"prince of Khalchayan (a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia). The Chinese first referred to these people as the Yuezhi and said they established the Kushan Empire, although the relationship between the Yuezhi and the Kushans is still unclear. On the ruins of ancient Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum, the Kushans are known to have built fortresses. The earliest documented ruler, and the first one to proclaim himself as a Kushan ruler, was Heraios. He calls himself a ""tyrant"" in Greek on his coins, and also exhibits skull deformation. He may have been an ally of the Greeks, and"
"Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire (; , ; ; BHS: """"; Chinese: 貴霜帝國; ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism. He played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its spread to"
"the east. Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire (; , ; ; BHS: """"; Chinese: 貴霜帝國; ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka the Great. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism. He played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent and its"
"Kushan Empire. The Kushan empire stretched from Turpan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Indo-Gangetic Plain at its greatest extent, and played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and the transmission of Buddhism to China. Soon after 130 BCE the Wusun became independent of the Xiongnu, becoming trusted vassals of the Han dynasty and powerful force in the region for centuries. With the emerging steppe federations of the Rouran, the Wusun migrated into the Pamir Mountains in the 5th century CE. They are last mentioned in 938 when a Wusun chieftain paid tribute to"
"and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onwards. In the 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty. The Islamic Mughal Empire and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively. Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the largest coastline, at . Asia is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains, and south of the"
"Byzantine Roman Empire. Its successor state, the Umayyad Caliphate, expanded across North Africa and into the Iberian Peninsula. By the beginning of the 8th century, the Umayyad Caliphate had become the largest empire in history, it would not be surpassed in size until the establishment of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. In 750 the Caliphate clashed with the Tang China at Talas. By this time only these two Empires stretched between the Atlantic and the Pacific. From the 11th century Moroccan empires began to appear, starting with the Almoravid Empire, dominating territories in both Europe as well as"
"Russia in 1721. Likewise, with the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), the Austrian Empire (1804–1867) emerged reconstituted as the Empire of Austria–Hungary (1867–1918), having ""inherited"" the imperium of Central and Western Europe from the losers of said wars. In the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan expanded the Mongol Empire to be the largest contiguous empire in the world. However, within two generations, the empire was separated into four discrete khanates under Genghis Khan's grandsons. One of them, Kublai Khan, conquered China and established the Yuan Dynasty with the imperial capital at Beijing. One"
"a unified fighting force that went on to create the largest contiguous empire in world history, the Mongol Empire, which was finally able to conquer the whole of China—beginning with his invasion of the Jurchen Jin Dynasty and ending with his grandson Kublai Khan's conquest of the Southern Song Dynasty, establishing the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Archaeological evidence proves that early Stone Age hominins inhabited in Mongolia 850,000 years ago. By the first millennium BC, bronze-working peoples lived in Mongolia. With the appearance of iron weapons by the 3rd century BC, the inhabitants of Mongolia had begun to form Clan alliances"
"Europe, first by the activities of Christian evangelists, and later by official imperial promulgation. In Western Asia, the term ""Persian Empire"" came to denote the Iranian imperial states established at different historical periods of pre–Islamic and post–Islamic Persia. In East Asia, various Celestial empires arose periodically between periods of war, civil war, and foreign conquests. The greatest of them was the Tang Empire (AD 618-907). The 7th century saw the emergence of the Islamic Empire, also referred to as the Islamic Caliphate. The Rashidun Caliphate expanded from the Arabian Peninsula and swiftly conquered the Persian Empire and much of the"
