The world's richest empires ever revealed (2024)

0 of Abraham Ortelius [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Economic superpowers that spread far and wide

Economic superpowers that spanned entire continents, the world's mightiest empires amassed fabulous wealth, enriching themselves at the expense of the nations they colonised. We chart the rise and fall of 10 of the most affluent of all time and reveal their peak GDPs. Estimates are courtesy of the Maddison Project unless otherwise stated, and are based on 1990 international dollars.

1 of Marzolino/Shutterstock

Spanish Empire: $23.9 billion (£19bn)

The first truly global empire, imperial Spain controlled huge swathes of modern-day Latin America, the Philippines, parts of Africa and territories in Europe from the Netherlands to Sicily at various points during the late 15th to the early 19th centuries.

2 of Myotis/Shutterstock

Spanish Empire: $23.9 billion (£19bn)

The empire derived much of its wealth from the New World. The riches of the conquered Aztec and Inca Empires were plundered during the 16th century and vast quantities of gold, silver and gemstones were mined and exported to the Old World via the Spanish Treasure Galleons.

3 of Giulio Nanetti [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Spanish Empire: $23.9 billion (£19bn)

At its height in 1700, the Spanish Empire had a GDP of $23.9 billion (£19bn) or 6.5% of the global total, but its days were numbered. Revolutionary movements developed in the colonies, and the empire lost the lion's share of its territories following the Spanish American wars of Independence in the early 19th century.

4 of Alexis Hubert Jaillot [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ottoman Empire: $26.4 billion (£21bn)

Rising in the 13th century, the affluent Ottoman Empire went on to cover Anatolia and large parts of Southeastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East at its zenith under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520 to 1566.

5 of Suleymaname, circa 1558, anonymous Ottoman author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ottoman Empire: $26.4 billion (£21bn)

The sultan presided over a golden age of military conquest, unprecedented prosperity and great artistic achievement, but it was all downhill from there and the empire was overtaken economically by Europe's major powers in the 1700s.

6 of Başkanlığını Aydın ERKMEN'in yürüttüğü Azeri ve Rus ressamlardan oluşan bir komisyon tarafından yapılmıştır. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Ottoman Empire: $26.4 billion (£21bn)

The empire's GDP peaked at $26.4 billion (£21bn) in 1913, but it was on its last legs by this point, riven by internal strife. After siding with Germany in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and was reborn in 1922 as the much scaled-down Republic of Turkey.

7 of Abraham Ortelius [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Roman Empire: $43.4 billion (£34.5bn)

The Roman Empire emerged after the fall of the Republic in 27 BC and reached the height of its power and prestige in the 2nd century AD when it covered millions of square kilometres spanning much of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

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Roman Empire: $43.4 billion (£34.5bn)

9 of Karl Bryullov [Public domain]., via Wikimedia Commons

Roman Empire: $43.4 billion (£34.5bn)

A victim of its sheer size, the Roman Empire became too big to govern and entered into decline during the 3rd century, though its influence on Western civilisation has been profound. Barbarian invasions finished off the Western Empire in the 5th century, but the Eastern part, the Byzantine Empire, survived until 1453.

10 of Charles Joppen [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Mughal Empire: $90.8 billion (£72.1bn)

The magnificent Mughal Empire was founded in 1526 and extended over almost the entire Indian subcontinent during its peak in the 17th century, absorbing Afghanistan to boot. By 1700, the empire had bypassed Qing China to become the world's foremost economic power.

11 of Royal Collection [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Mughal Empire: $90.8 billion (£72.1bn)

The GDP of Mughal India, which was the planet's leading manufacturing power, reached an all-time high in 1700, hitting $90.8 billion (£72.1bn), a whopping 25% of the global total. The entire GDP of Western Europe was $82.2 billion (£65.3bn) at the time, while China's is estimated at $82.8 billion (£65.8bn).

12 of Benjamin West [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Mughal Empire: $90.8 billion (£72.1bn)

Internal conflict led to the breakup of the empire during the late 18th century, and it was eventually taken over by the British. Competition from industrialised Europe in the 19th century decimated India's industries and the colonised nation lost much of its power and wealth.

13 of Chicago : Rand, McNally & Co. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Austro-Hungarian Empire: $100.5 billion (£79.8bn)

Ravaged by the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Austrian Empire was forced to enter a mutually beneficial union with its neighbour the Kingdom of Hungary the following year. A force to be reckoned with, the newly formed Austro-Hungarian Empire was a key European power player.

