History · Curated list
Ottoman Empire, Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire and 27 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the empire's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
Former empire (c. 1299–1922)
Historically also called Turkey or the Turkish Empire, a state centred on today's Turkey that ruled much of North Africa, West Asia and Southeastern Europe from the 14th century to the early 20th. From the early 16th to the early 18th centuries it also held parts of southeastern Central Europe.
2
27 BC–476/1453 AD state and civilization
A state that dominated the Mediterranean and much of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia in the classical period. Most of these lands had been conquered earlier by the Roman Republic, and came under permanent rule by one person after Octavian rose to power and founded the Augustan Principate in 27 BC.
Wikidata · Photo: Papageizichta, CC BY-SA 3.0
Continuation of the Roman Empire (330–1453)
Also called the Eastern Roman Empire, the continuation of the Roman Empire, centred on Constantinople, through late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Outliving the Western Roman Empire, which fell in the 5th century AD, it lasted until the Ottoman Empire took Constantinople in 1453.
European political entity (800/962–1806)
Called after 1512 the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, a polity that took in and controlled much of Western and Central Europe, headed by the Holy Roman Emperor and politically decentralised. It took shape in the Early Middle Ages and lasted a thousand years, until it was dissolved in 1806 in the Napoleonic Wars.
The colonies, dominions, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or run by the United Kingdom and the states before it. It began with England's overseas possessions and trading posts of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and with Scotland's attempts at colonisation in the 17th century.
6
Russian state from 1721 to 1917
An empire spanning northern Eurasia from 1721 until the Russian Republic was proclaimed in 1917, the last era of Tsarist Russia and of the Russian monarchy as a whole. At its peak, late in the 19th century, it covered some 22,800,000 km² (8,800,000 sq mi), about one-sixth of the world's land, which makes it the third-largest empire ever, after the Mongol and British empires.
Wikidata · Photo: Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii, Public domain
1867–1918 dual monarchy in Central Europe
Also called the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and officially the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, a multinational empire in Central Europe, a constitutional dual monarchy that lasted from 1867 to 1918. A real union in military and diplomatic affairs, it joined two mostly self-governing states under one monarch, who was both Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary.
Empire in Eurasia from 1206–1368
The largest empire with unbroken borders in history. Starting from today's Mongolia, in East Asia, the medieval empire at its peak reached from the Sea of Japan to Eastern Europe, north into Siberia and east and south into the Indian subcontinent; it invaded Southeast Asia, conquered the Iranian plateau and pushed west as far as the Carpathian Mountains and the Levant.
9
1438–1533 empire in South America
Officially the Realm of the Four Parts, the biggest empire of the Americas before Columbus. Cusco was its administrative, political and military centre.
Wikidata · Photo: Martin St-Amant ( S23678 ), CC BY-SA 3.0
10
Imperial dynasty of China (618–907)
An imperial dynasty that ruled China from 618 to 907, broken by an interregnum between 690 and 705. It followed the Sui dynasty, and was followed by the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
11
1526–1857 empire in South Asia
An early modern empire of South Asia. At its greatest extent it ran eastward from the fringes of the Indus basin, and from Kashmir and northern Afghanistan on its northern and northwestern edges, to the uplands of today's Assam and Bangladesh, and southward to the high ground of the Deccan Plateau in South India.
Ancient Indian empire (c. 3rd century CE – 575 CE)
An empire in India during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent, lasting from the mid 3rd to the mid 6th century CE. At its height its dynasty governed an empire covering much of the subcontinent's north.
Ancient Iranian empire, 550–330 BC
An ancient Iranian empire founded in 550 BC by Cyrus the Great, of the Achaemenid dynasty. At its largest it covered about 5.5 million square kilometres, more than any other empire of its time.
Last pre-Islamic Iranian empire (224–651 AD)
Officially Eranshahr, the Iranian empire of the House of Sasan, which founded it and ruled it from 224 to 651 AD. Lasting more than four centuries, the Sasanian dynasty ruled ancient Iran for longer than any dynasty except the Arsacids of Parthia, who came just before them.
Colonial empire between 1492 and 1976
Sometimes called the Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, a colonial empire that lasted from 1492 to 1976. Together with the Portuguese Empire, it opened the European Age of Discovery.
