Tell me more ×
History Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for historians and history buffs. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite
1

I'm trivially curious to know how the British (colonial) and Spanish (colonial) Empires compared against the Mongol (~Genghis Khan) and Macedonian (~Alexander) Empires. The comparison I'm interested in would be in terms of the percentage area and percentage population of the (their) known world under their control.

share|improve this question
1  
Which Greek empire and which Mongol empire? – choster Nov 1 '12 at 19:10
@choster The largest ones? I've (hopefully) added some clarity to my question. – coleopterist Nov 1 '12 at 20:15
This is actually covered really well on Wikipedia. But I'm sceptical of the fact that Alexander's empire was significantly smaller than the Persian Achaemenid Empire 200 years before him. – coleopterist Nov 2 '12 at 6:08
2  
@coleopterist - That had me sceptical too. A look at the maps on their various wiki pages shows where this came from. Under Daris I the Persians controled a bit more of the Oxus valley up to the Aral sea and a bit more of North Africa that Alexander had. The only new territory the Greeks really brought into the empire was Greece. I don't see where that adds up to the 62% area difference the table shows, but I could see where it would be larger. A lot of those numbers in that chart don't add up though. (note how %of world land area doesn't always go up with max land area. WTF?) – T.E.D.♦ Nov 2 '12 at 14:37
1  
@T.E.D. - Math in those pages brought to you by J.K.Rowling school of mathematics. – DVK Nov 3 '12 at 21:45

Know someone who can answer? Share a link to this question via email, Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.