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List of largest empires

List of largest empires is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of largest empires rather than just read about it. In short: Several empires 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.

List of largest empires — main illustration
List of largest empires — illustration

Key takeaways

  • List of largest empires belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect List of largest empires to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of List of largest empires from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Several empires 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 relatively precise definition and can be feasibly measured with some degree of accuracy; nevertheless, even area is limited in this regard because of the difficulty in defining the boundaries of empires due to things like the indirect nature of imperial control and sparsely inhabited or even uninhabited areas that may nominally have been controlled by an empire but not meaningfully ruled by it. Estonian political scientist Rein Taagepera, who published a series of academic articles about the territorial extents of historical empires between 1978 and 1997, and a book in 2024, defined an empire in this context 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 as there is 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 134,740,000 km2 (52,023,000 sq mi).

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 20% of the Earth's land surface that they did not effectively control. Where estimates vary, entries are sorted by the lowest estimate. Where more than one entry has the same area, they are listed alphabetically.

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.

Timeline of largest empires at the time

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. 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.

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

References

Illustrations

List of largest empires: The British Empire (red) and Mongol Empire (blue) were the largest and second-largest empires in history, respectively.[1][2] The precise extent of either empire at its greatest territorial expansion is a matter of debate among scholars.
The British Empire (red) and Mongol Empire (blue) were the largest and second-largest empires in history, respectively.[1][2] The precise extent of either empire at its greatest territorial expansion is a matter of debate among scholars.
List of largest empires: The home and colonial areas of the world's empires in 1908, as given by The Harmsworth Atlas and Gazetteer
The home and colonial areas of the world's empires in 1908, as given by The Harmsworth Atlas and Gazetteer
List of largest empires: The home and colonial populations of the world's empires in 1908, as given by The Harmsworth Atlas and Gazetteer
The home and colonial populations of the world's empires in 1908, as given by The Harmsworth Atlas and Gazetteer

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of largest empires

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of largest empires claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of largest empires before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of largest empires ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of largest empires

In research
List of largest empires appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses List of largest empires in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
List of largest empires is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Empires, Former empires, History-related lists of superlatives, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for List of largest empires outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study List of largest empires in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what List of largest empires means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain List of largest empires out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of largest empires in simple terms?

Several empires 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.

Why does List of largest empires matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of largest empires?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of largest empires.

Tags

  • Empires
  • Former empires
  • History-related lists of superlatives
  • Largest things
  • Lists by area
  • Lists of countries by geography

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