List of largest empires

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 fairly precise definition and can be feasibly measured with some degree of accuracy.^[1] Estonian political scientist Rein Taagepera, who published a series of academic articles about the territorial extents of historical empires between 1978 and 1997,^[2][3][4][5] 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.^[6] 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 134,740,000 km² (52,023,000 sq mi).^[7]

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.^[8] Where estimates vary, entries are sorted by the lowest estimate. Where more than one entry has the same area, they are listed alphabetically.

Empire	Maximum land area
	Million km^2	Million sq mi	% of world	Year
British Empire^[a]	35.5^[9]	13.71	26.35%	1920^[9]
Mongol Empire^[b]	24.0^[9]^[10]	9.27	17.81%	1270^[10] or 1309^[9]
Russian Empire^[c]	22.8^[9]^[10]	8.80	16.92%	1895^[9]^[10]
Qing dynasty^[d]	14.7^[9]^[10]	5.68	10.91%	1790^[9]^[10]
Spanish Empire	13.7^[9]	5.29	10.17%	1810^[9]
Second French colonial empire	11.5^[9]	4.44	8.53%	1920^[9]
Abbasid Caliphate	11.1^[9]	4.29	8.24%	750^[9]
Umayyad Caliphate	11.1^[9]	4.29	8.24%	720^[9]
Yuan dynasty	11.0^[9]	4.25	8.16%	1310^[9]
Xiongnu Empire	9.0^[10]^[11]	3.47	6.68%	176 BC^[10]^[11]
Empire of Brazil^[e]	8.337^[12]	3.22	6.19%	1889^[12]
Empire of Japan	7.4^[13]–8.51	2.86–3.285^[14]	5.49%–6.32%	1942^[13]^[14]
Iberian Union	7.1^[9]	2.74	5.27%	1640^[9]
Eastern Han dynasty	6.5^[11]	2.51	4.82%	100^[11]
Ming dynasty	6.5^[9]^[10]	2.51	4.82%	1450^[9]^[10]
Rashidun Caliphate	6.4^[9]	2.47	4.75%	655^[9]
First Turkic Khaganate	6.0^[10]^[11]	2.32	4.45%	557^[10]^[11]
Golden Horde Khanate	6.0^[9]^[10]	2.32	4.45%	1310^[9]^[10]
Western Han dynasty	6.0^[10]^[11]	2.32	4.45%	50 BC^[10]^[11]
Achaemenid Empire	5.5^[10]^[11]	2.12	4.08%	500 BC^[10]^[11]
Second Portuguese Empire^[e]	5.5^[9]	2.12	4.08%	1820^[9]
Tang dynasty	5.4^[9]^[10]	2.08	4.01%	715^[9]^[10]
Macedonian Empire	5.2^[10]^[11]	2.01	3.86%	323 BC^[10]^[11]
Ottoman Empire	5.2^[9]^[10]	2.01	3.86%	1683^[9]^[10]
Northern Yuan dynasty	5.0^[9]	1.93	3.71%	1368^[9]
Roman Empire	5.0^[10]^[11]	1.93	3.71%	117^[10]^[11]
Xin dynasty	4.7^[11]	1.81	3.49%	10^[11]
Tibetan Empire	4.6^[9]^[10]	1.78	3.41%	800^[9]^[10]
Xianbei state	4.5^[15]	1.74	3.34%	200^[15]
First Mexican Empire	4.429^[16]	1.71	3.29%	1821^[16]
Timurid Empire	4.4^[9]^[10]	1.70	3.27%	1405^[9]^[10]
Fatimid Caliphate	4.1^[9]^[10]	1.58	3.04%	969^[9]^[10]
Eastern Turkic Khaganate	4.0^[11]	1.54	2.97%	624^[11]
Hunnic Empire	4.0^[10]^[11]	1.54	2.97%	441^[10]^[11]
Mughal Empire	4.0^[9]^[10]	1.54	2.97%	1690^[9]^[10]
Great Seljuq Empire	3.9^[9]^[10]	1.51	2.89%	1080^[9]^[10]
Seleucid Empire	3.9^[10]^[11]	1.51	2.89%	301 BC^[10]^[11]
Italian Empire	3.825^[17]	1.48	2.84%	1941^[17]
Ilkhanate	3.75^[9]^[10]	1.45	2.78%	1310^[9]^[10]
Dzungar Khanate	3.6^[15]	1.39	2.67%	1650^[15]
Chagatai Khanate	3.5^[9]^[10]	1.35	2.60%	1310^[9] or 1350^[9]^[10]
