Greatest Asian Dynasties | Top 10 Countdown

The ranking covers the ten greatest Asian royal houses of the medieval and modern periods. Ancient dynasties are excluded, following the same approach the presenter used in an earlier ranking of European royal houses.

Three criteria determine each dynasty’s ranking: longevity, territorial size, and historical influence. Longevity measures the number of years a dynasty held power, while size measures the maximum land area it controlled. Influence is assessed through the judgments of eight other history-focused YouTubers, making that part of the ranking more subjective.

10th place — The House of Chakri rules Thailand, formerly known as Siam. It is one of only two royal houses in the ranking that remain on the throne, the other being Japan’s House of Yamato.

Thailand’s unusually long independence strengthens the Chakri dynasty’s historical standing. The presenter describes Thailand as having maintained its independence for nearly 800 years, without being colonized or brought under European colonial control. The Chakri dynasty itself had ruled for 238 years at the time of the presentation, considerably less than the country’s longer history of independence.

9th place — The House of Chola is the only indigenous Indian dynasty included in the top ten. The presenter identifies the Cholas as the greatest of the Hindu dynasties of southern India and contrasts their origins with the foreign dynasties that ruled much of northern India during the medieval and modern periods.

The Chola Empire expanded beyond the Indian subcontinent into Southeast Asia. Its rulers controlled substantial territory in India and extended their power to numerous islands in Southeast Asia. The presenter emphasizes that the empire reached beyond the boundaries displayed on his map.

The Chola Empire’s maximum territorial size is difficult to establish precisely. Although its geographical reach was considerable, the presenter does not assign a definitive area measurement because the historical evidence does not support an exact calculation.

The Chola dynasty has ancient origins but a shorter securely documented period of rule. The earliest historical reference to the Cholas dates to approximately 300 BCE, raising the possibility of a dynasty lasting around 1,000 years. However, reliable records become available only from the ninth century onward, giving the dynasty a verifiable duration of 431 years in the ranking.

8th place — The House of Yi ruled Korea during the Joseon period. The dynasty is frequently called the Joseon dynasty, but the presenter distinguishes the name of the royal house, Yi, from the name of the kingdom, Joseon.

The House of Yi replaced the House of Wang, which had ruled Korea’s preceding Goryeo kingdom. These are presented as Korea’s two major royal dynasties, with the Yi dynasty lasting slightly longer than the Wang dynasty.

The House of Yi occupied the Korean throne for 518 years. Its long reign is qualified by periods when Korea was effectively subordinate to outside powers, first Qing China and later the Japanese Empire.

King Sejong the Great was the most celebrated ruler of the House of Yi. He ruled during the period when Joseon was a strong, independent kingdom. Among his accomplishments, the presenter credits him with personally inventing Hangul, the writing system still used in Korea.

7th place — The House of Aisin Gioro established the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty to rule China. The presenter identifies the Qing as a major increase in territorial size, power, and historical influence compared with the three lower-ranked houses.

The Qing dynasty was Manchu rather than ethnically Chinese in origin. The House of Aisin Gioro originated in Manchuria, north of China’s traditional heartland, which explains why the Qing is also called the Manchu dynasty.

The Qing dynasty controlled more territory than any other dynasty that ruled China. Although other Chinese dynasties lasted longer or achieved different forms of influence, the Qing surpassed them in maximum geographical extent.

The Qing dynasty remained in power until shortly before the First World War. Its position as China’s most recent imperial dynasty, combined with its enormous territorial reach, helps explain its importance in the ranking.

6th place — The Houses of Timur and Babur are treated as one dynastic family. The presenter groups the Timurid and Baburid lines because Babur descended directly from Timur through his paternal ancestry, despite the two branches ruling different empires at different times.

Timur, also called Timur the Lame or Tamerlane, founded the Timurid dynasty through conquest. He conquered Persia, where his descendants maintained power for more than a century.

The Timurid family’s political fortunes declined in the Middle East before a descendant established a new empire in India. Babur, described as Timur’s great-great-great-grandson, conquered substantial territory in northern India after the family’s earlier dominance in Persia had weakened.

Babur’s conquests established the Mughal Empire. The empire subsequently expanded beyond northern India to encompass much of southern India, becoming one of the subcontinent’s most powerful historical states.

The Mughal Empire formally survived until the British takeover, but its final emperors possessed little practical authority. The presenter distinguishes the empire’s continued dynastic existence from the largely symbolic position of its later rulers.

The Mughal Empire was among the wealthiest empires in world history. The presenter argues that Mughal emperors possessed substantially greater wealth than their contemporary, the French king Louis XIV.

