A detailed explanation of the five countries in the world that once exceeded 10 million square kilometers and now only a few tens to millions of square kilometers are left

In the history of the world, Persia, Macedonia, Rome, Turks, Mongolia, Turkey, Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, Japan, Germany were once keen on territorial expansion, among these countries Mongolia, Portugal, Spain, France, Britain five countries once expanded the territorial area to more than ten million square kilometers, and now the territory of these five countries have been greatly reduced. Mongolia now has 1,566,500 square kilometers of territory left, France now has 550,000 square kilometers of territory, but France still has 120,000 square kilometers of overseas territories, France plus overseas territories total 670,000 square kilometers, Spain now has 505925 square kilometers of territory, Spain also has overseas territories, but the area is relatively small, the United Kingdom now has 243,600 square kilometers of territory, but the United Kingdom also has overseas territories, the British overseas territories reach 1,728,000 square kilometers, but compared with the british heyday of the territory area, the area of this overseas territory is nothing Portugal now has only 92,391 square kilometers of territory left, and Portugal also has overseas territories, but like Spain's overseas territories, Portugal's overseas territories are relatively small.

Below, I will analyze the loss of territory of these five countries in order of the ranking of the territory area of these five countries at the height of their history.

First place: Mongolia, known as the Mongol Empire in its heyday, the territory area reached 35 million square kilometers, is the largest territory in the history of the world, than the British Empire, the second largest territory in the history of the world, 1 million square kilometers of territory, the territory of the Mongol Empire is also said to have reached 45 million or 44 million square kilometers, this data counts the entire Siberia, in fact, the Mongol Empire did not rule the entire Siberia, only ruled the southern and western Siberia , so the exact territorial area of the Mongol Empire is 35 million square kilometers.

The Mongol Empire was the umbrella term for the Yuan Dynasty and the Four Great Khanates, but the unification of the Mongol Empire continued until the eve of the death of Lin Dan Khan, the last Great Khan of the Mongol Empire in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, and after the death of Lin Dan Khan, the Qing Dynasty annexed the Mongol Empire. The first territory lost by the Mongol Empire was the Great Khan directly under the jurisdiction of the Yuan Dynasty in Chinese history, the loss of the Great Khan directly under the jurisdiction of the Mongol Empire marked the loss of the Central Plains, Tibet, Northeast China, Korea, Korea, burma; the Wokoutai Khanate of the four khanates of the Mongol Empire had long been divided between the Great Khanate and the Chagatai Khanate, when the Mongolian Empire lost the direct territory of the Great Khan, the Mongol Empire had long been left with only three major khanates, the Ilkhanate of the three major khanates was the first to lose, and the loss of the Ilkhanate marked the loss of Iran and Iraq by the Mongol Empire Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey; later, the Mongol Empire lost the Chagatai Khanate, the reason for the loss of the Chagatai Khanate was that the Chagatai Khanate was divided into two Chagatai Khanates in the east and west, the loss of the Chagatai Khanate marked the loss of Xinjiang, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan by the Mongol Empire; the last loss of the Mongol Empire was the Chincha Khanate, and the loss of the Chincha Khanate marked the loss of the European part of Russia, western Siberia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Venice, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus; at this point, the Mongol Empire, which had a territory of 35 million square kilometers at its peak, collapsed, leaving mongolia with only 1.5665 million square kilometers of territory.

Second place: Britain, known as the British Empire in its heyday, colonies spread across europe, Asia, Africa, the United States, the Ocean, Antarctica six continents, in 1921 the territory area reached 34 million square kilometers, is the world's history of the second largest territorial area of the country.

Britain's earliest lost colony is now the thirteen eastern states of the United States, and then britain continues to colonize and expand on all continents, and finally became the largest country in the world in terms of territorial area in 1921, but in August of this year, Britain began to lose colonies, in August of this year, Iraq declared independence and established the Kingdom of Iraq, which marked the loss of Iraq by Britain, in 1936, Egypt severed its special constitutional relationship with Britain, which marked britain's loss of Egypt, in 1937, Ireland declared independence and established the Republic of Ireland, which marked the loss of Ireland by Britain, after the end of World War II, the movement of the world's colonies to get rid of colonial rule was on the rise, Pakistan became independent on August 14, 1947, India became independent on August 15, 1947, Burma became independent in January 1948, Sri Lanka became independent in February 1948, this year, Britain no longer ruled Palestine, and Israel established a state in Palestine on May 14 of this year. In 1957, Malaysia became independent, Ghana also became independent in this year, Singapore separated from the United Kingdom in 1963, so far, the United Kingdom has lost Pakistan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Malaysia, Ghana, Singapore, In 1960 Cyprus, Nigeria also became independent in this year, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika and Uganda became independent in 1961, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago became independent in 1962, Kenya and Zanzibar became independent in 1963 Malta independence in 1964, Gambia in 1965, Botswana, Lesotho, Barbados and the eastern Caribbean island states in 1966, so that the United Kingdom lost Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Uganda, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, Zanzibar, Malta, gambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Barbados and the island states of the Eastern Caribbean, Eswatini independence in 1968, while Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa had gradually achieved a high degree of autonomy before independence and was no longer under direct British rule. In addition to the territories I have lost to the United Kingdom above, the United Kingdom has lost Mauritius, Cameroon, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Somaliland, Sudan, South Sudan, Guyana, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Saint Lucia, the Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Bahrain, South Yemen, Papua New Guinea, Niue, Cook Islands, Fiji, Tuvalu, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Maldives, Oman, Qatar , Jordan, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Brunei, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Togo, Namibia, Iceland, Slovenia. In the face of the loss of so many colonies, Britain looked very calmly, and when these colonies launched anti-colonial movements to get rid of British colonial rule, Britain did not interfere too much, and even did not intervene at all in the anti-colonial movements of most colonies. On 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China, marking the complete collapse of the British Empire. At this point, the British Empire, which had a territory of 34 million square kilometers at its peak, became a British empire with only 243,600 square kilometers of territory and 1,728,000 square kilometers of overseas territory.