Sasanian Empire	3.5^[10]^[11]	1.35	2.60%	550^[10]^[11]
Western Turkic Khaganate	3.5^[11]	1.35	2.60%	630^[11]
Western Xiongnu	3.5^[11]	1.35	2.60%	20^[11]
First French colonial empire	3.4^[9]	1.31	2.52%	1670^[9]
Ghaznavid Empire	3.4^[9]^[10]	1.31	2.52%	1029^[9]^[10]
Maurya Empire	3.4^[11]–5.0^[10]	1.31–1.93	2.52%–3.71%	261 BC^[11] or 250 BC^[10]
Delhi Sultanate	3.2^[9]^[10]	1.24	2.37%	1312^[9]^[10]
German colonial empire	3.147	1.215^[18]	2.34%	1911^[18]
Northern Song dynasty	3.1^[9]^[10]	1.20	2.30%	980^[9]^[10]
Uyghur Khaganate	3.1^[9]^[10]	1.20	2.30%	800^[9]^[10]
Western Jin dynasty	3.1^[11]	1.20	2.30%	280^[11]
Danish Empire	3.0^[19]	1.16	2.23%	1700^[19]
Sui dynasty	3.0^[11]	1.16	2.23%	589^[11]
Safavid empire	2.9^[15]	1.12	2.15%	1630^[15]
Samanid Empire	2.85^[9]^[10]	1.10	2.12%	928^[9]^[10]
Eastern Jin dynasty	2.8^[11]	1.08	2.08%	347^[11]
Median Empire^[f]	2.8^[10]^[11]	1.08	2.08%	585 BC^[10]^[11]
Parthian Empire	2.8^[10]^[11]	1.08	2.08%	1^[10]^[11]
Rouran Khaganate	2.8^[10]^[11]	1.08	2.08%	405^[10]^[11]
Byzantine Empire	2.7^[10]–2.8^[11]	1.04–1.08	2.00%–2.08%	555^[10] or 450^[11]
Indo-Scythian Kingdom	2.6^[11]	1.00	1.93%	20^[11]
Liao dynasty	2.6^[9]^[10]	1.00	1.93%	947^[9]^[10]
Greco-Bactrian Kingdom	2.5^[11]	0.97	1.86%	184 BC^[11]
Later Zhao	2.5^[11]	0.97	1.86%	329^[11]
Maratha Empire	2.5^[10]	0.97	1.86%	1760^[10]
Belgian colonial empire	2.366^[17]–2.47	0.91–0.95^[21]	1.76%–1.83%	1941^[17] or 1939^[21]
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)	2.3^[9]^[10]	0.89	1.71%	1126^[9]^[10]
Khwarazmian Empire	2.3^[10]–3.6^[9]	0.89–1.39	1.71%–2.67%	1210^[10] or 1218^[9]
Qin dynasty	2.3^[11]	0.89	1.71%	220 BC^[11]
Dutch Empire	2.1^[15]	0.81	1.56%	1938^[15]
First French Empire	2.1^[9]	0.81	1.56%	1813^[9]
Kievan Rus'	2.1^[9]^[10]	0.81	1.56%	1000^[9]^[10]
Mamluk Sultanate	2.1^[9]^[10]	0.81	1.56%	1300^[9] or 1400^[10]
Southern Song dynasty	2.1^[9]	0.81	1.56%	1127^[9]
Third Portuguese Empire	2.1^[9]	0.81	1.56%	1900^[9]
Almohad Caliphate	2.0^[10]–2.3^[9]	0.77–0.89	1.48%–1.71%	1200^[10] or 1150^[9]
Cao Wei	2.0^[11]	0.77	1.48%	263^[11]
Former Qin	2.0^[11]	0.77	1.48%	376^[11]
Former Zhao	2.0^[11]	0.77	1.48%	316^[11]
Ghurid dynasty	2.0^[15]	0.77	1.48%	1200^[15]
Inca Empire	2.0^[9]^[10]	0.77	1.48%	1527^[9]^[10]
Kushan Empire	2.0^[10]–2.5^[11]	0.77–0.97	1.48%–1.86%	200^[10]^[11]
Liu Song dynasty	2.0^[11]	0.77	1.48%	450^[11]
Northern Wei	2.0^[11]	0.77	1.48%	450^[11]
Western Roman Empire	2.0^[11]	0.77	1.48%	395^[11]
Ayyubid dynasty	1.7^[9]–2.0^[10]	0.66–0.77	1.26%–1.48%	1200^[9] or 1190^[10]
Gupta Empire	1.7^[11]–3.5^[10]	0.66–1.35	1.26%–2.60%	440^[11] or 400^[10]
Hephthalite Empire	1.7^[22]–4.0^[11]	0.66–1.54	1.26%–2.97%	500^[22] or 470^[11]
Buyid dynasty	1.6^[9]^[10]	0.62	1.19%	980^[9]^[10]
Eastern Wu	1.5^[11]	0.58	1.11%	221^[11]
Northern Qi	1.5^[11]	0.58	1.11%	557^[11]
Northern Xiongnu	1.5^[11]	0.58	1.11%	60^[11]
Northern Zhou	1.5^[11]	0.58	1.11%	577^[11]
