List of historical countries and empires spanning more than one continent
Encyclopedia
The following is a list of historical instances of nations covering land on two or more continents, including islands associated with a continent other than the one where the nation was based. The examples below are listed in chronological order of transcontinental occurrence with the number of continents covered in parentheses and the nation's primary continent listed first. When available, at least one map or text link is included. When a timespan is included, it is the time period in which the example was transcontinental. All currently transcontinental countries are included in the parent article.
Turkey:Europe,Asia.
Pre-colonial empires straddling at least two continents
- Ancient EgyptAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian Empire (3) – Africa, Asia, Europe (at its peak) - HyksosHyksosThe Hyksos were an Asiatic people who took over the eastern Nile Delta during the twelfth dynasty, initiating the Second Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt....
Empire (2) – Asia, Africa (circa 1648–1540 BC) - QahtaniQahtaniteThe terms Qahtanite and Qahtani refer to Semitic peoples either originating in, or claiming genealogical descent from the southern extent of the Arabian Peninsula, especially from Yemen....
Empire (2) – Asia, Africa - KushKingdom of KushThe native name of the Kingdom was likely kaš, recorded in Egyptian as .The name Kash is probably connected to Cush in the Hebrew Bible , son of Ham ....
ite Empire (2) – Africa, Asia (occupied portions of EdomEdomEdom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
and JudahKingdom of JudahThe Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
circa 901 BC) - Sabaean EmpireSabaeansThe Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula.Some scholars suggest a link between the Sabaeans and the Biblical land of Sheba....
(2) – Asia, Africa - Cimmerian EmpireCimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...
(2) – Europe, Asia (late 8th century BC) [map] - AssyriaAssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n Empire (2) – Asia, Africa (671–612 BC) [map] - PhocaeaPhocaeaPhocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
n Empire (3) – Asia, Europe, Africa - Neo-Babylonian EmpireNeo-Babylonian EmpireThe Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 626 BC and ended in 539 BC. During the preceding three centuries, Babylonia had been ruled by their fellow Akkadian speakers and northern neighbours, Assyria. Throughout that time Babylonia...
(2) – Asia, Africa (567–539 BC) - ScythiaScythiaIn antiquity, Scythian or Scyths were terms used by the Greeks to refer to certain Iranian groups of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dwelt on the Pontic-Caspian steppe...
n Empire (2) – Asia, Europe [map] - Achaemenid EmpireAchaemenid EmpireThe Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
(3) – Asia, Europe, Africa [map] - Carthaginian EmpireCarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
(2) – Africa, Europe - Alexandrian Empire (3) – Europe, Asia, Africa (334–323 BC) [map]
- Ptolemaic Empire (3) – Africa, Asia [map], Europe (at its peak) [map]
- Lysimachian EmpireLysimachusLysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.-Early Life & Career:...
(2) – Europe, Asia (306–281 BC) [map] - Seleucid EmpireSeleucid EmpireThe Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
(2) – Asia, Europe (281 BC [map] and 196–191 BC [map]) - Roman EmpireRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
(3) – Europe, Asia, Africa [map] - Sarmatian EmpireSarmatiansThe Iron Age Sarmatians were an Iranian people in Classical Antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD....
(2) – Europe, Asia [map] - Aksumite Empire (2) – Africa, Asia[map]
- Himyarite Empire (2) – Asia, Africa
- Palmyrene EmpirePalmyrene EmpireThe Palmyrene Empire was a splinter empire, that broke off of the Roman Empire during the Crisis of the Third Century. It encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor....
(2) – Asia, Africa (AD 260–273) - Hunnic EmpireHunnic EmpireThe Hunnic Empire was an empire established by the Huns. The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes from the steppes of Central Asia. Appearing from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, they first overran the Alani, who occupied the plains between the Volga...
