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Ranked list

Top 100 Largest Empires in History

Saturday, August 22, 2026

A past Centumth puzzle. Play it on this page with five guesses, or read the full Top 100 ranking below.

History flex. Ranked by peak land area controlled (million km²) from Wikipedia’s list of largest empires (Taagepera / historical atlas estimates). Boundaries and “effective control” are debated — British, Mongol, and Russian empires top the board.

This list was researched and ranked by hand for Centumth. Entries near #1 are the names almost everyone thinks of first. Entries near #100 are true, a little obscure, and still fair if you think sideways. Sources below are the starting point — the final order can include small editorial calls so the daily puzzle stays balanced.

You can play this archive puzzle with five guesses, or reveal the complete ranking if you came here looking for the list. Revealing locks this puzzle — you won’t be able to play it afterward.

Sources

Outbound sources help you verify the ranking. The published order is Centumth’s.

The full Top 100

  1. #1British Empire
  2. #2Mongol Empire
  3. #3Russian Empire
  4. #4Qing dynasty
  5. #5Spanish Empire
  6. #6French Colonial Empire
  7. #7Abbasid Caliphate
  8. #8Umayyad Caliphate
  9. #9Yuan dynasty
  10. #10United States
  11. #11Xiongnu Empire
  12. #12Empire of Brazil
  13. #13Empire of Japan
  14. #14Eastern Han dynasty
  15. #15Ming dynasty
  16. #16Rashidun Caliphate
  17. #17First Turkic Khaganate
  18. #18Golden Horde
  19. #19Western Han dynasty
  20. #20Achaemenid Empire
  21. #21Portuguese Empire
  22. #22Tang dynasty
  23. #23Macedonian Empire
  24. #24Ottoman Empire
  25. #25Northern Yuan dynasty
  26. #26Roman Empire
  27. #27Xin dynasty
  28. #28Tibetan Empire
  29. #29Xianbei state
  30. #30First Mexican Empire
  31. #31Timurid Empire
  32. #32Fatimid Caliphate
  33. #33Eastern Turkic Khaganate
  34. #34Hunnic Empire
  35. #35Mughal Empire
  36. #36Great Seljuk Empire
  37. #37Seleucid Empire
  38. #38Italian Empire
  39. #39Ilkhanate
  40. #40Dzungar Khanate
  41. #41Chagatai Khanate
  42. #42Sasanian Empire
  43. #43Western Turkic Khaganate
  44. #44Western Xiongnu
  45. #45First French colonial empire
  46. #46Ghaznavid Empire
  47. #47Maurya Empire
  48. #48Delhi Sultanate
  49. #49German colonial empire
  50. #50Northern Song dynasty
  51. #51Uyghur Khaganate
  52. #52Western Jin dynasty
  53. #53Danish Empire
  54. #54Sui dynasty
  55. #55Safavid Empire
  56. #56Samanid Empire
  57. #57Eastern Jin dynasty
  58. #58Median Empire
  59. #59Parthian Empire
  60. #60Rouran Khaganate
  61. #61Byzantine Empire
  62. #62Indo-Scythian Kingdom
  63. #63Liao dynasty
  64. #64Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
  65. #65Later Zhao
  66. #66Maratha Empire
  67. #67Belgian colonial empire
  68. #68Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
  69. #69Khwarazmian Empire
  70. #70Qin dynasty
  71. #71Dutch Empire
  72. #72First French Empire
  73. #73Kievan Rus'
  74. #74Mamluk Sultanate
  75. #75Southern Song dynasty
  76. #76Third Portuguese Empire
  77. #77Almohad Caliphate
  78. #78Cao Wei
  79. #79Former Qin
  80. #80Former Zhao
  81. #81Ghurid dynasty
  82. #82Inca Empire
  83. #83Kushan Empire
  84. #84Liu Song dynasty
  85. #85Northern Wei
  86. #86Western Roman Empire
  87. #87Ayyubid dynasty
  88. #88Gupta Empire
  89. #89Hephthalite Empire
  90. #90Buyid dynasty
  91. #91Eastern Wu
  92. #92Northern Qi
  93. #93Northern Xiongnu
  94. #94Northern Zhou
  95. #95Neo-Assyrian Empire
  96. #96Eastern Maurya Kingdom
  97. #97Liang dynasty
  98. #98Qajar Empire
  99. #99Kingdom of Aksum
  100. #100Shang dynasty

The full ranked list is included on this page. Use Reveal full 100 list to read it, or play the game above.