Neo-Assyrian Empire	1.4^[10]^[23]	0.54	1.04%	670 BC^[10]^[23]
Eastern Maurya Empire	1.3^[11]	0.50	0.96%	210 BC^[11]
Liang dynasty	1.3^[10]^[11]	0.50	0.96%	502,^[11] 549,^[11] or 579^[10]
Qajar Empire	1.29	0.50^[24]	0.96%	1873^[24]
Kingdom of Aksum	1.25^[10]	0.48	0.93%	350^[10]
Shang dynasty	1.25^[10]^[23]	0.48	0.93%	1122 BC^[10]^[23]
Francia	1.2^[9]^[10]	0.46	0.89%	814^[9]^[10]
Srivijaya	1.2^[10]	0.46	0.89%	1200^[10]
Indo-Greek Kingdom	1.1^[11]	0.42	0.82%	150 BC^[11]
Mali Empire	1.1^[9]^[10]	0.42	0.82%	1380^[9]^[10]
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	1.1^[9]^[10]	0.42	0.82%	1480^[10] or 1650^[9]
Almoravid dynasty	1.0^[10]	0.39	0.74%	1120^[10]
Empire of Harsha	1.0^[9]^[10]	0.39	0.74%	625^[9] or 648^[9]^[10]
Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty	1.0^[9]	0.39	0.74%	860^[9]
Holy Roman Empire	1.0^[9]	0.39	0.74%	1050^[9]
Khazar Khanate	1.0^[9]–3.0^[10]	0.39–1.16	0.74%–2.23%	900^[9] or 850^[10]
Khmer Empire	1.0^[9]^[10]	0.39	0.74%	1290^[9]^[10]
New Kingdom of Egypt	1.0^[10]^[23]	0.39	0.74%	1450 BC^[23] or 1300 BC^[10]
Ptolemaic Kingdom	1.0^[11]	0.39	0.74%	301 BC^[11]
Qara Khitai	1.0^[9]–1.5^[10]	0.39–0.58	0.74%–1.11%	1130^[9] or 1210^[10]
Scythia	1.0^[22]	0.39	0.74%	400 BC^[22]
Shu Han	1.0^[11]	0.39	0.74%	221^[11]
Tahirid dynasty	1.0^[9]	0.39	0.74%	800^[9]
Western Xia	1.0^[10]	0.39	0.74%	1100^[10]
Swedish Empire	0.99^[25]	0.38	0.73%	1700^[25]
Nazi Germany	0.824^[17]	0.32	0.61%	1941^[17]
Akkadian Empire	0.8^[23]	0.31	0.59%	2250 BC^[23]
Avar Khaganate	0.8^[11]	0.31	0.59%	600^[11]
Chu	0.8^[11]	0.31	0.59%	300 BC^[11]
Huns	0.8^[11]	0.31	0.59%	287^[11]
Songhai Empire	0.8^[9]	0.31	0.59%	1550^[9]
Hyksos	0.65^[23]	0.25	0.48%	1650 BC^[23]
Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt	0.65^[23]	0.25	0.48%	550 BC^[23]
Rozvi Empire	0.624^[26]	0.24	0.46%	1700^[26]
Austro-Hungarian Empire	0.62	0.24^[27]	0.46%	1905^[27]
Caliphate of Córdoba	0.6^[9]	0.23	0.45%	1000^[9]
First Portuguese Empire	0.6^[9]	0.23	0.45%	1580^[9]
Visigothic Kingdom	0.6^[11]	0.23	0.45%	580^[11]
Zhou dynasty	0.55^[28]	0.21	0.41%	1100 BC^[28]
Sikh Empire	0.52	0.20^[29]	0.39%	1839^[29]
Emirate of Córdoba	0.5^[9]	0.19	0.37%	756^[9]
Kosala	0.5^[11]	0.19	0.37%	543 BC^[11]
Lydia	0.5^[23]	0.19	0.37%	585 BC^[23]
Magadha	0.5^[11]	0.19	0.37%	510 BC^[11]
Middle Kingdom of Egypt	0.5^[23]	0.19	0.37%	1850 BC^[23]
Neo-Babylonian Empire	0.5^[23]	0.19	0.37%	562 BC^[23]
Satavahana dynasty	0.5^[11]	0.19	0.37%	150^[11]
Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt	0.5^[23]	0.19	0.37%	715 BC^[23]
Western Satraps	0.5^[11]	0.19	0.37%	100^[11]
New Hittite Kingdom	0.45^[23]	0.17	0.33%	1250 BC – 1220 BC^[23]
Xia dynasty	0.45^[23]	0.17	0.33%	1800 BC^[23]
Bulgarian Empire	0.4^[30]^[need quotation to verify]	0.15	0.30%	850^[30]^[need quotation to verify]
Kingdom of France (Middle Ages)	0.4^[9]	0.15	0.30%	1250^[9]
Middle Assyrian Empire	0.4^[23]	0.15	0.30%	1080 BC^[23]
Old Kingdom of Egypt	0.4^[23]	0.15	0.30%	2400 BC^[23]
