Largest Empires in History by Total Land 1. British Empire - 36.6 million km² or 14.13 million mi² (under King George V in 1922) 2. Mongol Empire - 33.2 million km² or 12.82 million mi² (under Khublai Khan in 1268) 3. Russian Empire - 22.8 million km² or 8.8 million mi² (under Nicholas II in 1895) 4. Spanish Empire - 19 million km² or 7.33 million mi² (under King Charles III r. 1759-1788) 5. Umayyad Arab Empire - 13.2 million km² or 5.1 million mi² (under Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik r. 723-743) http://www.thejournal.org/studylibrary/maps/list-of-largest-most-powerful-empires-in-history.html On the other hand, "powerful" is very relative. But I would go with either the British Empire or the Roman Empire because of their lasting contributions to civilization.

The British Empire all the way; first Empire in which the sun never set ; )

The American Empire It not only spans the world but also space and the moon.

SORRY,they are all wrong, the Mongols under Genghis Khan had the largest,33 million km² was just the satble period under Kublai Khan,but at its peak,the Mongol Empire covered over 40 million km² larger than the British Empire

No, British Empire was *not* largest empire in history-- that's a persistent myth (which I say as a proud Anglophile Australian). Largest was USSR's Soviet Empire after WWII-- not just Russia but all the SSR's (Kazakhstan alone bigger than all of Western Europe), plus Mongolia and the Warsaw Pact countries in E. Europe. Close to 43-44 million km². Then the Mongols under Kublai Khan (conquest of Song Empire), not Genghis! This isn't the only one-- the Soviet and Mongol empires were bigger regardless, but even aside from that, the British Empire size is too often overstated. British only ruled about 50% of India, the rest was not under British control! Independent or ruled by French/Portuguese. Same with many regions of Africa (e.g. Somalia under joint control with Italy, Egypt in cahoots with French and British viceroys but self-ruling). Persia was never a British colony, and Afghanistan was totally independent-- the Afghans defeated the British in wars 3 times!!! Moreover, the vast majority of Canada (by far Britain's largest dominion) is cold scrubland, uncharted, inhabited by Inuit who never answered to the British and in which the British had no administration. *Not* an imperial domain. The British *did* chart and settle more of the Australian interior, and had some administration there, but even here, much of the Outback was never administered or under central control. The minimum definition of any empire is that it has an administration in a region, and this wasn't the case in most of Canada and Australia! So no matter which way you look at it, many Empires were bigger than the British-- the Soviet and Mongol Empires under any definition. When you remove the territories that are often erroneously included (such as Afghanistan, Persia, half of India) the Empire's size is even smaller. Take out most unadministered, unsettled Canada and Australia, and the British Empire is still big not even in the Top 5. As for the most successful, most influential Empire in history? China: the Empire became a country that's over 2,000 years old, superpower then and superpower now! No other empire comes remotely close-- the British Empire was recent, from around the late 1700's and collapsed after the World Wars (WWI destroyed the British Empire even more than the second did). Now, Britain is already a small, weak power in comparison. After China, maybe the Arabs (conquered the richest, most coveted region of the world around the 7th century, spread their empire far and wide, Muslim ever since!). Then maybe the Spanish and the Portuguese before the British (quite culturally successful in Latin America).

USA. My 2 cents.

The United States of America's empire was not the largest in size, although not tiny considering it had much of South America, Asia, and the pacific had the largest military in the world, and had 35 percent of all the worlds money. Furthermore, the Persian empire was not the biggest but it had 46 percent of the worlds population. I say if u have that much money and/or people its very hard to lose if you invaded other countries. Moreover, the British empire was the largest empire in history, had one of the greatest populations under its jurisdictions, and one of the powerfullest armies. Really its a toss up between The British, American, and Persian. But i personally believe its the British,Persian, then American empire in order of strength.

Roman

ottoman empire tabiki

Episode V

The British empire was the biggest, and the United States is the most powerful, if you can call it an 'empire', which its not.

The problem with the question is that those seemingly straightforward words can be open to interpretation. It depends on how you define empire. Is that influence? Or people under your direct control? Is power the amount of troops and ships? or the ability to project force? (They're not the same.) You can make the argument that the United States has the greatest influence on the largest area and a large part of this is the overwhelming ability to project force anywhere around the world. (Notice that the Chinese have not invaded Taiwan. There is a reason.) You could also say that this makes the U.S. an empire. It's all how you interpret it.

Turks have the most powerful empires

The First Galactic Empire of Palpatine.

I have put much thought into this and looked around and from i have gathered and seen yes america do make alot of the global decisions however if they upset britain or threaened britain. Then britain still has the the empire because the whole empire didnt vanish just changed to what we now call the commonwealth and the queen of england is what you would call the president of that so vritain still unoffiacly is the worlds most influencial and powerful countreis from the evidenc and info i gathered!!!!!!!!!

The Klingon Empire.

[paraphrased secondary to eroding memory] = "Upon his last victory Alexander wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." Ottoman! ;-)

Depends on the area and time period. Each era had a large empire in a specific place and group of people.

The British Empire

The British Empire at it's height, ca. 1910. +2

The revival Romain Empire... 2012