I just reviewed a fascinating ranking of the largest empires in history, and there are things you probably didn't know. Most people think the British Empire was the greatest exponent, and they're right — with 35.5 million km² at its peak, it was virtually unbeatable. But what's interesting is to see how other ancient empires came quite close.

The Mongol Empire, for example, reached 24 million km² in the 13th century. When you see it in perspective, it's almost the same as the Russian Empire with 22.8 million. What caught my attention is that many larger empires from history that we know of in the 20th century were actually smaller territorially than we imagine.

Chinese dynasties are a special case. The Qing Dynasty reached 14.7 million km², the Yuan with 11 million, and the Tang also with 5 million. It's impressive how China maintained massive territorial expansions over millennia.

In the West, the Spanish Empire reached 13.7 million km², the French 11.5 million, and the Portuguese 10.4 million. These were the major colonial players, but territorially they fell below several Asian empires.

What is less mentioned is that larger empires in history like the Abbasid Caliphate (11.1 million) or the Umayyad (11 million) rivaled European powers in size, but simply don't have the same visibility in Western texts.

If you look at absolute numbers, the Roman Empire with 5 million km² sounds small compared to these giants, but it was incredibly influential during its time. The same goes for the Ottoman Empire with 5.2 million — its geopolitical impact was huge even though the territory wasn't the largest.

What’s fascinating about studying the largest empires in history is understanding that size doesn't always equate to lasting power. Some of these massive territories collapsed quickly, while others smaller ones left legacies that endure to this day.