Third place: Spain, known as the Spanish Empire in its heyday, with a territory area of 33.5 million square kilometers, is the world's first empire that does not land on the ground, but Spain's colonies are mainly in Latin America, because Spain once annexed Portugal, so the Portuguese colony Brazil and other Portuguese colonies were also part of the Spanish Empire.

The Spanish Empire collapsed with the Latin American independence movement, and the territories lost by Spain were Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, the Philippines, and because Spain annexed Portugal, portugal's then colony Brazil and portugal's other colonies were also counted as Spain's lost territories. Today, the Spanish Empire, which at its height spanned 33.5 million square kilometers, has become the Kingdom of Spain, which has only 505925 square kilometers left.

Fourth place: France, known as the French Empire in its heyday, with a territory of 12.898 million square kilometers, is the only country in the history of the world that almost unified Europe, and it is also the country with the greatest influence on Africa in the history of the world and the world today.

France's feelings for colonies are much deeper than Britain's feelings for colonies, but this feeling refers to France's reluctance to give up its colonies in the world, and every colony lost by France makes the country feel deeply unhappy, but Louisiana is more special, the greatest emperor of the French Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte, sold 2.15 million square kilometers of Louisiana to the United States at a very low price of $7 per square kilometer, so the entire Louisiana sold only $15 million. This made the United States take advantage of the big deal, but Napoleon Bonaparte's dream was to unify Europe, he was not interested in colonies, Napoleon Bonaparte almost conquered the whole of Europe except Britain, Ireland, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Austria, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Malta and the European countries occupied by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, France's territory in Europe was limited to The French mainland, France lost the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Andorra; after Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte ruled the French Empire, he began a large-scale overseas colonial expansion, first turning Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia into colonies of the French Empire, then establishing colonies in North Africa and Central Africa, and also establishing colonies on the narrow coast of East Africa around Djibouti. This was followed by the establishment of New Caledonia, the colonies of the Archipelago around French Polynesia and the colonies of the New Seabride Islands in the South Pacific, after the First World War, the French Empire took over the territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the German colonies of Cameroon and Togo in Africa, and finally the French Empire established French West Africa, and France fell during the Second World War, so French West Africa played the role of the French Provisional Government.

After the end of the Second World War, the colonized areas of the world have set off anti-colonial movements, the French Empire used force, but in the end it failed to save the independence of the colonies, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia in 1954 have become independent, in 1962 France's largest colony Algeria independence, after the independence of Algeria, France's colonies in Africa have become independent. At this point, the French Empire collapsed, and the French Empire, which had a territory of 12.898 million square kilometers in its heyday, became France with a territory area of only 550,000 square kilometers and an overseas territory of 120,000 square kilometers.

From the end of World War I, when the French Empire took over the territory of the Ottoman Turkish Empire to the end of the Second World War, when the colonies of the French Empire became independent, the French Empire lost Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and the territories of the Ottoman Turkish Empire when it was taken over by France, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Madagascar, Yemen.

Fifth place: Portugal, known as the Portuguese Empire at its peak, with a territory area of 10.4 million square kilometers, is the world's first colonial empire, and the world's longest-standing colonial empire, the Portuguese Empire completely collapsed after the return of Macao to China on December 20, 1999.

The earliest lost colony of the Portuguese Empire is Brazil, the Portuguese Empire was once annexed by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire, Brazil is independent in the context of the Portuguese Empire was annexed by the French Empire, the Portuguese Empire rebuilt the colonial empire system after the restoration, but in the end it was difficult to escape the fate of the colonies after World War II, the Portuguese Empire even launched a colonial war, but later due to the revolution in the Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese colonies eventually gained independence. However, Macau was temporarily unable to return to China due to the inconvenience of taking back Macao during the Cultural Revolution, and the Portuguese Empire lost mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor and the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Dammam-Diu and Dadra-Nagar haveli after the end of World War II and the Portuguese Empire after the revolution in the Portuguese Empire, and on December 20, 1999, Macao returned to China and the Portuguese Empire completely collapsed. At this point, the Portuguese Empire, which had a territory of 10.4 million square kilometers at its peak, became the Kingdom of Portugal with only 92,391 square kilometers left.