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Do not fill this in! ===Modern period=== {{Multiple image | perrow = 2 | header = Empires of the Modern period | header_background = #f8eaba | image1 = Map of territorial growth 1775.jpg | caption1 = Red shows self-governing North American British colonies and pink shows claimed and largely indirectly controlled territories in 1775. | image2 = Maratha Empire 1674 - 1818 ad.PNG | caption2 = In 1680, the [[realm]]s of the [[Maratha Empire]] spanned from [[Attok]] in the west to [[Thanjavur]], [[Tamil Nadu]] in the south.<ref name="WilburCompany">{{Cite book |last1=Wilbur |first1=Marguerite Eyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTCsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA175 |title=The East India Company: And the British Empire in the Far East |last2=Company |first2=The East India |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-2864-5 |pages=175–178 |access-date=16 February 2014}}</ref> | image3 = Ottoman empire.svg | caption3 = [[Ottoman Empire]] at its greatest extent | image4 = Spanish Empire Anachronous en.svg | caption4 = [[Spanish empire|Spanish]]–[[Portuguese empire|Portuguese]] Empire of the [[Iberian Union]] (1580–1640) was the first global imperial entity. The map includes all Spanish territories, but only territories Portugal had during the Iberian Union. | image5 = French Empire on World 1812.png | caption5 = The map includes Napoleon's [[First French empire]] with its colonial ownership in 1812. [[Napoleon]]'s rule over Europe led to massive changes not only in Europe but across the world. | image6 = The Russian Empire-en.svg | caption6 = [[Russian Empire]] in 1866 became the second largest contiguous empire to have ever existed. [[Russia|The Russian Federation]] is currently the largest state on the planet. | image7 = BritishEmpire1919.png | caption7 = In 1920, the [[British Empire]] was [[List of largest empires|the largest empire in history]]. | image8 = EmpireFrench.png | caption8 = Evolution of the [[French colonial empire|French Empire]] in the 16th to the 20th century. In 1920, the [[French colonial empire]] was [[List of largest empires|the second largest empire in the world]]. | image9 = Italian Empire.png | caption9 = Italian Empire in 1942 | image10 = Qing dynasty in 1760.svg | caption10 = China's [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]] in 1760 | image11 = Japanese Empire (orthographic projection).svg | caption11 = 19th to 20th century [[Japanese Empire]] at its maximum extent, 1942 }} The British established their [[First British Empire|first empire]] (1583–1783) in North America by colonising lands that made up [[British America]], including parts of [[History of Canada#Canada under British rule (1763–1867)|Canada]], the [[Caribbean]] and the [[Thirteen Colonies]]. In 1776, the [[Continental Congress]] of the Thirteen Colonies declared itself independent from the British Empire, thus beginning the [[American Revolution]]. Britain turned towards Asia, the Pacific, and later Africa, with subsequent exploration and conquests leading to the rise of the [[Second British Empire]] (1783–1815), which was followed by the [[Industrial Revolution]] and [[Britain's Imperial Century]] (1815–1914). It became the [[World's largest empires|largest empire]] in world history, encompassing one quarter of the world's land area and one fifth of its population.<ref>Johnston, Steve, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FXkN1SF6NgsC&dq=%22By+1922%2C+the+British+Empire+presided%22&pg=PA90 Tea Party Culture War: A Clash of Worldviews]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, p90, "By 1922, the British Empire presided over 458 million people—one-quarter of the world's population—and comprised more than 13 million square miles."</ref> The impacts of this period are still prominent in the current age "including widespread use of the English language, belief in Protestant religion, economic globalization, modern precepts of law and order, and representative democracy."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Watts |first=Carl P |title=Pax Britannica |url=https://www.academia.edu/2013776 |page=3 |quote=it left many legacies, including widespread use of the English language, belief in Protestant religion, economic globalization, modern precepts of law and order, and representative democracy.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Winks |first=Robin W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mY7McxJl7jYC&pg=PA406 |title=World civilization: a brief history |date=1993 |publisher=Collegiate Press |isbn=978-0-939693-28-3 |edition=2nd |location=San Diego, CA |page=406 |quote=By 1914 common law, trail by jury, the King James Authorized Version of the Bible, the English language, and the British navy had been spread around the globe.