Editing Superpower (section)

===Archaic globalization (before 1500)===
{{Main article|Archaic globalization}}
Many of the nations of this historical period were never superpowers, however they were regional powers with influence in their respective regions. 

Note: Does not take into account city-states and stateless nomadic peoples. 

====Bronze Age====
===== Fertile Crescent in the Early Bronze Age =====
In the early history of both regions contact between these civilization was very limited, long distance trade definitely occurred but primarily through long chains of intermediaries rather than directly.
* [[Akkadian Empire]] (isolated civilization; first empire recorded in history)
* [[Old Kingdom of Egypt]] (isolated civilization) 

===== Fertile Crescent in the Middle Bronze Age =====
Regular contact between Egypt, Mesopotamia and Anatolia dates from this period. Mitanni was an important intermediary in the trade between these civilizations.
* [[Old Assyrian Empire]]
* [[Old Babylonian Empire]]
* [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]]
* [[Mittani|Kingdom of Mitanni]]
* [[Hittite Empire]]

===== Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean Sea in the Late Bronze Age =====
Known by the [[Minoan Civilization|Minoans]] and [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greeks]]:
* [[New Kingdom of Egypt]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=McDonald |first=Angela |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/966861438 |title=Ancient Egypt |date=10 January 2017 |publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-1-4654-5753-0 |oclc=966861438}}</ref> 
* [[Hittites|Hittite Empire]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Giusfredi |first=Federico |title=Hittite Empire |date=11 January 2016 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe265 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Empire |pages=1–7 |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |doi=10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe265 |isbn=9781118455074 |access-date=2022-12-27}}</ref>

===== Indian subcontinent =====
Contact with other civilizations was very limited; long distance trade with Mesopotamia definitely occurred but primarily through long chains of intermediaries rather than directly.
* [[Indus Valley Civilisation]] (isolated civilization, no consensus on whether it was a unified state or not)

===== East Asia =====
* [[Shang dynasty|Shang Kingdom]] (isolated civilization) 
* [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou Kingdom]] (isolated civilization)

===== Mesoamerica =====
*[[Olmec civilization]] (isolated civilization, little information about their type of government)

===== Andes =====
*[[Caral–Supe civilization]] (isolated civilization, little information about their type of government)

====Classical antiquity====
===== Indian subcontinent =====
* [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha Empire]] (one of the 16 [[Mahajanapadas]], isolated civilizations before contact with the Persians)

===== Known world by the ancient Greeks before the Hellenistic period =====
* [[Kushite Empire]] ([[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt]]) 
* [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]]<ref>{{Citation |title=The rise of the Neo-Assyrian empire |date=4 December 2013 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315879895-41 |work=The Ancient Near East |pages=499–520 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315879895-41 |isbn=978-1-315-87989-5 |access-date=2022-12-27}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Nature of Siege Warfare in the Neo-Assyrian Period |date=13 November 2019 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004413740_004 |work=Brill's Companion to Sieges in the Ancient Mediterranean |pages=35–52 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |doi=10.1163/9789004413740_004 |access-date=2022-12-27|last1=Siddall |first1=Luis R. |isbn=9789004413740 |s2cid=214558514}}</ref>
*[[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fantalkin |first=Alexander |date=1 December 2017 |title=In Defense of Nebuchadnezzar II the Warrior |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/aofo-2017-0014 |journal=Altorientalische Forschungen |volume=44 |issue=2 |doi=10.1515/aofo-2017-0014 |s2cid=165967543 |issn=2196-6761}}</ref>
* [[Achaemenid Empire]] (Persia)<ref>{{Citation |last=Kuhrt |first=Amélie |title=State Communications in the Persian Empire |date=14 February 2014 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199354771.003.0006 |work=State Correspondence in the Ancient World |pages=112–140 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199354771.003.0006 |isbn=978-0-19-935477-1 |access-date=2022-12-27}}</ref>
* [[Macedonian Empire]]<ref>{{Citation |title=Alexander and his empire |date=26 March 1993 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511518539.006 |work=Conquest and Empire |pages=229–258 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511518539.006 |isbn=9780521406796 |access-date=2022-12-27}}</ref>

===== Known world by the ancient Romans in their republican era =====
The [[Ancient drachma|Drachma]], minted by many states, most notably in the [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] was the reserve currency in the Mediterranean and Near East
* [[Carthaginian Empire|Carthaginian Republic]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miles |first=Richard |date=2011 |title=Carthage: A Mediterranean Superpower |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hsp.2011.0059 |journal=Historically Speaking |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=35–37 |doi=10.1353/hsp.2011.0059 |s2cid=162227777 |issn=1944-6438}}</ref>
* [[Roman Republic]]<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 March 2010 |title=How Rome fell: death of a superpower |journal=Choice Reviews Online |volume=47 |issue=7 |pages=47–3968-47-3968 |doi=10.5860/choice.47-3968 |doi-broken-date=1 February 2025 |issn=0009-4978}}</ref>
* [[Ptolemaic Egypt]]
* [[Seleucid Empire]]
* [[Parthian Empire]] (Persia)
* [[Maurya Empire]] (not fully known by Europeans, that only known frontier regions and later northern regions)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kulke |first1=Hermann |last2=Rothermund |first2=Dietmar |date=26 August 2004 |title=A History of India |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203391266 |doi=10.4324/9780203391266 |isbn=9781134331918}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Raza |first=Ahmed |date=16 August 2021 |title=Vajpayee: The Years that Changed India ShaktiSinha, Vajpayee: The Years that Changed India, Penguin/Vintage Books, New Delhi, 2020, 368 pp., Rs.599.00 (Hardback), {{text|ISBN:}} 9780670093441 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09700161.2021.1965348 |journal=Strategic Analysis |volume=45 |issue=5 |pages=444–445 |doi=10.1080/09700161.2021.1965348 |s2cid=243093620 |issn=0970-0161}}</ref>

