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List of largest empires and polities on Indian subcontinent

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The Indian subcontinent saw several empires and polities in thousands of years old past. Following is alist of largest empires and polities that ever existed on its soil.

List

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By land area

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Empire size in this list is defined as the dry land area it controlled at its greatest extent, which may differ considerably from the area it claimed..[1]

Empire Maximum land area
Million km2 Million sq mi year
British Raj 4.9 1.89 1921[2]
Mughal Empire 4.0 [3] 1.54 1680[4]
Maurya Empire 3.4[4]–5.0[3] 1.31–1.93 261 BC[4] or 250 BC[3]
Delhi Sultanate 3.2[4][3] 1.24 1312[4][3]
Indo-Scythian Kingdom 2.6[4] 1.00 20[4]
Maratha Confederacy 2.5[3] 0.97 1760[3]
Kushan Empire 2.0[3]–2.5[4] 0.77–0.97 200[3][4]
Gupta Empire 1.7[4]–3.5[3] 0.66–1.35 440[4] or 400[3]
Eastern Maurya Kingdom 1.3[4] 0.50 210 BC[4]
Indo-Greek Kingdom 1.1[4] 0.42 150 BC[4]
Pushyabhuti dynasty 1.0[4][3] 0.39 625[4] or 648[4][3]
Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty 1.0[4] 0.39 860[4]
Sikh Empire 0.52 0.20

[5]

1839[5]
Kosala 0.5[4] 0.19 543 BC[4]
Magadha 0.5[4] 0.19 510 BC[4]
Satavahana dynasty 0.5[4] 0.19 150[4]
Western Satraps 0.5[4] 0.19 100[4]
Indus Valley civilisation[a] 0.3[4] 0.12 1800 BC
  1. ^ The extent to which this constituted a cohesive political entity is uncertain.[1]

By period

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Empire Land area during time
as largest empire 		Approximate period[4]
Million km2[4] Million sq mi

Following is the list of largest empires by every period of Indian history

Indus Valley civilisation 0.15 0.06 2100 BC
Kuru Kingdom 0.5 0.19 1200 BC
Kosala 0.5 0.19 600 BC
Magadha 0.5 0.19 500 BC
Nanda Empire 0.5 0.19 345 BC
Mauryan Empire 3.2 1.24 261 BC
Indo-Greek Kingdom 1.5 0.58 150 BC
Indo-Scythians 2.7 1.04 20
Gupta Empire 1.7 0.66 400
Pushyabhuti dynasty 1.0 0.39 648
Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty 1.0 0.39 865
Delhi Sultanate 3.2 1.24 1300
Mughal Empire 4.0 1.54 1700
Maratha Confederacy 2.5[3] 0.97 1760[3]
British Raj 4.9 1.89 1920

References

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  1. ^ a b Taagepera, Rein (1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 480. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. ISSN 0020-8833. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  2. ^ "British Raj:an assesment". www.historyreclaimed.co.uk.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (2006). "East–West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 219–229. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2006.369. ISSN 1076-156X.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 475–504. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. ISSN 0020-8833. JSTOR 2600793. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b Singh, Amarpal (2010-08-15). The First Anglo-Sikh War. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-2038-1. By 1839, the year of his death, the Sikh kingdom extended from Tibet and Kashmir to Sind and from the Khyber Pass to the Himalayas in the east. It spanned 600 miles from east to west and 350 miles from north to south, comprising an area of just over 200,000 square miles.
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