An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
The Indian subcontinent saw several empires and polities in thousands of years old past. Following is a list of largest empires and polities that ever existed on its soil.
List
editEmpire size in this list is defined as the dry land area it controlled at its greatest extent, which may differ considerably from the area it claimed.[1]
| Empire | Maximum land area | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Million km2 | Million sq mi | year | ||
| Maurya Empire | 3.4[2]–5.0[3] | 1.31–1.93 | 261 BC[2] or 250 BC[3] | |
| British Raj | 4.9 | 1.89 | 1921[4] | |
| Mughal Empire | 4.0 [3] | 1.54 | 1680[2] | |
| Gupta Empire | 1.7[2]–3.5[3] | 0.66–1.35 | 440[2] or 400[3] | |
| Delhi Sultanate | 3.2[2][3] | 1.24 | 1312[2][3] | |
| Indo-Scythian Kingdom | 2.6[2] | 1.00 | 20[2] | |
| Maratha Confederacy | 2.5[3] | 0.97 | 1760[3] | |
| Kushan Empire | 2.0[3]–2.5[2] | 0.77–0.97 | 200[3][2] | |
| Eastern Maurya Kingdom | 1.3[2] | 0.50 | 210 BC[2] | |
| Indo-Greek Kingdom | 1.1[2] | 0.42 | 150 BC[2] | |
| Pushyabhuti dynasty | 1.0[2][3] | 0.39 | 625[2] or 648[2][3] | |
| Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty | 1.0[2] | 0.39 | 860[2] | |
| Sikh Empire | 0.52 | 0.20 | 1839[5] | |
| Kosala | 0.5[2] | 0.19 | 543 BC[2] | |
| Magadha | 0.5[2] | 0.19 | 510 BC[2] | |
| Satavahana dynasty | 0.5[2] | 0.19 | 150[2] | |
| Western Satraps | 0.5[2] | 0.19 | 100[2] | |
| Indus Valley civilisation[a] | 0.3[2] | 0.12 | 1800 BC | |
References
edit- ^ a b Taagepera, Rein (1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 480. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. ISSN 0020-8833. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 475–504. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. ISSN 0020-8833. JSTOR 2600793. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (2006). "East–West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 219–229. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2006.369. ISSN 1076-156X.
- ^ "British Raj:an assesment". www.historyreclaimed.co.uk. 8 August 2022.
- ^ a b Singh, Amarpal (2010-08-15). The First Anglo-Sikh War. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2038-1.
By 1839, the year of his death, the Sikh kingdom extended from Tibet and Kashmir to Sind and from the Khyber Pass to the Himalayas in the east. It spanned 600 miles from east to west and 350 miles from north to south, comprising an area of just over 200,000 square miles.