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Historical Empires
15 entries
Austria-Hungary
The Habsburg dual monarchy of a dozen nations, dissolved at the end of World War I
The Achaemenid (Persian) Empire
The first empire to rule from the Indus to the Aegean, held together by roads and satraps
The Aztec Empire
The Mexica-led Triple Alliance that dominated central Mexico from an island city
The British Empire
The largest empire in history, covering about a quarter of the worlds land by 1920
The Byzantine Empire
Romes Greek-speaking eastern half, ruled from Constantinople for more than a thousand years
The Holy Roman Empire
A thousand-year patchwork of principalities, free cities and church lands in the heart of Europe
The Inca Empire
Tawantinsuyu, the Andean state that ran more than 4,000 kilometers along the spine of South America
The Mali Empire
The West African gold empire of Sundiata and Mansa Musa, centered on the upper Niger
The Mongol Empire
The largest contiguous land empire in history, forged on the steppe within a single lifetime
The Mughal Empire
The Persianate dynasty that ruled most of the Indian subcontinent and built the Taj Mahal
The Ottoman Empire
Six centuries of rule from Istanbul over the Balkans, Anatolia, the Arab world and North Africa
The Qing Empire
Chinas last imperial dynasty, whose Manchu rulers more than doubled the land under Beijing
The Roman Empire
The Mediterranean state whose roads, law and Latin still shape three continents
The Russian Empire
The tsarist state that stretched from the Baltic to the Pacific and, for a time, into North America
The Spanish Empire
The first global empire, spanning the Americas, the Philippines and outposts in Africa