Emperor
Anemperor(female equivalent:empress) is amalewho rules anempire.The word is taken from theLatin languageImperator.Often it iscapitalized.
A woman who comes to power in an empire is called an empress. The wife of an emperor is also called an empress. An emperor or empress is often ahereditary monarchand comes to power when one of his parents, orrelatives,dies.In some countries, people elected a new emperor fromcandidates.
The only emperor in the world today is theEmperor of Japan(tennō), but he lacks political power. The true leaders of Japan are theDietandPrime Ministerbecause the country is aparliamentaryconstitutional monarchy.
TheEnglishword comes fromLatin,the language of the oldRoman Empire.At first, animperatorwas a powerfulgeneral(army leader) but, afterAugustus,it was only used by theirmost powerful rulers.There have been manycountriesinhistorywhose leaders are called "emperors" in English. The leaders of theByzantine Empire(basileus,Autokrator) inGreece,theHoly Roman Empire(imperator,Kaiser) inAustriaandGermany,Russian Empire,Serbia,andBulgaria(tsar), and theOttoman Empire(sultan,padishah,khagan,kaysar) inTurkeyall said they were just new parts of the oldRoman Empire.
The leaders of other countries who said they ruled thewhole worldor called themselves "KingofKings"are frequently also called emperors inEnglish.For example, the old rulers ofChina(Huangdi),Iran(Shah), andEthiopia(Negusa negast) are all known as emperors inEnglish.There have also been emperors ofFrance,Brazil,andMexico,and the rulers of theUnited Kingdomcalled themselves theEmperors and empresses of Indiafor a while.
Countries ruled by Emperor[change|change source]
- China(221 BC – 1911, 1915–1916)
- Ethiopia(1137– 1975)
- Japan(The only empire that currently exists)
- Roman Empire(27 BC – 476)
- Byzantine Empire(395–1453)
- Latin Empire(1204–1261)
- Empire of Nicaea(1204–1261)
- Empire of Trebizond(1204–1461)
- Empire of Thessalonica(1224–1246)
- Western Roman Empire(395–476)
- Carolingian Empire(800–843)
- Holy Roman Empire(962–1806)
- Byzantine Empire(395–1453)
- Russian Empire(1721–1917)
- Empire of Vietnam(1802–1945)
- French Empire(1804–1814, 1815, 1852–1870)
- Haitian Empire(1804–1806, 1849–1859)
- Austrian Empire(1804–1867)
- Brazilian Empire(1822–1889)
- German Empire(1871–1918)
- Mexican Empire(1821–1823, 1864–1867)
- Indian Empire(1858–1947)
- Mughal Empire(1526–1858)
- Korean Empire(1897–1910)
- Empire of Manchukuo(1934–1945)
- Central African Empire(1976–1979)
- Inca Empire(1438–1533)