"largest in the world as well. Korea and Japan had fully coalesced as centralized states in the regimes of Goryeo and Heian, The sudden rise of the nomadic Mongol Empire disrupted East Asia, under the leadership of leaders such as Genghis Khan, Subutai, and Kublai Khan brought the majority of East Asia under rule of a single state. All of China and Korea were annexed under the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. The Mongols also attempted and failed to conquer Japan in maritime invasions. The Mongol era in East Asia was short lived due to natural disasters and poor administrative management. In"
"century, became the largest empire in history by virtue of the improved transportation technologies of the time. At its height, the British Empire covered a quarter of the Earth's land area and comprised a quarter of its population. During the New Imperialism, Italy and Germany also built their colonial empires in Africa. After the Boxer Rebellion in 1901, Imperial China made concessions to the Eight-Nation Alliance (all the Great Powers of the time). By the end of the 20th century most of the previous colonial empires had been decolonized. The chart below shows the span of European colonial empires. European:"
"largest empire by 1500 CE. Artistically, they unified regional styles. Incan ceramics were geometric and understated, while color schemes remained regionally diverse. Mass-produced pottery, conformed to standardized measurements, such as the urpu, a long-necked jar with handles and a pointed bottom used to transport maize and chicha, maize beer. ""Qirus"" were Incan drinking vessels, made from wood or precious metals, as well as ceramics. Guaraní ceramics fall into two major categories: ""na'e"", or dishes, and ""yapepó"", pots, pans, and storage containers. These were both utilitarian and ceremonial. The precontact ceramic tradition of the Gran Chaco was dramatically transformed under European"
"BCE, he successfully attacked the Yuezhi in the Ili Valley. The Yuezhi then migrated to Sogdia and then Bactria, where they became unified under Kujula Kadphises and expanded into South Asia, founding the Kushan Empire, which at its peak under Kanishka stretched from Turpan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain and played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and the transmission of Buddhism to China. The Wusun subsequently took over the Ili Valley, expanding over a large area and trying to keep away from the Xiongnu. According to Shiji, Wusun was a"
"Central Asia. By this time only four Empires stretched between the Pacific and the Atlantic—Han, Parthia, Rome, and the Kushans. The Romans were the first nation to invent and embody the concept of empire in their two mandates: to wage war and to make and execute laws. They were the most extensive Western empire until the early modern period, and left a lasting impact on Western Europe. Many languages, cultural values, religious institutions, political divisions, urban centers, and legal systems can trace their origins to the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire governed and rested on exploitative actions. They took slaves"
"established the Kushan Empire (30–375 AD) of Central and South Asia. A now independent and warlike Sogdiana, led at first by Bessus, the Achaemenid satrap of Bactria and claimant to the throne after assassinating Darius III in his flight from the Macedonian Greek army, formed a border region insulating the Achaemenid Persians from the nomadic Scythians to the north and east. The Sogdian Rock or Rock of Ariamazes, a fortress in Sogdiana, was captured in 327 BC by the forces of Alexander the Great, the ""basileus"" of Macedonian Greece and conqueror of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Oxyartes, a Sogdian nobleman"
"largest contiguous empire in world history, the Mongol Empire (1206-1368). Buddhism in Mongolia began with the Yuan emperors' conversion to Tibetan Buddhism. After the collapse of the Mongol-led China-based Yuan dynasty in 1368, the Mongols returned to their earlier patterns of internal strife. The Mongols also returned to their old shamanist ways after the collapse of their empire and only in the 16th and 17th centuries did Buddhism reemerge. At the end of the 17th century, present-day Mongolia became part of the area ruled by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing in 1911, Mongolia declared independence"
"became the Russian Empire. The most important of these states were: Further east, in Xinjiang (East Turkestan) flank: The higher, rather imperial title Khaqan (""""Khan of Khans"""") applies to probably the most famous rulers known as ""Khan"": the Mongol imperial dynasty of Genghis Khan (his name was Temüjin, ""Genghis"" Khan a never fully understood unique title), and his successors, especially grandson Kublai Khan: the former founded the Mongol Empire and the latter founded the Yuan Dynasty in China. The ruling descendants of the main branch of Genghis Khan's dynasty are referred to as the ""Great Khans"". The title ""Khan of"
"Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire (Mongolian: ""Mongolyn Ezent Güren"" ; Mongolian Cyrillic: Монголын эзэнт гүрэн; ; also in Russian chronicles) existed during the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in the steppes of Central Asia, the Mongol Empire eventually stretched from Eastern Europe and parts of Central Europe to the Sea of Japan, extending northwards into Siberia, eastwards and southwards into the Indian subcontinent, Indochina and the Iranian Plateau; and westwards as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains. The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of several nomadic tribes in"
"It was also one of the largest empires in world history. In the 16th century, Spain and Portugal were in the vanguard of European global exploration and colonial expansion. The two kingdoms on the conquest and Iberian Peninsula competed with each other in opening of trade routes across the oceans. Spanish imperial conquest and colonization began with the Canary Islands in 1312 and 1402. which began the Castilian conquest of the Canary Islands, completed in 1495. In the 15th and 16th centuries, trade flourished across the Atlantic between Spain and the Americas and across the Pacific between East Asia and"
"Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire (; ), historically known as the Hispanic Monarchy () and as the Catholic Monarchy () was one of the largest empires in history. From the late 15th century to the early 19th, Spain controlled a huge overseas territory in the New World and the Asian archipelago of the Philippines, what they called ""The Indies"" (). It also included territories in Europe, Africa and Oceania. The Spanish Empire has been described as the first global empire in history, a description also given to the Portuguese Empire. It was the world's most powerful empire during the 16th"
"Empire was a syncretic empire, formed by Yuezhi, in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century CE. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far Nepal. These coins were widely used in Southern region of Nepal but was rarely used in Hills and Kathmandu valley region. These coins depicts the image of the Kushan kings and other Hindu and Buddhist Deity . Some scholars believed that Kushan King Kanishka's ascending of the throne in 78 CE,marked the beginning of the Saka calendar era which later was widely used"
"Chinese [霸]). They were appointed by feudal lord conferences, and thus were nominally obliged to uphold the imperium of the Zhou Dynasty over the subordinate states. 1st and 2nd century Europe was dominated by the hegemonic peace of the ""Pax Romana"". It was instituted by the emperor Augustus, and was accompanied by a series of brutal military campaigns. From the 7th century to the 12th century, the Umayyad Caliphate and later Abbasid Caliphate dominated the vast territories they governed, with other states like the Byzantine Empire paying tribute. In 7th century India, Harsha, ruler of a large empire in northern"
"Kanishka Kanishka I (), or Kanishka the Great, an emperor of the Kushan dynasty in the second century (c. 127–150 CE), is famous for his military, political, and spiritual achievements. A descendant of Kujula Kadphises - founder of the Kushan empire - Kanishka came to rule an empire in Bactria extending from Turfan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain. The main capital of his empire was located at ""Puruṣapura"" in Gandhara, with another major capital at Kapisa. His conquests and patronage of Buddhism played an important role in the development of the Silk Road, and in"
"were closely related) created a Kushan Empire around 30 AD. For another 400 years, until 410 AD, the Kushan Empire was a major power in the region along with the Roman Empire, the Parthian Empire and the Han Empire (China). Notable contact was made with local peoples when the envoys of the Han Dynasty journeyed to this area in the 2nd century BC. At the end of the Kushan period, the Empire became much smaller and would have to defend itself from the powerful Sassanid Empire that replaced the Parthian Empire. The famous Kushan king Kanishka promoted Buddhism and during"
"which lasted 220 years from 550 to 330 BC – a dynasty that brought stability, prosperity and a flourishing civilization to what we now call the Middle East and beyond. In its day, the largest and most powerful Empire the world had ever seen. It extended from the Indus River to North Africa, from the Aral Sea to the Persian Gulf, all told one million square miles.The Persian Empire had everything under the sun. Everything, that is, except a single historian to preserve for posterity its highs and lows. As seen through the eyes Greek historians, the Persians were weak"
"valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China and Rome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossoming Gandhara Art, which reached its peak during Kushan Rule. H.G. Rowlinson commented: By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor was Vasudeva I. The Gupta Empire existed approximately from 320 to 600 CE and covered much of the broad swathe of northern South Asia, including modern Pakistan but excluding the southern peninsular region. Founded by Maharaja Sri-Gupta, the dynasty was the model of a ""classical civilization"" and was marked by extensive inventions and"
"course of the Amu Darya in what is now northern Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; during the 1st century CE, they expanded their territory to include the Punjab and much of the Ganges basin, conquering a number of kingdoms across the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in the process. The Kushans conquered the central section of the main Silk Road and, therefore, had control of the overland trade between India, and China to the east, and the Roman Empire and Persia to the west. Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, as Kushans expanded southward toward the Indian"
"the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Medes were able to establish their own empire, which was the largest of its day and lasted for about sixty years. The Axial Age (mid-First Millennium BC) witnessed unprecedented imperial expansion in the Indo-Mediterranean region and China. The successful and extensive Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), also known as the first Persian Empire, covered Mesopotamia, Egypt, parts of Greece, Thrace, the Middle East, much of Central Asia, and North-Western India. It is considered the first great empire in history or the first ""world empire."" It was overthrown and replaced by the short-lived empire of Alexander the Great."
"The Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) was the largest the world had yet seen; in the north, it extended to the Transcaucasia (modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan), to the south it encompassed Egypt, northern Nubia (modern Sudan), Libya and much of the Arabian peninsula, to the west it extended into parts of Ancient Greece (Cyprus, Cilicia etc) and the East Mediterranean, and to the east into Persia, Media, Gutium, Parthia, Elam and Mannea (the modern western half of Iran). In 626 BC it descended into a bitter series of civil wars conducted by rival claimants to the throne, allowing it to"
"Gansu, and Xinjiang. The Xiongnu was the first unified empire of nomadic peoples. Relations between early Chinese dynasties and the Xiongnu were complicated and included military conflict, exchanges of tribute and trade, and marriage treaties. When Emperor Qin Shihuang drove them away from the south of the Yellow River, he built the famous Great Wall to prevent the Xiongnu from coming back. The Kushan Empire (, ""Kushano""; ""Kuṣāṇ Rājavaṃśa""; BHS: """"; ""Kušan-xšaθr"") was a syncretic empire, formed by Yuezhi under the pressure of the Turkic migration (Xiongnu), in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass"
"establishment of Buddhism in India and its spread to Central Asia and China. Historian Vincent Smith said about Kanishka: The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the Silk Road through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China and Rome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossoming Gandhara Art, which reached its peak during Kushan Rule. H.G. Rowlinson commented: By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor was Vasudeva I. For a period, much of modern-day Afghanistan was part of the Persian Sasanian"
"based on a report made by the Chinese general Ban Yong to the Chinese Emperor c. 125 AD: In the 1st century BCE, the ""Guishuang"" (Ch: 貴霜) gained prominence over the other Yuezhi tribes, and welded them into a tight confederation under ""yabgu"" (Commander) Kujula Kadphises. The name ""Guishuang"" was adopted in the West and modified into ""Kushan"" to designate the confederation, although the Chinese continued to call them ""Yuezhi"". Gradually wresting control of the area from the Scythian tribes, the Kushans expanded south into the region traditionally known as Gandhara (an area primarily in Pakistan's Pothowar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa"
"was a syncretic empire in central Asia, including the region of Gandhara and other parts of what is now Pakistan. From 127 to 151 CE, Gandharan reached its peak under the reign of Kanishka the Great. In this period, Kushan art inherited the Greco-Buddhist art. Mahayana Buddhism flourished, and the depictions of Buddha as a human form first appeared in art. Wearing a monk's robe and a long length of cloth draped over the left shoulder and around the body, the Buddha was depicted with 32 major lakshanas (distinguishing marks), including a golden-colored body, an ushnisha (a protuberance) on the"