Country to Public belief, it was not the British, French, Greeks, Persian’s, Romans, or Mongols.

Rather it was 1 specific empire that is typically forgotten despite it’s military/economic/territorial prowess.

And that award goes to the Spanish Empire. Are you familiar with the term “The Empire on which the sun never sets”? Guess who coined that term. Not the British or the Japanese which is the popular belief, but Spain. Charles I King of Spain also known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor coined this term for his empire.

(Here’s an accurate gif that becomes silly after 2014)

The Spanish Empire flourished for more than 3 centuries. With it, Spain bought arts, sciences, mathematics, technological inventions and most well known; Catholicism.

An empire seemingly forgotten, has written the books of Imperial History

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Thanks for making this my most viewed answer to date since I’ve created my Quora account! The sharing and spreading the word is a tremendous help! Thanks alot