What was largest empire

The largest contiguous empire in history, the Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of Mongol and Turkish tribes under Genghis Khan. The Mongols achieved advancements in various technologies and ideologies during the empire. In , the Black Death began its rampage in Mongolia and brought the Empire into its long, slow decline that culminated with its annexation by Russia in The British Empire covered The British Empire began with overseas colonies and trading posts and in the end comprised dominions, protectorates, and mandates, as well.

Japan's occupation of its territories in the Second World War and the loss of India in brought the days of the British Empire to a close. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options.

Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Good Subscriber Account active since Shortcuts. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It of course originated in Mongolia and once stretched from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan, extending into the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, covering 9. The Russian Empire comes third on the list with a peak land area of 8.

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Single Accounts Corporate Solutions Universities. At its height in the early 19 th century, Spanish territory in North and South America, the Caribbean, Africa , and Asia covered a total of Former Spanish colonies include Mexico , the countries of Central America , and most of the present-day nation-states in South America.

Like the UK, France once held many colonial possessions in all parts of the world. Its largest possessions were in Africa, while France maintained smaller colonies in the Americas, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Former French colonies include the Northern African countries of Morocco , Algeria , and Tunisia , as well as most of the territory that now makes up Western Africa.

The Caliphate arose in the mid-8 th century, when the Abbasids overthrew the previous Umayyad Caliphate.

It succeeded the Rashidun Caliphate in the mid-7 th century and lasted until the mid-8 th century when it was overthrown by the Abbasids. The Umayyad Caliphate controlled about the same amount of territory that the Abbasids mentioned above did. The Yuan Dynasty was the dynasty that emerged to rule China as the vast Mongol Empire broke up into separate empires in the mid-to-late 13 th century. At its height, it controlled all of present-day China, as well as Mongolia and the Korean Peninsula , for a total of 11 million sq.

In the mid th century, however, its power began to wane until it was finally replaced by the Ming Dynasty. That's because the share of the global population is only one way to measure the expanse of an empire, and some question whether it's really fair to use that metric when comparing empires from different time periods.

For example, when the Achaemenid Empire was at its height, there were only The British ruled over a comparatively meager quarter of the world's population in , but by then the global population had swelled to 1. Is it reasonable to compare the British and Achaemenid empires with this metric? Or are we comparing apples to oranges?