Empires and States and When They Existed

Nile kingdom whose pharaohs ruled for three thousand years, from the first pyramids to the Roman conquest

Bronze Age civilization of Crete, known for its sprawling palace complexes and the bull imagery painted through them

Mesopotamian empire under Sargon and his heirs, generally counted as the first empire in recorded history

Mesoamerican civilization of city-states in the rainforest, with the only fully worked-out writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas

Anatolian kingdom whose capital Hattusa dominated the region in the late Bronze Age

Bronze Age Greek civilization of fortified citadels and shaft graves, remembered afterwards as the world of Homer's heroes

Coastal trading cities of Tyre, Sidon and Byblos whose ships worked the whole Mediterranean

Nubian state south of Egypt that conquered and ruled the pharaohs' land

United monarchy in Canaan that later split into northern and southern kingdoms

Southern Israelite kingdom centered on Jerusalem, destroyed by Babylon, whose exiles carried the Hebrew scriptures with them

Mesopotamian power centered on Nineveh that conquered much of the Near East

League of city-states in central Italy whose engineering and last kings were absorbed by early Rome

Greek city-state organized entirely around its army, ruled by two kings and served by a subject farming population

Phoenician-founded city-state on the North African coast that dominated western Mediterranean trade until Rome destroyed it

Anatolian kingdom proverbially rich in gold, whose river sands supplied the metal for the earliest coinage

Mesopotamian state that took over from Assyria, rebuilt Babylon in glazed brick, and fell to Persia within a century

Vast Achaemenid realm stretching from the Indus to the Aegean under successive great kings

Leading Greek city-state, whose assembly of ordinary citizens and large navy shaped classical politics and drama

Short-lived realm created by Alexander that reached from Greece to the borders of India

First empire to unite most of the Indian subcontinent under a single ruler

Arab trading kingdom of the incense routes, whose capital Petra was cut directly into the rose-colored cliffs

Hellenistic successor state ruling Syria and much of the former Persian lands

Greek dynasty ruling Egypt from Alexandria, founded by one of Alexander's generals and ended by Cleopatra

Iranian empire of mounted archers that held the Near East against Rome for nearly five centuries

Chinese state that first unified the warring kingdoms under a single emperor

Chinese dynasty that set the pattern for imperial government, and gave the majority Chinese ethnic group its name

Empire ruled from Rome and later Constantinople, spanning the Mediterranean world for some five centuries

Trading empire of the Ethiopian highlands that struck its own gold coinage and raised carved stone obelisks over royal tombs

The last Persian empire before Islam, whose court ceremony and art were copied by Byzantines and Arabs alike

North Indian empire remembered for Sanskrit drama, classical Hindu temple art and a long period of settled rule

Eastern Roman continuation centered on Constantinople that preserved Roman law and Greek learning until 1453

Italian realm established by Theodoric after defeating Odoacer and ruling with Roman administrative traditions

Germanic state in northern Italy that clashed with the papacy and was eventually conquered by the Franks

Chinese dynasty of the poets and the Silk Road, whose capital was the largest and most cosmopolitan city on earth

Early Islamic empire based in Damascus that expanded from Spain to the borders of India before its overthrow

Islamic empire ruling from Baghdad that preserved Greek learning and oversaw a golden age of science, poetry and philosophy

Frankish realm reunified by Charlemagne that revived learning and laid foundations for medieval European states

Medieval East Slavic federation centered on Kiev that adopted Orthodox Christianity and traded with Byzantium and the Baltic

Shia Ismaili dynasty ruling North Africa and Egypt from a new capital at Cairo for over two centuries

Anglo-Saxon realm unified under Wessex that later fell to Norman invaders and developed common law institutions

Umayyad successor state in al-Andalus that became a center of learning, poetry and architectural splendor

Chinese dynasty of paper money, gunpowder weapons and printed books, which lost the north and ruled on from the south

Loose confederation of central European territories under an elected emperor, lasting from Charlemagne's successors to Napoleon

Western European monarchy evolving from Carolingian fragments into a centralized state under the Capetian dynasty

Central European realm founded by Magyar tribes that converted to Christianity and resisted Mongol invasion

Central European monarchy that adopted Catholicism and later joined Lithuania in a powerful commonwealth

Turkic sultanate controlling Persia and Anatolia that defeated Byzantine armies and opened Asia Minor to Turkish settlement

Berber Muslim dynasty that ruled Morocco and al-Andalus and enforced strict religious orthodoxy across the Maghreb

North African empire that succeeded the Almoravids and ruled the Maghreb and southern Spain from Marrakesh and Seville

Kurdish Muslim rulers of Egypt, Syria and Yemen founded by Saladin after ending Fatimid rule in Cairo

Series of Muslim dynasties ruling northern India from Delhi and introducing Persian administration and architecture

Vast nomadic empire stretching from China to Eastern Europe under Genghis Khan and his successors, dominating Eurasia through rapid conquests

West African state controlling trans-Saharan gold trade and famous for the pilgrimage of its ruler to Mecca

Mongol khanate ruling the Russian principalities and western steppes from a capital on the Volga river

