisation around the year 3000 BC.

Upper and Lower Egypt	0.1
Old Kingdom of Egypt	0.25
	0.4
Akkadian Empire	0.65
	0.8
New Kingdom of Egypt	1.0
Shang dynasty	1.25
Neo-Assyrian Empire	1.4
Median Empire	2.8
Achaemenid Empire	3.6
	5.5
Xiongnu Empire	9.0
Umayyad Caliphate	11.1
Mongol Empire	13.5
	24.0
British Empire	24.5
	35.5

---

Timeline of largest empires at the time

Upper Egypt	0.1
Old Kingdom of Egypt	0.25–0.4	–
Akkadian Empire	0.2–0.6	–
Indus Valley Civilisation	0.15
Middle Kingdom of Egypt	0.2–0.5	–
Xia dynasty	0.4
Hyksos	0.65
New Kingdom of Egypt	0.65–1.0	–
Shang dynasty	0.9–1.1	–
New Kingdom of Egypt	0.5–0.6	–
Zhou dynasty	0.35–0.45	–
Neo-Assyrian Empire	0.4–1.4	–
Median Empire	3.0
Achaemenid Empire	2.5–5.5	–
Macedonian Empire	5.2
Seleucid Empire	4.0
Maurya Empire	3.5
Han dynasty	2.5
Xiongnu Empire	5.7
Han dynasty	4.2–6.5	–	AD
Roman Empire	4.4		–
Sasanian Empire	3.5
Hunnic Empire	4.0
Sasanian Empire	3.5
Göktürk Khaganate	3.0–5.2	–	–
Rashidun Caliphate	5.2
Umayyad Caliphate	9.0–11.0	–	–
Abbasid Caliphate	8.3–11.0	–	–
Tibet	2.5–4.7	–	–
Song dynasty	3.0
Seljuk Empire	3.0–4.0	–	–
Tibet	2.5
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)	2.3
Mongol Empire	18.0–24.0	–	–
Yuan dynasty	11.0
Timurid Empire	4.0
Ming dynasty	4.7–6.5	–	–
Ottoman Empire	4.3
Tsardom of Russia	6.0–12.0	–	–
Russian Empire	14.0–17.0	–	–
British Empire	23.0–34.0	–	–
Soviet Union	22.5		–

---

Largest empires by share of world population Because of the trend of increasing world population over time, absolute population figures are for some purposes less relevant for comparison between different empires than their respective shares of the world population at the time.

(2025). 9780199773114, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199773114

For the majority of the time since roughly 400 BC, the two most populous empires' combined share of the world population has been 30–40%. Most of the time, the most populous empire has been located in China.

Janken Myrdal (2025). 9781136335297, Routledge. ISBN 9781136335297

Qing dynasty	37
Northern Song dynasty	33
Western Han dynasty	32
Mongol Empire	31
Roman Empire	30
Jin dynasty (266–420)	28
Ming dynasty	28
Qin dynasty	24
Mughal Empire	24
Tang dynasty	23
Delhi Sultanate	23
British Empire	23
Empire of Japan	20
Maurya Empire	19
Former Qin	19
Northern Zhou	16
Macedonian Empire	15
Empire of Harsha	15
Gupta Empire	13
Northern Wei	13
Umayyad Caliphate	13
Achaemenid Empire	12
Former Yan	12
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)	12
Nazi Germany	12

---

See also

• Lists of political and geographic subdivisions by total area
• List of countries and dependencies by area
• List of countries and dependencies by population
• Political history of the world

---

Further reading

• Rein Taagepera (2025). 9781009427838, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009427838

Post Comment