Throughout history, empires have risen to claim and control large swaths of territory, ruling peoples under a single sovereign authority. Inevitably, the baton of power is passed onto the next contender. Here, ASIAN Geographic maps the great power monopolies from East to West.
Roman empire
• Famous Ruler:
Nero
• 70 million people
• 5,000,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 117CE
Ottoman Empire
• Famous Ruler:
Sultan Suleiman I
• 35 million people
• 5,200,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 1540
Spanish Empire
• Famous Ruler:
King Philip II
• 68 million people
• 19,400,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 1500s
Portuguese
Empire
• Famous Ruler:
King John II
• Unknown number of
people
• 10,400,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 1570
British Empire
• Famous Ruler:
Queen Victoria
• 533 million people
• 33,670,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 1921
Ancient
Egyptian Empire
• Famous Ruler:
Cleopatra
• 1–2 million people
• 1,000,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak:
1250BCE
Achaemenid
Empire (First
Persian Empire)
• Famous Ruler:
Xerxes I
• 50 million people
• 8,500,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak:
480BCE
Umayyad
Caliphate
• Famous Ruler:
Abd al-Malik
• 62 million people
• 15,000,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 690
Mongol Empire
• Famous Ruler:
Genghis Khan
• 110 million people
• 33,000,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 1279
Russian Empire
• Famous Ruler:
Peter the Great
• 176 million people
• 22,800,000 square
kilometres
• Political Peak: 1866
Check out the rest of this article in Asian Geographic No.126 Issue 4/2017 here or download a digital copy here