}}</ref> The [[Qing dynasty|Great Qing Empire]] of China (1644–1912) was the [[List of largest empires#Empires at their greatest extent|fourth largest empire]] in world history by total land area, and [[Legacy of the Qing dynasty|laid the foundation for the modern territorial claims]] of both the [[China|People's Republic of China]] and the [[Taiwan|Republic of China]]. Apart from having direct control over much of East Asia, the empire also exerted domination over [[List of tributaries of China#Qing|other states]] through the [[Tributary system of China|Chinese tributary system]]. The multiethnic and multicultural nature of the Great Qing Empire was crucial to the subsequent birth of the nationalistic concept of ''[[zhonghua minzu]]''. The empire reached its peak during the reign of the [[Qianlong Emperor]], after which the empire entered a period of prolonged decline, culminating in its collapse as a result of the [[Xinhai Revolution]]. The [[Ashanti Empire]] (or Confederacy), also Asanteman (1701–1896), was a [[West African]] state of the [[Ashanti people|Ashanti]], the [[Akan people]] of the [[Ashanti Region]], Akanland in modern-day Ghana. The Ashanti (or Asante) were a powerful, militaristic and highly disciplined people in West Africa. Their military power, which came from effective strategy and an early adoption of European [[firearm]]s, created an empire that stretched from central Akanland (in modern-day Ghana) to present day [[Benin]] and [[Ivory Coast]], bordered by the [[Dagomba people|Dagomba]] kingdom to the north and [[Dahomey]] to the east. Due to the empire's military prowess, sophisticated hierarchy, social stratification and culture, the Ashanti empire had one of the largest [[historiographies]] of any indigenous [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]n political entity. The [[Sikh Empire]] (1799–1846) was established in the Punjab region of India. The empire collapsed when its founder, Ranjit Singh, died and its army fell to the British. During the same period, the [[Maratha Empire]] (also known as the Maratha Confederacy) was a Hindu state located in present-day India. It existed from 1674 to 1818, and at its peak, the empire's territories covered much of Southern Asia. The empire was founded and consolidated by Shivaji. After the death of [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] Emperor Aurangzeb, it expanded greatly under the rule of the Peshwas. In 1761, the Maratha army lost the Third Battle of Panipat, which halted the expansion of the empire. Later, the empire was divided into a confederacy of states which, in 1818, were lost to the British during the [[Anglo-Maratha Wars (disambiguation)|Anglo-Maratha wars]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pagadi |first=Setumadhavarao R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVFuAAAAMAAJ |title=Shivaji |publisher=National Book Trust, India |year=1983 |isbn=978-81-237-0647-4 |page=21}}</ref> France was a dominant empire possessing many [[colonies]] in various locations around the world. During [[Louis XIV]]'s long reign, from 1643 to 1715, France was the leading European power as Europe's most populous, richest and powerful country. The [[First French Empire|Empire of the French]] (1804–1814), also known as the [[Greater French Empire]] or [[First French Empire]], but more commonly known as the [[Napoleonic Empire]], was also the dominant power of much of continental Europe and, it ruled over 90 million people and was the sole power in Europe if not the world as [[United Kingdom|Britain]] was the only main rival during the early 19th Century. From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First [[French colonial empire]] stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over 10,000,000 km2 (3,900,000 sq mi), the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the [[Spanish Empire]].<ref>Robert Aldrich, ''Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion'' (1996) p 304</ref> It had many possesstions around the world, mainly in the [[Americas]], [[Asia]] and [[Africa]]. At its peak in 1750, French India had an area of 1.5 million km2 and a totaled population of 100 million people and was the most populous colony under [[French India|French rule]]. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire extended over {{convert|13,500,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of land at its height in the 1920s and 1930s with a totaled population of 150 million people. Including metropolitan France, the total amount of land under French sovereignty reached {{convert|13,500,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} at the time, which is 10.0% of the Earth's total land area. The total area of the French colonial empire, with the first (mainly in the Americas and Asia) and second (mainly in Africa and Asia), the French colonial empires combined, reached 24,000,000 km2 (9,300,000 sq mi), the second largest in the world (the first being the British Empire).<ref>{{cite book |editor=Melvin E. Page |title=Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA218 |year=2003 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=218 |isbn=978-1-57607-335-3 |access-date=23 December 2021 |archive-date=19 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119170748/https://books.google.com/books?id=qFTHBoRvQbsC&pg=PA218 |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Empire of Brazil]] (1822–1889) was the only South American modern monarchy, established by the heir of the [[Portuguese Empire]] as an independent nation eventually became an emerging international power. The new country was huge but sparsely populated and ethnically diverse. In 1889 the monarchy was overthrown in a sudden [[coup d'état]] led by a clique of military leaders whose goal was the formation of a republic. The [[German Empire]] (1871–1918), another "heir to the Holy Roman Empire", arose in 1871. 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