(2) – Europe, Asia [map] - Byzantine EmpireByzantine EmpireThe Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
(3) – Europe, Asia, Africa [map] - Western Roman EmpireWestern Roman EmpireThe Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
(2) – Europe, Africa (395–476) [map] - Vandal EmpireVandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
(2) – Europe, Africa [map] - SrivijayaSrivijayaSrivijaya was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6...
Empire (3) – Asia, Oceania, Africa - Ostrogothic Empire (2) – Europe, Africa
- SabirSabirThe Sabir people inhabited the Caspian Depression prior to the arrival of the Avars. They appear to have been a Turkic people, possibly of Hunnic origin...
Empire (2) – Europe, Asia - Sassanid EmpireSassanid EmpireThe Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
(3) – Asia, Africa, Europe (618–641) [map] - Göktürk EmpireGöktürksThe Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
(2) – Asia, Europe [map] - RashidunRashidunThe Rightly Guided Caliphs or The Righteous Caliphs is a term used in Sunni Islam to refer to the first four Caliphs who established the Rashidun Caliphate. The concept of "Rightly Guided Caliphs" originated with the Abbasid Dynasty...
Caliphate (3) – Asia, Africa, Europe (639–661) [map] - Alanian EmpireAlansThe Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
(2) – Europe, Asia [map] - Khazar Empire (2) – Europe, Asia
- UmayyadUmayyadThe Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
Caliphate (3) – Asia, Africa, Europe (661–750) [map] - AbbasidAbbasidThe Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
Caliphate (3) – Asia, Africa, Europe - Emirate of CórdobaCórdoba, Spain-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
(2) – Europe, Africa - Pecheneg Empire (2) – Europe, Asia [map]
- SailendraSailendraSailendra is the name of an influential Indonesian dynasty that emerged in 8th century Java.The Sailendras were active promoters of Mahayana Buddhism and covered the Kedu Plain of Central Java with Buddhist monuments, including the world famous Borobudur.The Sailendras are considered to be a...
Empire (2) – Asia, Oceania - Kingdom of KakhetiKakhetiKakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...
(2) – Asia, Europe [map] - Abkhazian Empire (2) – Asia, Europe [map]
- AghlabidAghlabidThe Aghlabids were a dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimid.-History:...
Emirate (2) – Africa, Europe (827–909) - Tulunid EmirateTulunidsThe Tulunids were the first independent dynasty in Islamic Egypt , when they broke away from the central authority of the Abbasid dynasty that ruled the Islamic Caliphate during that time...
(2) – Africa, Asia (877–904) [map] - SajidSajidsThe Sajid dynasty was an Islamic dynasty that ruled the Iranian region of Azerbaijan from 889-890 until 929. The Sajids originated from the Central Asian province of Ushrusana and were of Iranian...
Emirate of AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
(2) – Asia, Europe - FatimidFatimidThe Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
Caliphate (3) – Africa, Asia [map], Europe [map] - Rus EmpireRus' (people)The Rus' were a group of Varangians . According to the Primary Chronicle of Rus, compiled in about 1113 AD, the Rus had relocated from the Baltic region , first to Northeastern Europe, creating an early polity which finally came under the leadership of Rurik...
(2) – Europe, Asia (at its peak during the Caspian expeditionCaspian expeditions of the RusThe Caspian expeditions of the Rus were military raids undertaken by the Rus' between 864 and 1041 on the Caspian Sea shores. Initially, the Rus' appeared in Serkland in the 9th century traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves. The first small-scale raids...
of 913) [map] - Caliphate of Córdoba (2) – Europe, Africa
- Ikhshidid EmpireIkhshidid dynastyThe Ikhshidid dynasty of Egypt ruled from 935 to 969. The dynasty carried the Arabic title "Wali" reflecting their position as governors on behalf of the Abbasids, the first governor was Muhammad bin Tughj Al-Ikhshid, a Turkic slave soldier, who was installed by the Abbasid Caliph and gave him and...
