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YearMaps
Planetary Historical Sovereign Registry

Empires & Sovereign States

From ancient Sumerian city-states and Egypt to Rome, the Pax Mongolica, dynastic China, and global colonial realms, explore the territorial boundaries, administrative centers, and civilizational achievements of humanity’s historical sovereign polities.

Polities Indexed
1,612 Polities
Across 5 Continents
Largest Land Realm
24.0M km²
Mongol Empire
Largest Maritime Realm
35.5M km²
British Empire (1921)
Vector Attribution
Cliopatria
13,800+ dated border shapes · CC BY 4.0
Showing 60 of 60 superpowers
Epoch:
Early Middle Ages3,585 km²

County of Aragon

The County of Aragon or County of Jaca was a small Frankish marcher county in the central Pyrenean valley of the Aragon river, comprising Ansó, Echo, and Canfranc and centered on the small town of Jaca, an area now part of Spain.

Active Epoch:
830 CE – 921 CE
Imperial Capital:
Jaca
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages3,585 km²

Duchy of Jawor

Duchy of Jawor was one of the duchies of Silesia and medieval Poland established in 1274 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Legnica.

Active Epoch:
1279 CE – 1313 CE
Imperial Capital:
Jawor
Government:
Early Middle Ages3,490 km²

Kingdom of Sobrarbe

The Kingdom of Sobrarbe was the legendary predecessor to the Kingdom of Aragon and the modern region of Sobrarbe.

Active Epoch:
825 CE – 829 CE
Imperial Capital:
Aínsa
Government:
Industrial Era3,461 km²

Ligurian Republic

The Ligurian Republic or Republic of Liguria was a French client republic formed by Napoleon on 14 June 1797.

Active Epoch:
1797 CE – 1814 CE
Imperial Capital:
Genoa
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages3,384 km²

Duchy of Racibórz

Duchy of Racibórz was one of the duchies of Silesia, formed during the medieval fragmentation of Poland into provincial duchies.

Active Epoch:
1285 CE – 1304 CE
Imperial Capital:
Racibórz
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages3,310 km²

Zurayid dynasty

The Zurayʿid dynasty, were a Banu Hamdan ruling dynasty based in Yemen in the time between 1083 and 1174.

Active Epoch:
1085 CE – 1176 CE
Imperial Capital:
Aden
Government:
Industrial Era3,294 km²

Saxe-Meiningen

Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia.

Active Epoch:
1820 CE – 1870 CE
Imperial Capital:
Meiningen
Government:
Industrial Era3,192 km²

Saxe-Altenburg

Saxe-Altenburg was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia.

Active Epoch:
1806 CE – 1870 CE
Imperial Capital:
Altenburg
Government:
Industrial Era3,180 km²

Principality of Reuss-Gera

The Principality of Reuss-Gera, officially called the Principality of Reuss Junior Line after 1848, was a sovereign state in modern Germany, ruled by members of the House of Reuss.

Active Epoch:
1806 CE – 1870 CE
Imperial Capital:
Gera
Government:
Industrial Era3,001 km²

Septinsular Republic

The Septinsular Republic, also known as the Republic of the Seven United Islands, was an oligarchic republic that existed from 1800 to 1807 under nominal Russian and Ottoman sovereignty in the Ionian Islands.

Active Epoch:
1800 CE – 1819 CE
Imperial Capital:
Corfu
Government:
Industrial Era2,942 km²

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany.

Active Epoch:
1836 CE – 1839 CE
Imperial Capital:
Gotha,
Government:
Early Modern & Age of Discovery2,937 km²

Sultanate of Mempawah

The Mempawah Kingdom also known as the Mempawah Sultanate, was a Malay-Dayak kingdom located in a territory now known as the Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Active Epoch:
1619 CE – 1827 CE
Imperial Capital:
Mempawah
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,879 km²

Taifa of Alpuente

The Taifa of Alpuente was a medieval taifa kingdom, of Berber origin, that existed from around 1009 to 1106 created following the end of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the Iberian Peninsula in 1010.

Active Epoch:
1010 CE – 1110 CE
Imperial Capital:
Alpuente, now in Valencia, Land of Valencia, Spain
Government:
Early Modern & Age of Discovery2,841 km²

New Sweden

New Sweden was a colony of the Swedish Empire between 1638 and 1655 along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Active Epoch:
1640 CE – 1658 CE
Imperial Capital:
Fort Christina
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,819 km²

Duchy of Kalisz

The Duchy of Kalisz was a feudal district duchy in Greater Poland, with its territorial and administrative core in the Kalisz Land — the region surrounding the city of Kalisz.