The Taj Mahal is one of the Mughal dynasty’s most recognizable achievements. Its construction provides a lasting example of the dynasty’s architectural and cultural legacy.

5th place — The House of Osman ruled the Ottoman Empire, centered in what is now Turkey. The presenter considers it one of the greatest Islamic dynasties in history.

The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople ended the Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire had survived for more than 1,000 years before its capital fell to the Ottomans.

The Ottoman Empire was unusual among Asian dynasties for conquering and retaining substantial European territory. It controlled significant parts of Europe for several centuries, giving the dynasty a geographical reach extending well beyond Asia.

The House of Osman ruled for 623 years and controlled more than five million square kilometers at its greatest extent. Its combination of longevity and territorial reach makes it one of the strongest dynasties under the presenter’s ranking criteria.

The Ottomans are classified as an Asian rather than European royal house because of their geographical origins. The presenter explains that viewers of his earlier European ranking had questioned their omission. He considers the dynasty’s origins in Asia sufficient reason to include it in the Asian list instead.

4th place — The House of Li ruled China during the Tang dynasty. It is the highest-ranked Chinese dynasty in the presentation and is described as a contender for the greatest dynasty in Chinese history.

The Tang dynasty ranks highly because of its influence rather than its longevity or territorial size. Although it was neither China’s longest-lasting nor its largest dynasty, the presenter considers it the most influential of the Chinese imperial houses.

The Tang dynasty became a model for subsequent imperial governments. Its institutions and broader historical example influenced later ruling dynasties not only in China but also in other countries.

The Tang period is regarded as one of China’s two great golden ages. The other is the Han period, which the presenter acknowledges as a possible rival for China's greatest dynasty.

The Han dynasty is excluded because it belongs to the ancient period. Its omission does not mean the presenter considers it historically inferior; it falls outside the medieval and modern chronological limits established for the ranking.

3rd place — The House of Yamato, Japan’s imperial family, is the longest-reigning royal dynasty in recorded world history according to the presenter. He emphasizes that the first three dynasties were extremely close in the overall ranking and could reasonably have been treated as a three-way tie.

The House of Yamato would rank first if longevity were the only criterion. Its extraordinary continuity outweighs every other royal house in that category, although its territorial reach and historical influence must also be considered.

Japanese imperial tradition traces the Yamato dynasty back approximately 2,700 years. The presenter rejects this legendary chronology for ranking purposes, preferring dates he considers historically supportable.

The presenter assigns the House of Yamato 1,481 years of continuous patrilineal rule. This figure is intended to represent its historically established paternal line rather than the longer chronology preserved in Japanese imperial tradition.

The House of Yamato continues to occupy Japan’s throne. Its survival makes it one of the two reigning royal houses included in the ranking, alongside Thailand’s Chakri dynasty.

Japan’s enormous maximum territorial extent reflects its empire during the Second World War, not its normal historical borders. For most of the Yamato dynasty’s existence, Japanese-controlled territory was largely confined to the main Japanese islands.

Japanese emperors frequently possessed little direct political power despite remaining on the throne. For many centuries, military rulers known as shoguns exercised effective authority, while emperors occupied primarily ceremonial positions.

The distinction between ceremonial sovereignty and actual political control is especially important when evaluating the Yamato dynasty. Its exceptional longevity reflects the survival of the imperial institution, even through extended periods when another authority governed Japan.

2nd place — The House of Quraysh is associated with the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad. The presenter acknowledges that tribe is a more appropriate description than royal house in this case.

The presenter combines the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs into one broader Quraysh lineage. Although they are normally treated as separate dynasties, he groups them because their paternal ancestry can be traced to a common male ancestor.

The common ancestor of the Umayyad and Abbasid lines is identified as Fihr ibn Malik, also known as Quraysh. This shared ancestry provides the genealogical basis for treating the two caliphal families as part of one larger house.

The current royal houses of Jordan and Morocco also claim ancestry connected to Quraysh. However, the presenter says the precise genealogical connections cannot be historically verified to his satisfaction, so he excludes these royal families from the dynasty’s numerical totals.

The combined Quraysh dynasty is assigned 626 years of rule and a maximum territorial extent of approximately 11 million square kilometers. Although substantial, neither figure gives it first place for longevity or geographical size.

The Quraysh dynasty receives its exceptionally high ranking primarily because of the historical influence of Islam. The presenter associates the dynasty with a religious and cultural legacy that has endured for approximately 1,400 years.

Islam’s continuing influence extends far beyond the territories controlled by the early caliphates. The presenter identifies Western Asia, the rest of Asia, much of Africa, and other parts of the world as regions profoundly shaped by the religion.