(2) – Africa, Asia (935–969) [map] - SallaridSallaridThe Sallarid dynasty was an Islamic Iranian dynasty principally known for its rule of Iranian Azerbaijan and part of Armenia from 942 until 979...
Emirate of Azerbaijan (2) – Asia, Europe - KalbidKalbidsThe Kalbids were a Shia Muslim dynasty in Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053 .In 827, in the midst of internal Byzantine conflict, the Aghlabids arrived at Marsala in Sicily, with a fleet of 10,000 men under the command of Asad ibn al-Furat. Palermo was conquered in 831 and became the new capital...
Emirate of SicilyEmirate of SicilyThe Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily , which existed from 965 to 1072.-First Arab invasions of Sicily:...
(2) – Europe, Africa - Norwegian EmpireVikingThe term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
(2) – Europe, North America (explored its Atlantic shores five centuries before ColumbusChristopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
) [map] - Georgian Empire (2) – Asia, Europe [map]
- ZiridZiridThe Zirid dynasty were a Sanhadja Berber dynasty, originating in modern Algeria, initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. Their capital was Kairouan...
Emirate (2) – Africa, Europe (1038–1040) [map]Al-Muizz ibn BadisAl-Muizz ibn Badis ; 1008–1062) was the fourth ruler of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, reigning from 1016 to 1062.Al-Muizz ascended the throne as a minor following the death of his father Badis ibn Mansur, with his aunt acting as regent. In 1016 there was a bloody revolt in Ifriqiya in which the Fatimid... - Almoravid Empire (2) – Africa, Europe [map]
- Seljuq EmpireSeljuq dynastyThe Seljuq ; were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries...
(2) – Asia, Europe [map] - Pisan EmpireRepublic of PisaThe Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...
(3) – Europe, Asia, Africa [map] - Kediri Empire (2) – Asia, Oceania
- Chola EmpireChola DynastyThe Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which was one of the longest-ruling in some parts of southern India. The earliest datable references to this Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BC left by Asoka, of Maurya Empire; the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until...
(2) – Asia, Oceania (at its peak circa 1050) [map] - Norman EmpireNormansThe Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
(3) – Europe, Africa [map], Asia [map] (1091–1144) - Medieval French EmpireFrance in the Middle AgesFrance in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Louis the Pious in 840 to the middle of the 15th century...
(3) – Europe, Asia [map]Kingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
[map]Kingdom of CyprusThe Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
, Africa [map][map] - Kingdom of SicilyKingdom of SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
(2) – Europe, Africa - Almohad Empire (2) – Africa, Europe
- Kingdom of JerusalemKingdom of JerusalemThe Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
(2) – Asia, Africa (1164 and 1167) [map] - Ayyubid CaliphateAyyubid dynastyThe Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they...
(2) – Asia, Africa (1169–1250) [map] - LusignanLusignanThe Lusignan family originated in Poitou near Lusignan in western France in the early 10th century. By the end of the 11th century, they had risen to become the most prominent petty lords in the region from their castle at Lusignan...
Empire (2) – Europe, Asia [map][map]Kingdom of CyprusThe Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:... - Angevin EmpireAngevin EmpireThe term Angevin Empire is a modern term describing the collection of states once ruled by the Angevin Plantagenet dynasty.The Plantagenets ruled over an area stretching from the Pyrenees to Ireland during the 12th and early 13th centuries, located north of Moorish Iberia. This "empire" extended...
(3) – Europe, Asia [map], Africa (1191–1194 [map] and 1266–1282 [map]) - ShirvanshahShirvanshahShirvanshah also spelled as Shīrwān Shāh or Sharwān Shāh, was the title in mediaeval Islamic times of an Arab in Ethnos but speedily Persianized dynasty within their culturally Persian environment. The Shirvanshah established a native state in Shirvan...