14 of Wikimedia Commons

Austro-Hungarian Empire: $100.5 billion (£79.8bn)

As well as boasting enviable military prowess, the empire was one of the world's leading manufacturers, developing formidable auto, locomotive and aeronautical industries by the early 20th century. In 1913, its GDP peaked, reaching $100.5 billion (£79.8bn), 3.7% of the global total.

15 of The Independent [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Austro-Hungarian Empire: $100.5 billion (£79.8bn)

Like the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary made the fatal mistake of entering the First World War on Germany's side, and the empire was broken up in 1918, leading to a number of less powerful successor states including Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.

16 of Wikimedia Commons

German Empire: $126.1 billion (£100.2bn)

The German Empire came into being after the unification of Germany in 1871. An economic superpower, the empire was the world's third biggest following the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century, when Germany colonised parts of Africa and the Pacific.

17 of ZEISS Microscopy from Germany [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

German Empire: $126.1 billion (£100.2bn)

The German economy was in excellent shape by the end of the 19th century and had become highly industrialised, outpacing the UK and its neighbour France (excluding their respective empires) with ease.

18 of New York Times [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

German Empire: $126.1 billion (£100.2bn)

In 1890, the empire had a GDP of $126.1 billion (£100.2bn). That same year, Germany embraced Weltpolitik, an aggressive foreign policy that ultimately led to its defeat in the First World War and the empire's downfall in 1918. It emerged as the much smaller and wing-clipped Weimar Republic.

19 of Courtesy Carambas Vintage Prints [Public domain] via Pinterest

French Empire: $234.1 billion (£186bn)

France colonised parts of North America, Africa and India during the 16th and 17th centuries, but had lost most of its territories to rival European powers by the early 19th century. The so-called second colonial empire began in 1830 with the invasion of Algiers in North Africa.

20 of G. Gernadin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

French Empire: $234.1 billion (£186bn)

By the early 20th century century, France's overseas territories included Indochina (modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), much of North and West Africa, Madagascar, New Caledonia, French Guiana and several Caribbean islands.

21 of Vietnam People's Army, First publish in 1954. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

French Empire: $234.1 billion (£186bn)

The empire's GDP reached its apex in 1938 at $234.1 billion (£186bn), representing 5.2% of the global total, but it started to break down after the Second World War. Wars of independence in Indochina and Algeria were followed by a wave of decolonisation in the 1960s, marking the empire's end.

22 of LiDaobing/Wikimedia Commons

Qing Empire: $247.2 billion (£196.4bn)

The fifth largest empire in history and China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing Empire was founded in the 16th century and extended over modern-day China as well as several surrounding nations. Qing China was a major manufacturing power by the 18th century.

23 of William Daniell [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Qing Empire: $247.2 billion (£196.4bn)

Western merchants bought everything from silk and tea to porcelain from China, but trade was strictly one-way, and as a result the empire was flush with silver money, much of it flowing from the Spanish Empire's rich mines. In 1820, China's GDP was $247.2 billion (£196.4bn), a hefty 32.9% of the global total.

24 of Wellcome Library, London [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Qing Empire: $247.2 billion (£196.4bn)

25 of Wikimedia Commons

Russian Empire: $257.7 billion (£204.7bn)

The Russian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1721 by Tsar Peter the Great following Russia's defeat of the Swedish Empire. Ruled by the Romanov dynasty, the autocratic empire reached its territorial peak in the early 1860s when it spanned the continents of Europe, Asia and North America – Russia went on to sell Alaska to the US in 1867.

26 of Unknown draftsman [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Russian Empire: $257.7 billion (£204.7bn)

Compared to Western Europe, Russia was slow to industrialise – the peasantry, which made up the bulk of the population, were more or less enslaved until their emancipation in 1861 – but rapid industrialisation occurred from the 1890s, and the empire's wealth mushroomed.

27 of Grigori Petrowitsch Goldstein (1870 - 1941) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Russian Empire: $257.7 billion (£204.7bn)

28 of Wikimedia Commons

British Empire: $683.3 billion (£542.8bn)

29 of 29 National Maritime Museum [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

British Empire: $683.3 billion (£542.8bn)

30 of The National Archives UK [OGL (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/1/)]

British Empire: $683.3 billion (£542.8bn)