Sokoto Caliphate	0.4^[31]	0.15	0.30%	1804^[31]
Latin Empire	0.35^[11]	0.14	0.26%	1204^[11]
Ancient Carthage	0.3^[11]	0.12	0.22%	220 BC^[11]
Indus Valley civilisation	0.3^[28]	0.12	0.22%	1800 BC^[28]
Mitanni	0.3^[23]	0.12	0.22%	1450 BC – 1375 BC^[23]
Ashanti Empire	0.25^[32]	0.10	0.19%	1820^[32]
First Babylonian Empire	0.25^[23]	0.10	0.19%	1690 BC^[23]
Aztec Empire	0.22^[9]	0.08	0.16%	1520^[9]
Zulu Empire	0.21	0.08^[33]	0.16%	1822^[33]
Elamite Empire	0.2^[23]	0.08	0.15%	1160 BC^[23]
Phrygia	0.2^[23]	0.08	0.15%	750 BC^[23]
Second Dynasty of Isin	0.2^[23]	0.08	0.15%	1130 BC^[23]
Urartu	0.2^[23]	0.08	0.15%	800 BC^[23]
Eastern Zhou	0.15^[23]	0.06	0.11%	770 BC^[23]
Middle Hittite Kingdom	0.15^[23]	0.06	0.11%	1450 BC^[23]
Old Assyrian Empire	0.15^[23]	0.06	0.11%	1730 BC^[23]
Old Hittite Empire	0.15^[23]	0.06	0.11%	1530 BC^[23]
Oyo Empire	0.15^[34]	0.06	0.11%	1680^[34]
Bornu Empire	0.13	0.05^[35]	0.10%	1892^[35]
Larsa	0.1^[23]	0.04	0.07%	1750 BC – 1700 BC^[23]
Neo-Sumerian Empire	0.1^[23]	0.04	0.07%	2000 BC^[23]
Tarascan empire	0.075^[36]	0.03	0.06%	1450^[36]
Lagash	0.05^[28]	0.02	0.04%	2400 BC^[28]
Sumer	0.05^[23]	0.02	0.04%	2400 BC^[23]
The largest peak areas of its former colonies following independence were Canada's 9.98 million km^2 in 1945, the United States' 9.67 million km^2 in 1899, and Australia's 7.68 million km^2 in 1945.^[9] The Mongol Empire eventually fractured into four separate khanates: the Yuan dynasty, Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, and Golden Horde. These are listed separately. Its successor state the USSR and its successor in turn, the Russian Federation, reached maximum extents of 22.3 million km^2 in 1945 and 17.1 million km^2 in 1991, respectively.^[9] Its successor state the Republic of China (1912–1949) and its successor in turn, the People's Republic of China (since 1949), reached maximum extents of 7.7 million km^2 in 1912 and 9.7 million km^2 in 1950, respectively.^[9] The reason the Empire of Brazil is listed as having a larger area in 1889 than the Portuguese Empire had in 1820, despite Brazil having been a Portuguese colony, is that the Portuguese settlers only had effective control over approximately half of Brazil at the time of Brazilian independence in 1822.^[9] More recent reassessment of the historical evidence, both archaeological and textual, has led modern scholars to question previous notions of the extent of the realm of the Medes and even its existence as a unified state.^[20]

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.^[37]

Empire	Land area (million km^2)	Year
Upper and Lower Egypt	0.1^[23]	3000 BC^[23]
Old Kingdom of Egypt	0.25^[23]	2850 BC^[23]
	0.4^[23]	2400 BC^[23]
Akkadian Empire	0.65^[23]	2300 BC^[23]
	0.8^[23]	2250 BC^[23]
New Kingdom of Egypt	1.0^[23]	1450 BC^[23]
Shang dynasty	1.25^[23]	1122 BC^[23]
Neo-Assyrian Empire	1.4^[23]	670 BC^[23]
Median Empire^[a]	2.8^[11]	585 BC^[11]