The Quraysh ranking reflects a distinction between political control and long-term religious influence. The family’s historical significance is measured not simply by the survival of its governments but by the continuing global influence of the religious tradition associated with its most famous member, Muhammad.

1st place — The House of Borjigin, the family of Genghis Khan, ranks as the greatest Asian royal house. Its position is driven principally by the extraordinary amount of territory conquered by Genghis Khan and his descendants.

The Mongol Empire reached more than 24 million square kilometers at its greatest extent. The presenter identifies it as the largest contiguous land empire in world history.

The British Empire was larger overall, but its territories were geographically separated. This distinction allows the Mongol Empire to retain the record for the largest connected land empire despite the British Empire’s greater total area.

The Mongol Empire eventually divided into four principal successor states. These were the Golden Horde, the Ilkhanate, the Chagatai Khanate, and the Great Khanate, each associated with a different portion of the original empire.

The Golden Horde controlled territories that included parts of Eastern Europe. Its geographical position extended Mongol dynastic rule into European lands.

The Ilkhanate was centered in Persia. It represented the Mongol ruling family’s establishment of a major successor state in the Middle East.

The Chagatai Khanate survived longer than the other three principal Mongol successor states. Its longevity contributed to the continuing political presence of the broader Mongol dynastic family after the unified empire fragmented.

The Great Khanate became known in Chinese history as the Yuan dynasty. This branch of the Mongol ruling family governed China, linking the history of the Mongol Empire directly to the succession of Chinese imperial dynasties.

The Ming dynasty eventually displaced the Yuan dynasty in China. However, the Mongol ruling line continued governing in Mongolia for several more centuries, meaning the loss of China did not immediately end its political existence.

The Borjigin family combined extraordinary territorial conquest with substantial dynastic longevity. The presenter emphasizes that the Mongols were not simply conquerors whose authority disappeared immediately after their initial expansion.

Mongol rule strengthened connections between East Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The presenter credits the empire with facilitating the movement of culture and people across regions that had previously been less directly connected.

The Mongol conquests also increased the movement of genetic material and infectious diseases between populations. The presenter treats these biological consequences as part of the empire’s lasting historical significance, alongside its political and cultural effects.

The presenter suggests that Mongol expansion helped create conditions for the spread of the Black Death. He presents this as part of a larger historical connection between Mongol expansion, Eurasian exchange, and later European developments.

A broader historical chain is proposed connecting the Mongol invasions, the Black Death, the Renaissance, and the modern world. The presenter suggests that the invasions helped facilitate the plague’s spread, that the plague contributed to conditions leading to the European Renaissance, and that the Renaissance helped shape modern society. This is presented as an interpretive sequence rather than a demonstrated chain of exclusive causes.

The presenter repeats the claim that approximately 10% of men in formerly Mongol-controlled parts of Asia descend from Genghis Khan through an uninterrupted paternal line. He describes this widely circulated genetic claim as true, while specifically limiting the percentage to direct male-line descendants rather than all descendants.

The presenter argues that counting descendants through women would produce a vastly larger proportion of people descended from Genghis Khan. He suggests the proportion could approach 100% in the regions under discussion once both male and female lines of descent are included, although he does not provide a separate calculation or supporting evidence in the episode.

Direct paternal descent and descent through either parent are fundamentally different genealogical measures. The presenter uses the Mongol example to illustrate why the descendants of a historical ruler can become extremely numerous over many generations, even when a much smaller share of people belong to that ruler’s uninterrupted male line.

The Timurid and Baburid dynasties may also be connected to the wider Borjigin family. The presenter acknowledges the possibility of a common genealogical connection but says the relevant relationships cannot be historically verified.

The possible Borjigin connection does not change the ranking because the presenter excludes unverified genealogical links. He therefore treats the Timurid-Baburid family, ranked sixth, and the Borjigin family, ranked first, as separate houses rather than merging their territories and periods of rule.

Genealogical classification affects the results because related branches may otherwise be counted as separate dynasties. The presenter combines the Timur and Babur lines and the Umayyad and Abbasid lines where he accepts a documented paternal connection, while separating other families whose relationships remain uncertain.

The ranking gives different kinds of historical achievement different weight. The Yamato dynasty leads in longevity, the Borjigin dynasty in the maximum extent of a contiguous empire, and the Quraysh grouping in the presenter’s assessment of enduring religious and cultural influence. The final order reflects an attempt to balance these distinct measures rather than allowing one criterion to determine every position.

The presenter acknowledges that the top three houses are too closely matched for their precise order to be definitive. Yamato’s longevity, Quraysh’s lasting influence, and Borjigin’s territorial achievements provide competing reasons for placing each near the top. He ultimately ranks Borjigin first, Quraysh second, and Yamato third.