Empire (2) – Asia, Europe - Hohenstaufen Empire (3) – Europe, Africa (1194–1266) [map], Asia (1225–1268) [map]
- Latin EmpireLatin EmpireThe Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
(2) – Europe, Asia (1204–1261) [map] - Venetian EmpireRepublic of VeniceThe Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
(2) – Europe, Asia [map] - Second Bulgarian EmpireSecond Bulgarian EmpireThe Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
(2) – Europe, Asia (at its peak) [map] - Khwarezmian EmpireKhwarezmian EmpireThe Khwarazmian dynasty or Khwarezmian dynasty, also known as Khwarezmids, dynasty of Khwarazm Shahs or Khwarezm-Shah dynasty was a Persianate Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin.They ruled Greater Iran in the High Middle Ages, in the period of about 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of...
(2) – Asia, Europe (at its peak) - Mongol EmpireMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
(2) – Asia, Europe [map] (largest empire of contiguous land ever) - Golden HordeGolden HordeThe Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
Empire (2) – Europe, Asia [map] - Empire of NicaeaEmpire of NicaeaThe Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...
(2) – Asia, Europe [map] - MamlukMamlukA Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
Empire (2) – Africa, Asia - Majapahit Empire (2) – Asia, Oceania [map]
- IlkhanateIlkhanateThe Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Azerbaijan and Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
Empire (2) – Asia, Europe (1255–1335) - Genoese EmpireRepublic of GenoaThe Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
(2) – Europe, Asia[map] - Aragonese EmpireCrown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
(2) – Europe, Africa [map][map] - Marinid Sultanate (2) – Africa, Europe (1294–1344) [map]
- Ottoman EmpireOttoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
(3) – Asia, Europe, Africa [map] - Buginese EmpireBugisThe Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island. Although many Bugis live in the large port cities of Makassar and Parepare, the majority are farmers who grow wet rice on the...
(2) – Oceania (including northern Australia,) Asia - Timurid EmpireTimurid DynastyThe Timurids , self-designated Gurkānī , were a Persianate, Central Asian Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turko-Mongol descent whose empire included the whole of Iran, modern Afghanistan, and modern Uzbekistan, as well as large parts of contemporary Pakistan, North India, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the...
(2) – Asia, Europe - Nogai HordeNogai HordeThe Nogai Horde was a confederation of about eighteen Turkic and Mongol tribes that occupied the Pontic-Caspian steppe from about 1500 until they were pushed west by the Kalmyks and south by the Russians in the 17th century. The Mongol tribe called the Manghits constituted a core of the Horde...
Empire (2) – Asia, Europe - Castilian EmpireKingdom of CastileKingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It emerged as a political autonomous entity in the 9th century. It was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region...
(2) – Europe, Africa [map] - Kara KoyunluKara KoyunluThe Kara Koyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu, also called the Black Sheep Turkomans , were a Shi'ite Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled over the territory comprising the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, eastern Turkey and Iraq from about 1375 to 1468.The Kara Koyunlu Turkomans at one...
Empire (2) – Asia, Europe [map]
Colonial-era nations with non-contiguous overseas possessions
- Navarrese EmpireKingdom of NavarreThe Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....
(2) – Europe, North America (before Columbus to 1513) - Portuguese EmpirePortuguese EmpireThe Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
(6) – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania [map][map] (from 1808 to 1821, its capital was in Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
) - Mahra SultanateMahra SultanateThe Mahra Sultanate of Qishn and Socotra or sometimes the Mahra Sultanate of Ghayda and Socotra was a sultanate that included both the historical region of Mahra and the Indian Ocean island of Socotra in what is now eastern Yemen...
(2) – Asia, Africa [map] - Spanish EmpireSpanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
(6) – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania [map][map] - Kingdom of Denmark-Norway (2) – Europe, North America [map]
- Austrian EmpireAustrian EmpireThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
(4) – Europe, South America [map]German colonization of the AmericasThe German colonization of the Americas consisted of failed attempts to settle Venezuela , St. Thomas, the Crab Island and Tertholen in the 16th and 17th centuries.-Klein-Venedig:...
