empire
Sign in to savethumb|300px|right|Diachronic map of the different empires of the modern era, during their existence.
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An empire is a large political unit that controls multiple territories or peoples, typically under the authority of a single ruler or government. Empires matter historically because they shaped global politics, culture, and economics for centuries, influencing the world we live in today.
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Article
31 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Characteristics
- History
- Early empires
- Classical period
- Post-classical period
- Early Modern period
- Colonial empires
- Late modern period
- Fall of empires
- Roman Empire
- Decolonization
- Transition from empire
- Contemporary usage
- United States
- European Union
- Russia
- Timeline of empires
- Theoretical research
- Empire versus nation state
- Universal empire
- Atomic bomb and empire
- Circumscription theory
- Present
- Future
- See also
- Lists
- Notes
- References
- Cited sources and further reading
- External links
thumb|300px|right|Diachronic map of the different empires of the modern era, during their existence.
An empire is a realm controlled by a monarch or other official and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries. The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) has political control over the peripheries. Within an empire, different populations may have different sets of rights and may be governed differently. The word "empire" derives from the Roman concept of . Narrowly defined, an empire is a sovereign state that exercises control over multiple distinct territories; however, not all states with aggregate territory under the rule of supreme authorities are called "empires". Not all self-described empires have been accepted as such by contemporaries and historians (the Central African Empire of 1976 to 1979, and some Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in early England being examples).