Defining an Empire

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A set of traits that can guide us [when trying to define an empire]:

• Territorial extension greater than one million square kilometres.

• Longevity. An empire is a multi-century reality, an uncontested power - at least at a continental level - lasting more than a century.

• From a central point, it produces other centres that surpass the original one or at least reach the same level.

• The empire generates a machinery of cooperation and integration among different peoples, which dies with it but is irreversible.

• The empire ends up collapsing from within, that is, due to internal decomposition.

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Elvira Roca Barea, “Imperiofobia y Leyenda Negra. Roma, Rusia, Estados Unidos y El Imperio Español”. Chapter 2. (2016)