, Asia [map], Africa [map] - Iberian UnionIberian UnionThe Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...
Empire (6) – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania (1580–1640) [map] - British EmpireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
(7) – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania, Antarctica [map][map] - Dutch EmpireDutch EmpireThe Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
(6) – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania [map] - French EmpireFrench colonial empiresThe French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
(7) – Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania, Antarctica [map] - ScottishScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Empire (2) – Europe, North America (1621–1631) [map]Scottish colonization of the AmericasScottish colonization of the Americas consisted of a number of failed or abandoned Scottish settlements in North America, a colony at Darien, Panama, and a number of wholly or largely Scottish settlements made after the Acts of Union 1707, and those made by the enforced resettlement after the... - Swedish EmpireSwedish EmpireThe Swedish Empire refers to the Kingdom of Sweden between 1561 and 1721 . During this time, Sweden was one of the great European powers. In Swedish, the period is called Stormaktstiden, literally meaning "the Great Power Era"...
(3) – Europe, North America [map] [map], Africa [map]Swedish Gold CoastThe Swedish Gold Coast was a Swedish colony founded in 1650 on the Gulf of Guinea in present-day Ghana and Togo in West Africa. It lasted to April 1663 when the whole Swedish Gold Coast was seized by the Danes, and integrated in the Danish Gold Coast.... - Courlander Empire (3) – Europe, Africa, South America (1651–1689) (a dependency of Poland-LithuaniaPolish-Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
) [map]Courland colonizationThe Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, being small but wealthy took a modest part in European colonialism, in West Africa and the Caribbean.- History :... - Dano-Norwegian Empire (4) – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa [map]
- Brandenburger-Prussian EmpireBrandenburg-PrussiaBrandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
(3) – Europe, Africa [map]Brandenburger Gold CoastThe Brandenburger Gold Coast, later Prussian Gold Coast, was a part of the Gold Coast. The Brandenburg colony existed from 1682 to 1717.- Brandenburger Gold Coast :...
[map]ArguinArguin is an island off the western coast of Mauritania in the Bay of Arguin, at 20° 36' N., 16° 27' W. It is six km long by two broad. Off the island are extensive and dangerous reefs...
, North America [map] (1682–1721) - Omani EmpireHistory of Oman-Prehistory:Prehistoric migration of Homo Sapiens is likely to have taken place around 100,000 years ago and to have followed the coastlines from Africa along Yemen and the sea shores of Oman. Archaeological sites in Yemen and Oman have yielded a stone tool style that is distinct from the East...
(2) – Asia, Africa (from 1840 to 1856, Said bin SultanSaid bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and OmanSaid bin Sultan Al-Said was Sultan of Muscat and Oman from November 20, 1804 to June 4, 1856. He became joint ruler of the country along with his brother Salim on the death of their father, Sultan bin Ahmad, in 1804...
had the capital in Stone TownStone TownStone Town also known as Mji Mkongwe is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania, as opposed to Ng'ambo . It is located on the western coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago...
, ZanzibarZanzibarZanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
) - Piedmont-Sardinian EmpireKingdom of SardiniaThe Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
(2) – Europe, Africa (1714–1718) - Russian EmpireRussian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
(3) – Europe, Asia, North America [map] - Parthenopaean RepublicParthenopaean RepublicThe Parthenopean Republic was a French-supported republic in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples, formed during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops...
(2) – Europe, Africa (January 23 – June 28, 1799) - American Empire (5) – North America, Africa (1810–1814) [map], Asia, Oceania, South America (1898–1979) [map][map]Panama Canal ZoneThe Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
- Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (2) – Europe, Africa (1816–1860) [map]
- Kingdom of ItalyKingdom of Italy (1861–1946)The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
(2) – Europe, Africa (1861–1889) - German EmpireGerman colonial empireThe German colonial empire was an overseas domain formed in the late 19th century as part of the German Empire. Short-lived colonial efforts by individual German states had occurred in preceding centuries, but Imperial Germany's colonial efforts began in 1884...