Military regime of slave soldiers in Egypt and Syria that halted Mongol expansion and ruled until the Ottomans arrived

Mongol state in Persia and Iraq established by Hulagu that later converted to Islam and patronized Persian culture

Turkish state centered on Constantinople that expanded across three continents and lasted until the early twentieth century

Central Asian empire founded by Timur that briefly united Persia, Central Asia and northern India before fragmenting

Mesoamerican alliance ruling from an island capital in a lake, reached by causeways and fed by floating gardens

Andean empire running the length of the western coast, held together by paved roads and relay runners

West African empire on the Niger that grew from Mali's collapse and controlled the trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt

Steppe state founded by two breakaway sultans, which held the grasslands between Siberia and the Central Asian cities

Unified realm created when Ferdinand of Aragon married Isabella of Castile and ended Muslim rule

Persian dynasty that established Twelver Shia Islam as the state religion across Iran and parts of Iraq

Southern Italian realm ruled by Spanish viceroys and later by the Bourbon dynasty

Baltic power that rose under Gustav Vasa after breaking from the Kalmar Union

Central European composite state that held Austria, Bohemia and Hungary together under one family for four centuries

Czech crown land that became a Habsburg hereditary possession after the Thirty Years War

Turkic-Mongol dynasty that ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from Delhi and Agra for three centuries

Spanish colonial kingdom that governed Mexico, Central America and the Philippines from Mexico City

Realm created when Henry VIII declared himself king and began English plantation

Spanish colonial kingdom centered in Lima that controlled most of South America for centuries

Elective monarchy formed by the union of Poland and Lithuania that dominated eastern Europe

Federation of seven provinces that broke from Spain and became, for a century, the richest trading power in Europe

West African kingdom of the Bight of Benin, built on war and the slave trade under a centralized court

Northern kingdom whose crown passed to a king who then inherited England, a century before the two parliaments joined

Military government that unified Japan under one clan and kept it closed to most foreign contact for over two centuries

Yoruba empire of the West African savannah whose cavalry dominated the region between the forest and the Niger

Iberian monarchy restored after sixty years of Spanish rule during the war of independence

Manchu dynasty that conquered China and ruled from Beijing until the early twentieth century

Scandinavian realm that lost Norway yet kept Greenland and the Faroe Islands

Old Norse realm that remained under Danish crown until transferred to Sweden

Hindu confederacy that rose in the western Deccan and challenged Mughal control across India

Arab maritime power that drove the Portuguese from the East African coast and ran the Indian Ocean clove trade

West African state built on gold and kola, whose king sat on a stool believed to hold the nation's soul

Brandenburg state elevated to kingdom that later unified Germany under Hohenzollern rule

Parliamentary state created by the union of England and Scotland under a single crown

Savoyard state that gained the island of Sardinia and later led Italian unification

Tsardom that expanded across Eurasia after Peter the Great took the imperial title in the Baltic

Federal republic formed by thirteen British colonies that declared independence and wrote a constitution still in force

South American republic that declared independence from Spain during the wars of liberation

North American republic that won independence from Spain after a decade of revolutionary wars

South American republic that declared independence from Portugal and became a federal republic in 1889

Western European kingdom that separated from the Netherlands after a short revolution in 1830

Southern European republic that won independence from the Ottoman Empire after a long war

Southern European republic formed by unification of kingdoms and duchies under the House of Savoy

North American federation created by confederation of British colonies with dominion status in 1867

Federal parliamentary republic in central Europe reunified after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990

Oceanian federation formed by six British colonies with a written constitution and federal parliament

Northern European republic that declared independence from Russia during the First World War

Central European republic re-established after the partitions and the end of the First World War

North African republic that gained nominal independence from Britain after the First World War

Western European republic that gained independence from Britain after a war of independence

Federal socialist state spanning northern Eurasia, formed after the Russian revolution and dissolved in 1991

Eurasian republic founded after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the war of independence

Middle Eastern republic created from Ottoman provinces under a British mandate after 1920

Middle Eastern kingdom unified by conquest under the House of Saud in the early twentieth century

Southeast Asian republic of thousands of islands, formed from the Dutch East Indies after the Japanese occupation ended

Southeast Asian republic that declared independence from France at the end of the Second World War

Southeast Asian archipelago republic that gained independence from the United States after the war

South Asian republic that gained independence from Britain and adopted a constitution in 1950

South Asian republic created at partition as a homeland for the subcontinent's Muslims, and the first Islamic republic

Middle Eastern republic established as a Jewish homeland after the end of the British mandate

East Asian republic established after the division of the Korean peninsula at the thirty-eighth parallel

East Asian republic proclaimed after a long civil war, whose losing side kept the old government on an island

North African republic that won independence from France after a bitter eight-year war

East African republic that gained independence from Britain after the Mau Mau uprising

Southeast Asian federation formed from British colonies on the Malay peninsula and Borneo

Southeast Asian city-state that separated from Malaysia and became an independent republic

Political and economic union of member states located primarily in Europe with shared institutions and currency