===== Known world by the ancient Romans in their imperial era =====
Main [[reserve currency]] in the Mediterranean and Near East: [[Denarius|Roman Denarius]], later replaced by the [[Solidus (coin)|Roman Solidus]].
* [[Roman Empire]]
* [[Parthian Empire]] (Persia)
* [[Sasanid Empire]] (Persia)
* [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite Empire]]
* [[Gupta Empire]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=Kanad |title=State, Power and Legitimacy: The Gupta Kingdom |publisher=Primus Books |year=2019 |isbn=9789352902798}}</ref>

===== East Asia =====
Not fully known outside East Asia. The West knew of these powers because of the [[Silk Road]], although little information reached them.
* [[Han dynasty|Han Empire]]<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Lockard |first=Craig A. |date=4 February 2013 |title=Chinese emigration to 1948 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm130 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration |doi=10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm130|isbn=9781444334890}}</ref>
* [[Xiongnu|Xiongnu Empire]]

===== Mesoamerica =====
Isolated civilizations in relation to the [[Afro-Eurasia]].
* [[Olmec civilization]] (little information about their type of government)
* [[Zapotec civilization]] (little information about their type of government in this time period)
* [[Teotihuacán]] (little information about their type of government)

===== Andes =====
Isolated civilization in relation to [[Afro-Eurasia]].
* [[Chavín culture|Chavín Civilization]] (little information about their type of government)

====Post-Classical Age====
===== Known world by Medieval Europeans and Middle Easterners =====
Main [[reserve currency]] in the Mediterranean and Near East: [[Solidus (coin)|Roman Solidus]], later replaced by the [[Gold dinar|Dinar]], minted by the Caliphates.
* [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]]
* [[Carolingian Empire]] (Arabs, Persians, East Asians used "[[Franks]]" as a generic name for Europeans. Due to [[feudalism]], Western European powers with influence outside Europe did not emerge in the remainder of the Middle Ages) 
* The [[Caliphate]]s: [[Rashidun Caliphate]], [[Umayyad Caliphate]],<ref>{{Cite book |first=Jane |last=Burbank |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/751801141 |title=Empires in world history : power and the politics of difference |date=5 July 2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-15236-3 |oclc=751801141}}</ref> [[Fatimid Caliphate]] and [[Abbasid Caliphate]]
* [[Sultanate of Mogadishu]] (Known by Arabs, Europeans and East Asians)
* Persia ([[Sassanid Empire]], [[Ilkhanate]] and the [[Timurid Empire]]) (known by Europeans, Indians and East Asians)
* [[Ethiopian Empire]] (known by the Arabs, Indians, Europeans and later by the Chinese)
* [[Medieval India|Indian]] empires: [[Chola Empire]] and [[Delhi Sultanate]]
* [[Mongol Empire]] (known by Eurasians)
* [[Medieval China|Chinese]] empires: [[Tang dynasty|Tang Empire]] (known by East Asians, Indians and Middle Easterners but not by Europeans in detailed way),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lockard |first=Craig |title="Tang Civilization and the Chinese Centuries" |url=https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/services/dropoff/china_civ_temp/week06/pdfs/tangci.pdf}}</ref> [[Song dynasty|Song Empire]] (known by the Europeans in its very last years),<ref>{{Citation |title=Conclusion |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt183p1d6.13 |work=The Crimes of Empire |pages=241–248 |publisher=Pluto Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctt183p1d6.13 |access-date=2022-12-27}}</ref> [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan Empire]], [[Ming dynasty|Ming Empire]]

===== Sub-Saharan Africa =====
During the Middle Ages the region was known by Arab merchants. Europeans were aware that the region existed (to the point that [[Mansa Musa]] was mentioned in the [[Catalan Atlas]]), but little information about the place reached Europe.
* [[Ghana Empire]] (known by Arabs)
* [[Mali Empire]] (known by Arabs and Europeans)
* [[Songhai Empire]] (know by Arabs)
* [[Kingdom of Zimbabwe]] and [[Kingdom of Mutapa]] (known by Arabs and Asians. Contact with Europeans only after 1500)

===== Mesoamerica =====
Isolated civilization in relation to the [[Afro-Eurasia]].
*[[Toltec Empire]]
*[[Purépecha Empire]]
*[[Aztec Empire]]

===== South America =====
Isolated civilizations in relation to the [[Afro-Eurasia]].
* [[Wari Empire]]
* [[Tiwanaku Empire]]
* [[Inca Empire]]