(4) – Europe, Africa, Oceania, Asia (1884–1919) [map] - Belgian EmpireBelgian colonial empireThe Belgian colonial empire consisted of three colonies possessed by Belgium between 1901 and 1962: Belgian Congo , Rwanda and Burundi...
(2) – Europe, Africa (1885–1961) [map] - ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
(3) – South America, Oceania, Antarctica [map] - Italian EmpireItalian EmpireThe Italian Empire was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy as a unified state only existed from 1861. By this time France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands, had already carved...
(3) – Europe, Africa, Asia (1889–1943) [map] - Japanese EmpireEmpire of JapanThe Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
(2) – Asia, Oceania (1898–1945) [map][map] - NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
(2) – Europe, Antarctica [map]Bouvet IslandBouvet Island is an uninhabited Antarctic volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2,525 km south-southwest of South Africa. It is a dependent territory of Norway and, lying north of 60°S latitude, is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty. The centre of the island is an ice-filled crater of an... - Nazi GermanyNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
(3) – Europe, Africa, Asia (1940–1944) [map] - Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
(7) – Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Oceania, Antarctica (1940–1943) - Commonwealth of AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(3) – Oceania, Asia, Antarctica[map]Macquarie IslandMacquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage... - Union of South AfricaUnion of South AfricaThe Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
(1948–1961) and Republic of South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
(2) – Africa, Antarctica (if the Prince Edward IslandsPrince Edward IslandsThe Prince Edward Islands are two small islands in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands, named Marion Island and Prince Edward Island, are located at ....
are considered Antarctic islands) - VenezuelaVenezuelaVenezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
(2) – South America, North America [map]Isla AvesIsla de Aves , or Aves Island, is a Caribbean dependency of Venezuela. It has been the subject of numerous territorial disputes between the neighboring independent islands, such as Dominica, and European mother countries of surrounding dependent islands, such as the Netherlands. It lies to the west...
Other transcontinental occurrences
- Uzbek Khanate (2) – Asia, Europe
- Ak KoyunluAk KoyunluThe Aq Qoyunlu or Ak Koyunlu, also called the White Sheep Turkomans , was an Sunni Oghuz Turkic tribal federation that ruled parts of present-day Eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iraq, and Iran from 1378 to 1508.-History:According to chronicles from the Byzantine Empire, the Aq Qoyunlu...
Empire (2) – Asia, Europe [map] - Khanate of SibirSiberia KhanateThe Khanate of Sibir were the patrilineal descendants of Shayban , the fifth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. The Khanate had an ethnically diverse population of Siberian Tatars, Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup people. Along with the Khanate of Kazan it was the northernmost Muslim state....
(2) – Asia, Europe [map] - Astrakhan KhanateAstrakhan KhanateThe Khanate of Astrakhan was a Tatar feudal state that appeared after the collapse of the Golden Horde. The Khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the area adjacent to the mouth of the Volga river, where the contemporary city of Astrakhan/Hajji Tarkhan is now located...
(2) – Europe, Asia - Safavid EmpireSafavid dynastyThe Safavid dynasty was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran. They ruled one of the greatest Persian empires since the Muslim conquest of Persia and established the Twelver school of Shi'a Islam as the official religion of their empire, marking one of the most important turning...
(2) – Asia, Europe[map] - Crimean KhanateCrimean KhanateCrimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...
(2) – Europe, Asia (at its peak) - Grand Duchy of MoscowGrand Duchy of MoscowThe Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....
[map] and Tsardom of RussiaTsardom of RussiaThe Tsardom of Russia was the name of the centralized Russian state from Ivan IV's assumption of the title of Tsar in 1547 till Peter the Great's foundation of the Russian Empire in 1721.From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 a year...
