The Largest Empires in History by Land Area

The British Empire covered 35.5 million km2, a quarter of Earth. The Mongol Empire was 24 million km2 of contiguous land. The Russian Empire spanned 22.8 million km2 across 11 time zones.

The Qing Dynasty ruled 14.7 million km2 of China. Size did not guarantee survival, as all eventually fell..