The word empire , in its positive sense, evokes something great, immense, limitless and limitless. But in a negative sense, it refers to forms of exploitation and absolute domination. It is no coincidence that the great Norwegian sociologist, Johan Galtung, defined empire as “an articulated set of military conquests , political domination, economic exploitation and cultural penetration”, or where a nation exercises its power in a hegemonic way to different countries that depend on it. it. But what was the largest and most powerful empire in the ancient world?
What was the largest and most powerful empire in the ancient world?
Throughout the centuries, different and powerful empires have appeared that left their mark on the universal history of mankind. Among the most legendary we remember the Empire of Alexander the Great , the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire or even the Spanish Empire . Some of them lasted thousands of years, others lasted several centuries, others collapsed after the death of their founding leader and others did not have time to consolidate over time, but if we have to talk about the greatest and most powerful of all, reaching « to dominate »more than 25% of the world’s population that is undoubtedly the British Empire.
The British Empire, the greatest of all time
The British Empire, with its many colonies , was by far the largest in history. Their territories are found on all continents and in all oceans . In 1921, it dominated about 1/4 of the world’s population (more than 500 million people), or 40% of the planet’s surface (almost 33 million km²). It included huge and strategic places like Canada, Australia, India, South Africa, Iraq, etc. and he was capable of controlling all the vital routes of the world. Suffice it to think that from 1976 Queen Victoria also added the formal title of “Empress of the Indies” to her titles.
This domination over many countries contributed to the enormous political and economic growth of the country, making it the largest economic power in the world for 100 years.
Its great decline began after World War II , when it lost its role of maximum power and independent nationalist forces spread through its colonies, helping to lose control over them and transform the Commonwealth into a community of sovereign and independent states. British colonial policy was driven almost exclusively by British commercial profit. The colonies were exploited and seen only as producers of raw materials for the British.
Considering that the economic power of the British power depended on trade, the loss of the colonies marked the end of the empire . Today almost nothing remains of what was “the greatest empire in history.” Only 14 small overseas territories, including Gibraltar, Bermuda and the Falkland Islands but in its day, it came to occupy an area of 32.8 million km²