(2) – Europe, Asia - Kalmyk KhanateKalmyk peopleKalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
(2) – Asia, Europe[map] - Kingdom of BaliBaliBali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
(2) – Asia, Oceania [map] - Afsharid EmpireAfsharid dynastyThe Afsharids were members of an Iranian dynasty of Turkmen origin from Khorasan who ruled Persia in the 18th century. The dynasty was founded in 1736 by the military commander Nader Shah who deposed the last member of the Safavid dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Iran. During Nader's reign,...
(2) – Asia, Europe (1736–1747) - Kazakh KhanateKazakh KhanateKazakh Khanate was a Kazakh state that existed in 1456-1847, located roughly on the territory of present-day Republic of Kazakhstan.-History:...
(2) – Asia, Europe - Quba KhanateQuba KhanateThe Quba Khanate was an independent principality on the territory of modern day Azerbaijan from 1747-1806. The Quba Khanate was founded as a feudal hold around 1680 as a result of a land grant to the Saytaq family, who were related to both the Qajar dynasty and the Utsmi of Tarki in Dagestan and...
(2) – Europe, Asia (1747–1806) - Kingdom of Kartl-KakhetiKartl-KakhetiThe Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was created in 1762 by the unification of two eastern Georgian kingdoms, which had existed independently since the disintegration of the united Georgian Kingdom in the 15th century....
(2) – Asia, Europe (1762–1801) - Qajar EmpireQajar dynastyThe Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....
(2) – Asia, Europe (1794–1813)[map] - Later Egyptian Empire (3) – Africa, Asia, Europe (1803–1807 and 1833–1882) [map]
- United Provinces of New GranadaUnited Provinces of New GranadaThe United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1811 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as the Patria Boba. It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada. The government was a federation with a parliamentary system, consisting of a weak executive and...
(2) – South America, North America (1810–1816) - Gran ColombiaGran ColombiaGran Colombia is a name used today for the state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. This short-lived republic included the territories of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, northern Peru and northwest Brazil. The...
(2) – South America, North America (1819–1831) [map] - Republic of the New Granada (1831–1858) and Granadine ConfederationGranadine ConfederationThe Granadine Confederation was a short-lived federal republic established in 1858 as a result of a constitutional change replacing the Republic of New Granada. It comprised the present day nations of Colombia and Panama...
(1858–1863) (2) – South America, North America [map] - GreeceGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
(2) – Europe, Asia [map] [map]Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922)The Greco–Turkish War of 1919–1922, known as the Western Front of the Turkish War of Independence in Turkey and the Asia Minor Campaign or the Asia Minor Catastrophe in Greece, was a series of military events occurring during the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World War I between May... - Alash OrdaAlash OrdaAlash Orda was the name of the provisional Kazakh government between 13 December 1917 and 26 August 1920.The Alash Party proclaimed the autonomy of the Kazakh people in December 1917. Membership consists from 25 members and 15 member candidates...
(2) – Asia, Europe (December 1917 – May 1920) - Transcaucasian Democratic Federative RepublicTranscaucasian Democratic Federative RepublicThe Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic , was a short-lived state composed of the modern-day countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the South Caucasus.-...
(2) – Asia, Europe (February 24 – May 28, 1918) [map] - Mountainous Republic of the Northern CaucasusMountainous Republic of the Northern CaucasusThe Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was a short-lived state situated in the Northern Caucasus...
(2) – Europe, Asia (May 11, 1918 – June 1920) - Azerbaijan Democratic RepublicAzerbaijan Democratic RepublicThe Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was the first successful attempt to establish a democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world . The ADR was founded on May 28, 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 by Azerbaijani National Council in...