Achaemenid Empire	3.6^[11]	539 BC^[11]
	5.5^[11]	500 BC^[11]
Xiongnu Empire	9.0^[11]	176 BC^[11]
Umayyad Caliphate	11.1^[9]	720^[9]
Mongol Empire	13.5^[9]	1227^[9]
	24.0^[9]	1309^[9]
British Empire	24.5^[9]	1880^[9]
	35.5^[9]	1920^[9]
More recent reassessment of the historical evidence, both archaeological and textual, has led modern scholars to question previous notions of the extent of the realm of the Medes and even its existence as a unified state.^[20] If the Median Empire never surpassed the size of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the latter remained the largest empire the world had seen until the Achaemenid Empire surpassed it.^[23]^[11]

Timeline of largest empires at the time

Empire	Land area during time as largest empire (million km^2)^[28]	Approximate period^[28]
Upper Egypt	0.1	3000 BC
Old Kingdom of Egypt	0.25–0.4	2800 BC – 2400 BC
Akkadian Empire	0.2–0.6	2300 BC – 2200 BC
Indus Valley Civilisation	0.15	2100 BC
Middle Kingdom of Egypt	0.2–0.5	2000 BC – 1800 BC
Xia dynasty	0.4	1700 BC
Hyksos	0.65	1600 BC
New Kingdom of Egypt	0.65–1.0	1500 BC – 1300 BC
Shang dynasty	0.9–1.1	1250 BC – 1150 BC
New Kingdom of Egypt	0.5–0.6	1100 BC – 1050 BC
Zhou dynasty	0.35–0.45	1000 BC – 900 BC
Neo-Assyrian Empire	0.4–1.4	850 BC – 650 BC
Median Empire^[a]	3.0	600 BC
Achaemenid Empire	2.5–5.5	550 BC – 350 BC
Macedonian Empire	5.2	323 BC
Seleucid Empire	4.0	300 BC
Maurya Empire	3.5	250 BC
Han dynasty	2.5	200 BC
Xiongnu Empire	5.7	150 BC
Han dynasty	4.2–6.5	100 BC – 200 AD
Roman Empire	4.4	250–350
Sasanian Empire	3.5	400
Hunnic Empire	4.0	450
Sasanian Empire	3.5	500
Göktürk Khaganate	3.0–5.2	550–600
Rashidun Caliphate	5.2	650
Umayyad Caliphate	9.0–11.0	700–750
Abbasid Caliphate	8.3–11.0	750–800
Tibet	2.5–4.7	850–950
Song dynasty	3.0	1000
Seljuk Empire	3.0–4.0	1050–1100
Tibet	2.5	1150
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)	2.3	1200
Mongol Empire	18.0–24.0	1250–1300
Yuan dynasty	11.0	1350
Timurid Empire	4.0	1400
Ming dynasty	4.7–6.5	1450–1500
Ottoman Empire	4.3	1550
Tsardom of Russia	6.0–12.0	1600–1700
Russian Empire	14.0–17.0	1750–1800
British Empire	23.0–34.0	1850–1925
Soviet Union	22.5	1950–1975
More recent reassessment of the historical evidence, both archaeological and textual, has led modern scholars to question previous notions of the extent of the realm of the Medes and even its existence as a unified state.^[20] If the largest empire in the year 600 BC was not the Median Empire, it was Late Egypt with an area of 0.55 million km^2.

Largest empires by share of world population

Because of the trend of increasing world population over time, absolute population figures are less relevant for comparison between different empires than their respective shares of the world population at the time.^[38] 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.^[39]

Empire	Empire population as percentage of world population^[40]	Year^[40]
Qing dynasty	37	1800
