The Greatest Empire?

[Beet]

In 1000 years it will be clearly seen that the British Empire was the world's most significant.

To say that the Roman Empire was more, sorry to say, is Eurocentric. As Storebrought mentioned, Imperial China was at least as impactful as Rome and lasted even longer (albeit in different dynasties). But neither was global in scope.

The Mongol Empire was significant in its destructiveness, as it ended both the Islamic and Chinese golden ages, but that is no measure of greatness.

In 1000 years students will be taught that 1000 years ago, there used to be hundred of languages around the world, and we used to be divided into 200 different countries, and students will wonder at the stupidity of it all. The teacher will tell the students that the language they speak today derived from a small island in northwestern Europe, which spread because of an ancient mercantile empire...