Largest empires in history — the full ranked list
The complete ranking of largest empires in history, in order, with what the ranking counts and how firm the figures behind it are. Free reference, no sign-up — and the guessing game that plays the same list.
Peak land area. Historians argue over every border on this list — but nobody disputes that number two was assembled inside one man's lifetime, on horseback.
No single authoritative source exists for this one. Estimates differ, sometimes widely, so read the order as an argument rather than a fact.
100 entries, in order.
- British Empire
- Mongol Empire
- Russian Empire
- Qing dynasty
- Spanish Empire
- Second French colonial empire
- Abbasid Caliphate
- Umayyad Caliphate
- Yuan dynasty
- Portuguese Empire
- Xiongnu Empire
- Empire of Japan
- Empire of Brazil
- Han dynasty
- Ming dynasty
- Rashidun Caliphate
- Gokturk Khaganate
- Golden Horde
- Achaemenid Empire
- Tang dynasty
- Macedonian Empire
- Ottoman Empire
- Roman Empire
- Mughal Empire
- Sasanian Empire
- Parthian Empire
- Seleucid Empire
- Byzantine Empire
- Holy Roman Empire
- Carolingian Empire
- Timurid Empire
- Safavid Empire
- Delhi Sultanate
- Maurya Empire
- Gupta Empire
- Maratha Empire
- Sikh Empire
- Chola Empire
- Vijayanagara Empire
- Khmer Empire
- Srivijaya
- Majapahit
- Song dynasty
- Sui dynasty
- Liao dynasty
- Northern Yuan
- Qara Khitai
- Khwarazmian Empire
- Seljuk Empire
- Ghaznavid Empire
- Ghurid Empire
- Mamluk Sultanate
- Ayyubid Sultanate
- Fatimid Caliphate
- Almoravid Empire
- Almohad Caliphate
- Songhai Empire
- Mali Empire
- Ghana Empire
- Kanem-Bornu Empire
- Ethiopian Empire
- Zulu Kingdom
- Aztec Empire
- Inca Empire
- Wari Empire
- Dutch Empire
- Belgian colonial empire
- German colonial empire
- Italian Empire
- Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Swedish Empire
- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- First French Empire
- Soviet Union
- Achaemenid Media
- Neo-Assyrian Empire
- Neo-Babylonian Empire
- Hittite Empire
- Egyptian New Kingdom
- Kushan Empire
- Satavahana Empire
- Pala Empire
- Rashtrakuta Empire
- Chalukya Empire
- Pandyan Empire
- Ahom Kingdom
- Bahmani Sultanate
- Durrani Empire
- Afsharid Empire
- Qajar Empire
- Zand dynasty
- Buyid dynasty
- Samanid Empire
- Tahirid dynasty
- Idrisid dynasty
- Aghlabid dynasty
- Hafsid dynasty
- Marinid Sultanate
- Saadi Sultanate
- Alaouite Sultanate
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