Northern Song dynasty	33	1100
Western Han dynasty	32	1
Mongol Empire	31	1290
Roman Empire	30	150
Jin dynasty (266–420)	28	280
Ming dynasty	28	1600
Qin dynasty	24	220 BC
Mughal Empire	24	1700
Tang dynasty	23	900
Delhi Sultanate	23	1350
British Empire	23	1938
Empire of Japan	20	1943
Maurya Empire	19	250 BC
Former Qin	19	376
Northern Zhou	16	580
Macedonian Empire	15	323 BC
Empire of Harsha	15	647
Gupta Empire	13	450
Northern Wei	13	500
Umayyad Caliphate	13	750
Achaemenid Empire	12	450 BC
Former Yan	12	366
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)	12	1200
Nazi Germany	12	1943

See also

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

References

1. Taagepera, Rein (1978). "Size and duration of empires: Systematics of size" (PDF). Social Science Research. 7 (2): 111. doi:10.1016/0049-089X(78)90007-8. ISSN 0049-089X. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
2. Taagepera, Rein (1978). "Size and duration of empires: Systematics of size" (PDF). Social Science Research. 7 (2): 108–127. doi:10.1016/0049-089X(78)90007-8. ISSN 0049-089X. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
3. Taagepera, Rein (1978). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 3000 to 600 B.C." (PDF). Social Science Research. 7 (2): 180–196. doi:10.1016/0049-089x(78)90010-8. ISSN 0049-089X. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
4. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 115–138. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
5. Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 475–504. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
6. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 117. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
7. "World", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 18 July 2022, from the original on 20 June 2022, retrieved 24 July 2022, land: 148.94 million sq km [...] Antarctica 14,200,000 sq km
8. Magdoff, Harry (1979). Imperialism: From the Colonial Age to the Present. NYU Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-85345-498-4. from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020. [I]n 1800 Europe and its possessions, including former colonies, claimed title to about 55 percent of the earth's land surface: Europe, North and South America, most of India, and small sections along the coast of Africa. But much of this was merely claimed; effective control existed over a little less than 35 percent, most of which consisted of Europe itself. By 1878—that is, before the next major wave of European acquisitions began—an additional 6,500,000 square miles (16,800,000 square kilometers) were claimed; during this period, control was consolidated over the new claims and over all the territory claimed in 1800. Hence, from 1800 until 1878, actual European rule (including former colonies in North and South America), increased from 35 to 67 percent of the earth's land surface.