Active Epoch:
1210 CE – 1219 CE
Imperial Capital:
Kalisz
Government:
Early Modern & Age of Discovery2,791 km²

Principality of Svaneti

The Principality of Svaneti was a small principality (samtavro) in the Svaneti region of the Greater Caucasus mountains that emerged following the breakup of the Kingdom of Georgia in the late 15th century.

Active Epoch:
1721 CE – 1833 CE
Imperial Capital:
Not specified
Government:
Early Modern & Age of Discovery2,778 km²

Duchy of Saint Sava

The Duchy of Saint Sava was a late medieval polity in southeastern Europe, that existed from 1448 up to 1482, when it was absorbed by the Ottoman Empire.

Active Epoch:
1453 CE – 1474 CE
Imperial Capital:
Blagaj
Government:
Industrial Era2,754 km²

Free City of Lübeck

The Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck was a German city-state from 1226 to 1937, in what is now the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Active Epoch:
1806 CE – 1870 CE
Imperial Capital:
Lübeck
Government:
Early Middle Ages2,661 km²

Chimor

Chimor was the political grouping of the Chimú culture.

Active Epoch:
911 CE – 1187 CE
Imperial Capital:
Chan Chan
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,632 km²

Texcoco

Texcoco is mapped in the atlas for 1202 CE – 1428 CE, with a peak mapped extent of about 2,632 km².

Active Epoch:
1202 CE – 1428 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,617 km²

Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 until 1872, when it was reorganized as the Ryukyu Domain, before being fully abolished in 1879.

Active Epoch:
1429 CE – 1520 CE
Imperial Capital:
Shuri
Government:
Early Modern & Age of Discovery2,613 km²

Sultanate of Gowa

The Sultanate of Gowa was one of the great kingdoms in the history of Indonesia and the most successful kingdom in the South Sulawesi region.

Active Epoch:
1512 CE – 1669 CE
Imperial Capital:
Tamalate,
Government:
Industrial Era2,480 km²

Mauritius

Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, located about 1,100 nautical miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, east of Madagascar.

Active Epoch:
1969 CE – 2024 CE
Imperial Capital:
Port Louis
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,437 km²

Comtat Venaissin

The Comtat Venaissin, often called the Comtat for short, was a part of the Papal States from 1274 to 1791, in what is now the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southern France.

Active Epoch:
1272 CE – 1790 CE
Imperial Capital:
Carpentras
Government:
Industrial Era2,405 km²

Luxembourg

Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe.

Active Epoch:
1890 CE – 2024 CE
Imperial Capital:
Luxembourg
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,381 km²

Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan, also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican altepetl in what is now the historic center of Mexico City.

Active Epoch:
1326 CE – 1428 CE
Imperial Capital:
Tenochtitlan
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,333 km²

Earldom of Ulster

The Earldom of Ulster was an Anglo-Norman lordship in north-eastern Ireland during the Middle Ages, ruled by the Earls of Ulster and part of the Lordship of Ireland.

Active Epoch:
1326 CE – 1332 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
Early Middle Ages2,329 km²

County of Osona

The County of Osona, also Ausona, was one of the Catalan counties of the Marca Hispanica in the Early and High Middle Ages.

Active Epoch:
990 CE – 1110 CE
Imperial Capital:
Vic
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,288 km²

Principality of Koknese

The Principality of Koknese was a small vassal state of the Principality of Polotsk on the right bank of the Daugava River in ancient Livonia during the Middle Ages.

Active Epoch:
1111 CE – 1209 CE
Imperial Capital:
Koknese Castle
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,252 km²

Taifa of Santa Maria do Algarve

The Taifa of Santa Maria do Algarve was a medieval Islamic taifa Moorish kingdom or emirate located in what is now southern Portugal, that existed from 1018 to 1051.

Active Epoch:
1018 CE – 1055 CE
Imperial Capital:
Santa Maria do Algarve
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,252 km²

Taifa of Tejada

The Taifa of Tejada was a medieval Islamic taifa kingdom in al-Andalus during the second taifa period.

Active Epoch:
1147 CE – 1151 CE
Imperial Capital:
Tejada, Huelva
Government:
Industrial Era2,222 km²

Danish India

Danish India was the name given to the forts and factories of Denmark–Norway in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish overseas colonies.

