Quest.

This one goes out to all the history buffs

Rome has received an empire’s worth of attention on social media recently, so this week I’m going to go over some empires that deserve to be thought about just as much. 

Byzantine Empire: Rome 2.0
Location: Eastern Mediterranean 
Duration:  306-1453
Greatest Extent: 2,700,000 km²
Population: 12,000,000 c. 1025
Badassery: 49/100
Special Ability: Immortality

Notes: The heir to the Roman Empire, The Byzantine Empire was a power throughout history and culture. 

Mali Empire: the chads not from chad
Location: West Africa 
Duration: ~1230 – ~ 1670. 
Greatest Extent: 1,100,000 km² c. 1380
Badassery: 68/100
Special Ability: $$$$$

Notes: Travelers crossed the Sahara for 70 days to trade for gold, and Mali got rich. Mansa Musa, one of its emperors, was undoubtedly the wealthiest person in history. 

Mughal Empire: that’s how you build an empire.
Location: India, Pakistan 
Duration: 1526 – 1857
Greatest Extent: 4,000,000 km² c.1700
Population 158,400,000 (23% of Global) c. 1700
Badassery: 74 / 100
Special Ability: Winning Civilization 

Notes: The Mughal empire rose up and did a heck of a job administering a huge area and developing the region. 

Majapahit Empire: the og water tribe 
Location: Western Indonesia and Malaysia 
Duration:  1293-1389
Badassery: 85/100
Special Ability: BOAT

Notes: Controlling the state of Malacca and the Spice trade led this maritime empire to greatness and shaped the nation of Indonesia today.

Abbasid Caliphate: more like a *based* Caliphate
Location: Southern Mediterranean, Middle East
Duration: 750-1570. 
Greatest Extent: 11,100,000 km² c. 850
Badassery: 90/100
Special Ability: Big & Brain

Notes: The Abbasid Caliphate was the largest empire to date, and also held a huge history of Islamic literary culture. 

Incan Empire: hotter than the sun
Location: Columbia, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina. 
Duration: 1438-1533
Greatest Extent: 2,000,000 km² c. 1527
Population: 2,000,000
Badassery: 93/100
Special Ability: Llama

Notes: The Incas built one of the coolest empires against all the odds. No wheels, horses, iron, flat land, or written language (Quipu only half counts), they made unrivaled feats of architecture. Damn shame they caught a bad case of the Spanish. 

Iroquois Confederacy: knocking off the horns
Location: Western Northeast United States 
Duration: ~1450 – ~1660
Population: 10,000 
Badassery: 99/100
Special Ability: Why war?

Notes: The rare democratically constructed empire, known as The People of the Longhouse, was the power in the Northeast during its extent. What’s more badass than democracy and gender equality?

Honorable Mentions: 
Ottoman Empire, Swedish Empire, Kalmar Union, Russian Empire, Quin Dynasty (and many other Chinese empires).