(2) – Asia, Europe (May 28, 1918 – April 28, 1920) [map] - Democratic Republic of GeorgiaDemocratic Republic of GeorgiaThe Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
(2) – Asia, Europe (May 28, 1918 – February 25, 1921) [map] - Centrocaspian DictatorshipCentrocaspian DictatorshipThe Central-Caspian Dictatorship , or the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, was a short-lived anti-Soviet client state proclaimed in Baku, the capital of present-day Azerbaijan, during World War I...
(2) – Asia, Europe (August 1 – September 15, 1918) - Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(2) – Europe, Asia (December 1922 – December 1991) [map] - West Indies FederationWest Indies FederationThe West Indies Federation, also known as the Federation of the West Indies, was a short-lived Caribbean federation that existed from January 3, 1958, to May 31, 1962. It consisted of several Caribbean colonies of the United Kingdom...
(2) – North America, South America (1958–1962) [map] - United Arab RepublicUnited Arab RepublicThe United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
[map] and United Arab StatesUnited Arab StatesThe United Arab States was a short-lived confederation of the United Arab Republic and North Yemen from 1958–1961.The United Arab Republic was a sovereign state formed by the union of Egypt and Syria in 1958...
(2) – Africa, Asia (1958–1961) - Protectorate of South ArabiaProtectorate of South ArabiaThe Protectorate of South Arabia was a grouping of states under treaties of protection with Britain. The Protectorate was designated on 18 January 1963 as consisting of those areas of the Aden Protectorate that did not join the Federation of South Arabia, and it broadly, but not exactly,...
(1963–1967), People's Republic of South Yemen (1967–1970), and People's Democratic Republic of YemenPeople's Democratic Republic of YemenThe People's Democratic Republic of Yemen — also referred to as South Yemen, Democratic Yemen or Yemen — was a socialist republic in the present-day southern and eastern Provinces of Yemen...
(1970–1990) (2) – Asia, Africa - Federation of Arab RepublicsFederation of Arab RepublicsThe Federation of Arab Republics was an abortive attempt by Libya's Muammar Gaddafi to merge Libya, Egypt, and Syria, creating an United Arab state...
(2) – Africa, Asia (1972–1977) [map] - East Germany (2) – Europe, North America (1972–1990, if CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
's gift of Ernst Thälmann IslandErnst Thälmann IslandErnst Thälmann Island is a 15 kilometre long and 500 metre wide Cuban island in the Gulf of Cazones named for German Communist politician Ernst Thälmann. It contains highly developed reef formations with a high degree of biodiversity and hosts a number of endangered species, including black coral...
is regarded as a territorial cession) - IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
(2) – Asia, Africa (From October 15, 1973 to January 18, 1974, it had occupied land on the African side of the Suez CanalSuez CanalThe Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
as a result of the Yom Kippur WarYom Kippur WarThe Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
. This land was never administrated by Israeli civil authorities and was withdrawn during the aftermath of the war.) - ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
(2) – South America, Antarctica (occupied South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...
from March 19 to June 20, 1982 during the Falklands WarFalklands WarThe Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
) [map] - South OssetiaSouth OssetiaSouth Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
n Republic (2) – Asia, Europe (if its de facto independence from GeorgiaGeorgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
since the cease-fire of July 14, 1992 is recognized) [map] - EritreaEritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
(2) – Africa, Asia (occupied Hanish-al-Saghir from August 10 to 27, 1995 and Hanish-al-Kabir from November 12, 1995 to October 1998 during the Hanish islands crisis)
Turkey:Europe,Asia.
See also
- List of extinct states
- Historical powersHistorical powersHistorical powers include great powers, nations, or empires in history.The term "Great power" represent the most important world powers. In a modern context, recognised great powers came about first in Europe during the post-Napoleonic era. The formalization of the division between small powers and...
- List of empires
- List of largest empires
- List of kingdoms
- Middle Eastern EmpiresMiddle Eastern EmpiresThe Middle East has been the political center of several empires through history. Many of the earliest known empires originated in the middle east. Middle eastern empires have been instrumental in the spreading of ideas, technology and religions within its territories and to outliers...