Empire in Europe from 1804 to 1867
Officially the Empire of Austria, one of Europe's great powers from 1804 to 1867, made up of many nations; it was proclaimed out of the lands the Habsburgs ruled. In its time it had the third-largest population in Europe, after the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire, and was Europe's third-largest empire in area, after the Russian Empire and the First French Empire.
17
Empire in West Africa from c. 1235 to 1610
A West African empire from c. 1235 to 1610, founded by Sundiata Keita and famous for the riches of its rulers, above all Mansa Musa.
Wikidata · Photo: attributed to Abraham Cresques, Public domain
Iranian empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
Also called the Arsacid Empire, a major Iranian political and cultural power based in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. It is named after Arsaces I, its founder, who led the Parni in taking Parthia, in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) governed by Andragoras, who was in revolt against the Seleucid Empire.
Western half of the Roman Empire (395–476)
In modern history-writing, the western provinces of the Roman Empire taken together at any time when a separate, independent imperial court governed them apart from the eastern ones. Above all from AD 395 to 476, rule was split between two courts of equal standing, one for each half, each with its own line of emperors.
Japanese nation state from 1868 to 1947
Also called the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, the 79-year period of Japanese history from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the ratification of the Constitution of Japan on 3 May 1947. From August 1910 to September 1945 it took in mainland Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Karafuto, the Kurils and Okinawa.
21
Ancient Indian empire (c. 321–185 BCE)
A widespread Iron Age power in South Asia, based in Magadha. Chandragupta Maurya founded it around c. 320 BCE, and it survived, loosely held together, until 185 BCE.
Wikidata · Photo: Levakpitam, CC BY-SA 3.0
Chinese dynasty (c. 1600 – c. 1046 BC)
Also called the Yin dynasty, a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the valley of the Yellow River in the 2nd millennium BC, traditionally after the Xia dynasty and before the Western Zhou. The classic account of it comes from texts such as the Shiji, the Bamboo Annals and the Book of Documents.
23
Colonial empire between 1415 and 1999
The first of the European colonial empires, and the one that lasted longest. Begun in the Age of Discovery, it at one time held parts of Africa and the Americas, with ports and trading posts across Oceania and Asia.
Wikidata · Photo: Jan Huygen van Linschoten, CC0
State in Mesopotamia (c. 2334–2154 BC)
Also called the Kingdom of Akkad/Agade, an ancient kingdom founded around 2300 BCE, often regarded as the first empire in world history, which took over and united the long-lived city-states of the Early Dynastic period.
30–375 CE empire in Central and South Asia
A syncretic empire that the Yuezhi formed early in the 1st century CE. From its first base in Bactria it spread over much of today's Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
26
France under Napoleon Bonaparte from 1804 to 1815
Called afterwards the First French Empire, and informally Napoleonic France, the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made France dominant over much of continental Europe early in the 19th century. It ran from 18 May 1804 until 6 April 1814, then had a brief second life from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815, after which Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena.
Wikidata · Photo: Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Public domain
Turco-Mongol empire (1370–1507)
A late medieval Muslim empire, Turco-Mongol in origin and Persianate in culture, that dominated Greater Iran early in the 15th century: today's Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of what are now Turkey, North India and Pakistan. Its culture blended Persian, Mongolic and Turkic influences, and the last of its rulers were seen as "ideal Perso-Islamic rulers".
Empire in Southeast Asia (802–1431)
An empire of the Southeast Asian mainland whose heart was a group of hydraulic cities in the north of present-day Cambodia. Its people called it Kambuja; it grew from the earlier civilisation of Chenla and lasted from 802 to 1431 AD.
Crusader state that replaced the Byzantine Empire from 1204–1261
Also called the Latin Empire of Constantinople, or the Constantinopolitan Empire, a feudal Crusader state set up by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on land taken from the Byzantine Empire. It lasted from 1204 CE until it was abolished in 1261 CE.
Late medieval empire in the Indian subcontinent (1206–1526)
Also called the Sultanate of Delhi, a late medieval empire based mainly in Delhi that covered large parts of the Indian subcontinent for over three hundred years. It was founded in 1206 in territory in India that had belonged to the Ghurids.
Every Wikidata item that is a historical country whose one-line description on Wikidata calls it an empire — the class Wikidata calls "empire" holds too few of them to query, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 30 are shown.
Wikidata files these under this list's query, but they are not what the list is about:
These belong on the list but Wikidata does not file them where the query looks:
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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