9. Taagepera, Rein (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 492–502. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. JSTOR 2600793. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
10. Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires" (PDF). Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222–223. ISSN 1076-156X. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
11. Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 121–122, 124–129, 132–133. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
12. "Área Territorial Brasileira". www.ibge.gov.br (in Portuguese). Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016. A primeira estimativa oficial para a extensão superficial do território brasileiro data de 1889. O valor de 8.337.218 km² foi obtido a partir de medições e cálculos efetuados sobre as folhas básicas da Carta do Império do Brasil, publicada em 1883. [The first official estimate of the surface area of the Brazilian territory dates from 1889. A value of 8,337,218 km² was obtained from measurements and calculations made on drafts of the Map of the Empire of Brazil, published in 1883.]
13. Conrad, Sebastian (2014). "The Dialectics of Remembrance: Memories of Empire in Cold War Japan" (PDF). Comparative Studies in Society and History. 56 (1): 8. doi:10.1017/S0010417513000601. ISSN 0010-4175. JSTOR 43908281. S2CID 146284542. (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020. In 1942, at the moment of its greatest extension, the empire encompassed territories spanning over 7,400,000 square kilometers.
14. James, David H. (1 November 2010). The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire. Routledge. ISBN 9781136925467. from the original on 6 July 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018. by 1942, this 'Empire' covered about 3,285,000 square miles
15. Bang, Peter Fibiger; Bayly, C. A.; Scheidel, Walter (2 December 2020). The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience. Oxford University Press. pp. 92–94. ISBN 978-0-19-977311-4.
16. Rodríguez, Jaime; Vincent, Kathryn (1997). "The Colonization and Loss of Texas: A Mexican Perspective". Myths, Misdeeds and Misunderstandings: The Roots of Conflict in US-Mexican Relations (First ed.). Wilmington, DE, USA: Scholarly Resources Inc. p. 47. ISBN 0-8420-2662-2. from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020. When it was founded in 1821, the Mexican Empire extended over 4,429,000 km² (not including the 445,683 km² temporarily added by the short-lived union of the Central American provinces).
17. Soldaten-Atlas (Tornisterschrift des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, Heft 39). Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut. 1941. pp. 8, 32.
18. Ashworth, Philip Arthur; and, others (1911). "Germany" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 804–828. Area English Sq. m. [...] German Empire: 208,780 Area (estimated) sq. m. [...] Total dependencies: 1,006,412
19. Korchmina, Elena; Sharp, Paul (June 2020). "Denmark and Russia: What can we learn from the historical comparison of two great Arctic agricultural empires?" (PDF). European Historical Economics Society. p. 3. (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020. Around 1700, the Danish Empire covered around 3 million square kilometers
20. Waters, Matthew (2005). Lanfranchi, Giovanni B.; Roaf, Michael; Rollinger, Robert (eds.). "Media and Its Discontents". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 125 (4): 517–533. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 20064424.
21. Townsend, Mary Evelyn; Peake, Cyrus Henderson (1941). European Colonial Expansion Since 1871. J.B. Lippincott. p. 19. from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
22. Turchin, Peter (2009). (PDF). Journal of Global History. 4 (2): 202. doi:10.1017/S174002280900312X. ISSN 1740-0228. S2CID 73597670. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
23. Taagepera, Rein (1978). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 3000 to 600 B.C." (PDF). Social Science Research. 7 (2): 182–189. doi:10.1016/0049-089x(78)90010-8. ISSN 0049-089X. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
24. Hughes, William (1873). A Class-book of Modern Geography: With Examination Questions. G. Philip & Son. p. 175. from the original on 26 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020. In size it is about 500,000 square miles
25. Sundberg, Ulf (2018). (PDF). Åbo: Åbo Akademis förlag. p. 26. ISBN 978-951-765-897-3. OCLC 1113941754. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 July 2020. In 1700, the Swedish Empire covered a land area of 990,000 square kilometers and had 2,500,000 inhabitants.
