Talk:List of largest empires

Page contents not supported in other languages.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Empires with sourced areas but without dates

I figured I'd make a section for empires where sources have been found for the maximum extent but with no year specified (meaning they can't be included in the list). My hope is that this will be helpful when people try to locate sources. Feel free to add entries of your own to the list below. TompaDompa (talk) 23:38, 3 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think we can add those empires in the list, I would only noted in the time cell "unknown". Janos Neman (talk) 12:09, 16 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
This article is about largest empires, as such they might not have been at the time they existed. Slatersteven (talk)

References

  1. ^ Obeng, J. Pashington (1996). Asante Catholicism: Religious and Cultural Reproduction Among the Akan of Ghana. BRILL. p. 20. ISBN 978-90-04-10631-4. An empire of a hundred thousand square miles, occupied by about three million people from different ethnic groups, made it imperative for the Asante to evolve sophisticated statal and parastatal institutions [...]
  2. ^ Iliffe, John (1995-08-25). 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 [...]
  3. ^ a b c d e Cioffi-Revilla, Claudio; Rogers, J. Daniel; Wilcox, Steven P.; Alterman, Jai (2008). "Computing the Steppes: Data Analysis for Agent-Based Modeling of Polities in Inner Asia" (PDF). Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Political Scientific Association. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 2020-07-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Wade, Geoff (2014-10-17). Asian Expansions: The Historical Experiences of Polity Expansion in Asia. Routledge. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-135-04353-7. [T]he state of Đại Cồ Việt was established in the tenth century [...] The maximum extent of the territory at that time was around 110,000 square kilometres.
  5. ^ Bosin, Yury V. (2009), "Durrani Empire, Popular Protests, 1747–1823" (PDF), The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, p. 1029, doi:10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp0481, ISBN 978-1-4051-9807-3, retrieved 2020-07-14
  6. ^ a b Bang, Peter Fibiger; Bayly, C. A.; Scheidel, Walter (2020-12-02). The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience. Oxford University Press. pp. 92–94. ISBN 978-0-19-977311-4.
  7. ^ Shillington, Kevin (2013-07-04). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. p. 733. ISBN 978-1-135-45670-2. The limits of the empire correspond approximately with the boundaries of the Chad Basin, an area of more than 300,000 square miles.
  8. ^ Wade, Geoff (2014-10-17). Asian Expansions: The Historical Experiences of Polity Expansion in Asia. Routledge. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-135-04353-7. [W]hen Nguyễn Vietnam surrendered to France in the late nineteenth century the territory it claimed to control had more than tripled to over 370,000 square kilometres
  9. ^ Hart, Hornell (1948). "The Logistic Growth of Political Areas". Social Forces. 26 (4): 402. doi:10.2307/2571873. ISSN 0037-7732. In the Mediterranean area the earliest historic governments which extended their territory by major use of fleets were the Greek and the Phoenecian, reaching areas of approximately 250,000 square miles each
  10. ^ Morrison, Kathleen D.; Sinopoli, Carla M. (1992). "Economic Diversity and Integration in a Pre-Colonial Indian Empire". World Archaeology. 23 (3): 336. ISSN 0043-8243. At its maximal extent the Vijayanagara empire encompassed some 360,000 square kilometers
  11. ^ Alcock, Susan E.; D'Altroy, Terence N.; Morrison, Kathleen D.; Sinopoli, Carla M. (2001-08-09). Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History. Cambridge University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-521-77020-0. The total spatial extent of the empire, not including the north coast, I estimate to have been some 320,000 square kilometers.

Gupta Empire

The 2 extents of Gupta Empire are of 2 different dates, it's peak was 3.5km², the 1.7km² is of its before peak. HindSindh (talk) 10:59, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The problem is we have two sources, that give this range. Slatersteven (talk) 11:51, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
but they are of 2 different dates!!
Like how roman empire was smaller during early times and then also broke up in later times! HindSindh (talk) 15:14, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I do not have access to the sources, so can neither confirm or dispute this, can you confirm the sources say different dates? Slatersteven (talk) 15:16, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
look in the article itself. HindSindh (talk) 15:27, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
We are not an RS. Slatersteven (talk) 15:33, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
East-West Orientation of Historical Empires - 3.5km (400 CE) (Peak)
Size and Duration of Empires - 1.7km (440 CE)
40 years difference, different dates HindSindh (talk) 16:19, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
YOu are saying these are taken from the two sources? Slatersteven (talk) 16:23, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
yes, they have different dates. so only peak should be taken. HindSindh (talk) 16:25, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]
I have read both sources, and you are mistaken. The figure for the year 440 is an estimate of the peak size; the same source gives a lower figure for the year 395. Look at the table on page 132 and the graph on page 118. TompaDompa (talk) 17:28, 19 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Portuguese Empire?

I just want to understand one thing, I don't care which sources or how many are listed, can anyone for gods sake explain how is it possible that the TOTAL AREA of the Portuguese EMPIRE is smaller than the area of Brazil on its own, including that of colonial Brazil (which lacked the state of Acre but had Uruguay as part of its territory nonetheless). Oh, there is a source! Yes, I could find some "academic" who attests the earth is flat as well. How can this absurdity not get contested. It's blatant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Morslyte (talkcontribs) 23:46, 10 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As the WP:Explanatory footnote in the article says, 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. TompaDompa (talk) 06:17, 11 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]
And what is the basis for the British Empire having 35 million square km? I've calculated all the modern area of both the Portuguese and Spanish Empire, as well as the Austrian Empire at peak, with addition of the Low Countries, half of Italy, the traditional lands of the Holy Roman Empire, my intended aim was to get a rough estimate of the control of Karl V, Holy Roman Emperor, which, at the time, those Empires were not even at their largest extension, however, if we were to consider all of the domains that once belonged to the Habsburger as of their largest extension possible across any point in history, the most I could come up with, greatly exaggerated as I'm aware you'll find, 27 million square km. So how exactly does the British Empire had 35 milion square km, obeying the same logic of which you mentioned, territory DE FACTO controlled not just de jure claimed. They didn't control all of Australia, their US colonies were mostly a strip of the east coast, Canada even a few tradeposts, and no longer held it at the time they had India, which, in itself, was not a part of the British Empire but rather a personal union, hence Queen Victoria was QUEEN but EMPRESS of India, but for the sake argument, let's suppose India is included, still, where are these 35 million square km on? I call this anglo bias. Morslyte (talk) 05:27, 12 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]