Active Epoch:
1757 CE – 1808 CE
Imperial Capital:
Fort Dansborg
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,210 km²

House of Tocco

The County Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos existed from 1185 to 1479 as part of the Kingdom of Sicily.

Active Epoch:
1363 CE – 1414 CE
Imperial Capital:
Castle of Saint George
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,186 km²

Shunten Dynasty

The Shunten dynasty (舜天王統) was the second dynasty in the traditional historiography of Okinawa Island.

Active Epoch:
1188 CE – 1313 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,178 km²

Negroponte

Negroponte is mapped in the atlas for 1206 CE – 1209 CE, with a peak mapped extent of about 2,178 km².

Active Epoch:
1206 CE – 1209 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,169 km²

Domain of Rhodes

Rhodes is the largest of Greece's Dodecanese islands and their historical capital, as well as the ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Active Epoch:
1206 CE – 1249 CE
Imperial Capital:
Rhodes
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,127 km²

Chüzan

Chūzan was one of three kingdoms which controlled Okinawa in the 14th century.

Active Epoch:
1314 CE – 1428 CE
Imperial Capital:
Urasoe
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages2,085 km²

Duchy of Bytom

The Duchy of Bytom was a duchy in Upper Silesia, one of the Silesian duchies of fragmented Piast-ruled Poland.

Active Epoch:
1285 CE – 1304 CE
Imperial Capital:
Bytom
Government:
Classical Antiquity1,959 km²

Tamna

Tamna was a kingdom based on Jeju Island from ancient times until it was absorbed by the Korean Joseon dynasty in 1404, following a long period of being a tributary state or autonomous administrative region of various Korean kingdoms.

Active Epoch:
263 CE – 1278 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
Early Modern & Age of Discovery1,916 km²

Huguenots

The Huguenots are a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism.

Active Epoch:
1622 CE – 1631 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
Industrial Era1,898 km²

Kamerun

Kamerun was a Central African colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916 in the region of today's Republic of Cameroon.

Active Epoch:
1868 CE – 1870 CE
Imperial Capital:
Jaunde
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages1,760 km²

Commune of the Zealots

Thessaloniki is the capital and largest city of the administrative region of Central Macedonia, and the second-largest city in Greece.

Active Epoch:
1344 CE – 1351 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
Industrial Era1,734 km²

Free City of Krakow

The Free City of Cracow, also known as the Republic of Cracow, and officially the Free, Independent, and Strictly Neutral City of Cracow and its District, was a nominally independent city-state that existed from 1815 to 1846.

Active Epoch:
1815 CE – 1845 CE
Imperial Capital:
Cracow
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages1,554 km²

Taifa of Niebla

The Taifa of Niebla was an Arab taifa kingdom that existed during three distinct time periods: from 1023 to 1053, from 1145 to 1150 and from 1234 to 1262.

Active Epoch:
1015 CE – 1249 CE
Imperial Capital:
Niebla
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages1,540 km²

Republic of Ragusa

The Republic of Ragusa was an aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in South Dalmatia in Southern Europe.

Active Epoch:
1385 CE – 1808 CE
Imperial Capital:
Ragusa
Government:
Early Middle Ages1,515 km²

Kingdom of Dunoting

Dunoding was an early sub-kingdom within the Kingdom of Gwynedd in north-west Wales which existed between the 5th and 10th centuries.

Active Epoch:
592 CE – 625 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
Industrial Era1,485 km²

São Tomé and Príncipe

São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa.

Active Epoch:
1976 CE – 2024 CE
Imperial Capital:
São Tomé
Government:
Industrial Era1,479 km²

Free City of Hamburg

Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and sixth-largest city in the European Union, with a population of over 1.9 million.

Active Epoch:
1814 CE – 1870 CE
Imperial Capital:
Government:
High & Late Middle Ages1,476 km²

Taifa of Ceuta

The Taifa of Ceuta was one of the taifa states formed after the breakup of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the early 11th century.

Active Epoch:
1066 CE – 1084 CE
Imperial Capital:
Ceuta under Muslim rule
Government:
Early Middle Ages1,443 km²

Kingdom of Gwent

Gwent was a medieval Welsh kingdom, lying between the Rivers Wye and Usk.

Active Epoch:
540 CE – 1055 CE
Imperial Capital:
Caerwent, Porth-is-Coed
Government: