List of largest empires. An empire involves the extension of a state's sovereignty over external territories and variety of different ethnic groups. The term "empire" does not have a precise definition, but is generally applied to political entities that are considered to be especially large by the standards of their time and that have acquired a significant part of their territory by conquest. For example, first the Spanish Empire and then the British Empire were called "the empires on which the sun never sets", because of their vast territories and possessions around the globe. This article provides a list of the largest empires in world history, but the list is not and cannot be definitive, since the decision about which entities to consider as "empires" is difficult and fraught with controversy. There are various notions of size that can be used to rank empires. Measurement[edit] The calculation of the land area of a particular empire is controversial.
Debates regarding definition of imperial domains[edit] The Ancients Civilizations that have shaped our planet. The Ancients is a term often used to classify ancient civilizations of people, races, and societies throughout history. But the earliest groups – herein referred to as “The Ancients,” is information referencing the ancient civilizations, and how they were instrumental in setting precedent for the modern societies and belief systems adopted by modern man.
The Ancient civilizations had government, religion, military, art and other important social and cultural facets. So if the thought of ancient civilizations brings to mind only dusty, crumbling temples, you will find that, and a whole lot more within the pages of The Dimension Zone. We know the Egyptians built the pyramids, but where, or whom, did they their learn their engineering prowess from? We also know of the groundbreaking Greek concepts on democracy, a template of how modern governments are now organized. Historical powers. The historical term "Great Nation",[3][4][5] distinguished aggregate of people inhabiting a particular country or territory, and "Great Empire",[6] considerable group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, are colloquial; use is seen in ordinary historical conversations (historical jargon). History[edit] Ancient powers[edit] Ancient Near East[edit] The term ancient Near East encompasses the early civilizations during the time roughly spanning the Bronze Age from the rise of Sumer and Gerzeh in the 4th millennium BCE to the expansion of the Persian Empire in the 6th century BCE.
The ancient Near East is generally understood as encompassing Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria), Persia (modern Iran), Armenia, the Levant (modern Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Authority), and at times Anatolia (modern Turkey) and Ancient Egypt. Sumer and Akkad[edit] Ancient Babylon was officially conquered by the Achemidian Persian Empire in the late 6th century BCE. Elam[edit] Ancient Civilisations Timeline. History of Mesopotamia. The history of Mesopotamia describes the history of the area known as Mesopotamia, roughly coinciding with the Tigris–Euphrates basin, from the earliest human occupation in the Lower Paleolithic period up to the Muslim conquests in the 7th century AD.
This history is pieced together from evidence retrieved from archaeological excavations and, after the introduction of writing in the late 4th millennium BC, an increasing amount of historical sources. While in the Paleolithic and early Neolithic periods only parts of Upper Mesopotamia were occupied, the southern alluvium was settled during the late Neolithic period. Mesopotamia has been home to many of the oldest major civilizations, entering history from the Early Bronze Age, for which reason it is often dubbed the cradle of civilization. Short outline of Mesopotamia[edit] Mesopotamia literally means "(Land) between rivers" in ancient Greek. Chronology and periodization[edit] Prehistory[edit] Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic periods[edit] Mesopotamian religion.
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and East Semitic Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Chaldeans living in Mesopotamia (a region encompassing modern Iraq, Kuwait, south east Turkey and north east Syria) that dominated the region for a period of 4,200 years from the fourth millennium BCE throughout Mesopotamia to approximately the 10th century CE in Assyria.[1] Mesopotamian Polytheism was the only religion in ancient Mesopotamia for thousands of years before entering a period of gradual decline beginning between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE. As with most dead religions, many aspects of the common practices and intricacies of the doctrine have been lost and forgotten over time.
History[edit] Overview map of ancient Mesopotamia. The people of Mesopotamia originally consisted of two groups, the East Semitic Akkadians (later to be known as Assyrian and Babylonians) and the Sumerians who spoke a Language Isolate. Mesopotamia. Map showing the extent of Mesopotamia Mesopotamia (from the Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία: "[land] between rivers"; Arabic: بلاد الرافدين (bilād al-rāfidayn); Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ (Beth Nahrain): "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, the northeastern section of Syria and to a much lesser extent southeastern Turkey and smaller parts of southwestern Iran.
Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization in the West, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire.
Etymology Geography History Periodization Literature.
Babylonian Empire [1900 - 1600 BC] Mesopotamia Dynasty list. Early Dynastic period[edit] Late third to mid-second millennium BCE[edit] Mitanni[edit] Mid-second to first millennium BC[edit] Eclipse and Venus observation records[edit] Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa Base on an Assyria record of Eclipse on June 15, 763 BC, and the related date documents between Assyria and Babylonia, the dates after 1400 BC are reliable. See also[edit] Notes[edit] Bibliography[edit] The University of Pennsylvania Museum; Beijing World Art Museum (Feb 2007). Akkadian Empire [2300-2200 BC] Egyptian Empire [1570 - 1070 BC] Achaemenid Empire [550 - 330 BC] Median Empire [625 - 549 BC]
Chinese Empire [221 BC - 1912 AD] Mesoamerica. Mesoamerica and its cultural areas Mesoamerica is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.[1][2] It is one of six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently, and the second in the Americas after Norte Chico (Caral-Supe) in present-day northern coastal Peru.
Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico and extended inland and southwards across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas, Guatemala and Oaxaca laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
Aztec Empire [1428–1521 AD]