26. Cornell, James (1978). Lost Lands and Forgotten People. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-8069-3926-1. Zimbabwe continued to grow, reaching the height of its power in 1700, under the rule of the Rozwi people. When the first Europeans arrived on the African coast, they heard tales of a great stone city, the capital of a vast empire. The tales were true, for the Rozwi controlled 240,000 square miles (624,000 sq km)
27. Briliant, Oscar; and, others (1911). "Austria-Hungary" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 03 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 2–39. It occupies about the sixteenth part of the total area of Europe, with an area (1905) of 239,977 sq. m.
28. Taagepera, Rein (1978). "Size and duration of empires: Systematics of size" (PDF). Social Science Research. 7 (2): 116–117. doi:10.1016/0049-089X(78)90007-8. ISSN 0049-089X. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
29. Singh, Amarpal (15 August 2010). The First Anglo-Sikh War. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2038-1. By 1839, the year of his death, the Sikh kingdom extended from Tibet and Kashmir to Sind and from the Khyber Pass to the Himalayas in the east. It spanned 600 miles from east to west and 350 miles from north to south, comprising an area of just over 200,000 square miles.
30. Rashev, Rasho (2008). Българската езическа култура VII -IX в./Bulgarian Pagan Culture VII – IX cтр. 38 (in Bulgarian). Класика и стил. ISBN 9789543270392.
31. Wesseling, H. L. (23 October 2015). The European Colonial Empires: 1815-1919. Routledge. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-317-89507-7. from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2020. Islam spread quickly in Hausaland, which, after the jihad of 1804, was incorporated into the Sokoto Caliphate, a vast empire of 400,000 square kilometres.
32. Iliffe, John (25 August 1995). Africans: The History of a Continent. Cambridge University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-521-48422-0. At its peak around 1820 the empire embraced over 250,000 square kilometres [...]
33. Gluckman, Max (1960). "The Rise of a Zulu Empire". Scientific American. 202 (4): 162. Bibcode:1960SciAm.202d.157G. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0460-157. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24940454. Retrieved 7 July 2020. By 1822 he had made himself master over 80,000 square miles
34. Thornton, John (28 April 1998). Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-521-62724-5. By 1680, the Oyo Empire (in Nigeria) may have exceeded 150,000 square kilometers, though not by much.
35. Hughes, William; Williams, J. Francon (1892). A Class-book of Modern Geography: With Examination Questions, Notes, & Index. G. Philip & son. p. 281. from the original on 30 May 2021. It has an area of perhaps 50,000 square miles.
36. Blanford, Adam Jared (2014). (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Colorado Boulder. p. 6. S2CID 147339315. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2023. By A.D. 1450, the Tarascan Uacúsecha were leaders of an empire that spanned 75,000 square kilometers of west Mexico
37. Taagepera, Rein (1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 480. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. ISSN 0020-8833. (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
38. Scheidel, Walter (2020). "The Scale of Empire: Territory, Population, Distribution". In Bang, Peter Fibiger; Bayly, C. A.; Scheidel, Walter (eds.). The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-19-977311-4.
39. Myrdal, Janken (2013). "Empire: The comparative study of imperialism". In Hornborg, Alf; Clark, Brett; Hermele, Kenneth (eds.). Ecology and Power: Struggles over Land and Material Resources in the Past, Present and Future. Routledge. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-136-33529-7.
40. Scheidel, Walter (2020). "The Scale of Empire: Territory, Population, Distribution". In Bang, Peter Fibiger; Bayly, C. A.; Scheidel, Walter (eds.). The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience. Oxford University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-19-977311-4.