Languages and Empires in 1800 (about 1 billion people in total)

Click here for a map and background to this page.

Click here for estimates on population growth in China and India, Pakistan and Bangla Desh, Japan and Indonesia, contrasted with Russia England and Australia, the US and Canada, Mexico and Brazil from 1 AD to 2019.

The Great Powers or Empires

Intro: Empires have always revolved around having a language, or at least a common writing system for communication purposes. Click Here for a timeline.

In Europe, this became the Latin alphabet with its 26 characters, and with French and Spanish having diacritics (accents) over the tops of certain letters to assist with pronunciation. English, a little more "lazily", or perhaps "Kiss" — Keep it Simple stupid, refused to add those diacritics.

In the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East where Turkish was the common language and Arabic was the language of the Koran and prayer, communication before 1926 was a Turkish variation on the Perso-Arabic script. In 1926 Turkey changed to a Latin based alphabet, adding some additional letters.

Regarding China where Mandarin Chinese was the language of the emperor and a traditional script of characters was used to represent words, peoples learned to pronounce each word their own way in their own dialect.

In looking at their history, China's earliest records show its first dynasty (after the flood) to be the Xia dynasty.
By 1000BC, the census estimate shows 14 million.
In 200BC at the start of the Han Dynasty that finalized the Great Wall and the Silk Road, about 20 million.
In 1AD at the time of Christ, the protection of the Wall took it to perhaps 60 million which it apparently stayed about for the next 1500 years. Sadly, wars and enslavement were commonplace, even infanticide if you were born with little.
Improved conditions and a larger population became their history after 1600. China's census estimate of 300 million in 1800 was higher than any other single country.
Since the 1950s and 1960s, China has developed a simplified script taught in schools everywhere on the mainland. They use a Latin based alphabet (called Pinyin) when typing into computers.

Regarding India, click here for their timeline, the country had just the one "holy" language called Sanskrit, but many writing scripts after the Persians, the Greeks, the Syrians, the Turks, the Mongols, and then in the 1800 census, the British administrators. Today Hindi is the main official language with many able to speak or at least understand English.

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No.Empire or Language Group ▲▼CountryCountry (thousands)Empire or Language Group (thousands)
China
Zhong-guo — Middle Kingdom
China300000300000
India estimate excluding Bengal, Mumbai and Madras
Bha-rat
India excluding Bengal, Mumbai and Madras160000160000
Africa estimate uncountedAfrica (no census)9000090000
BritishBritish India presidencies Bengal, Mumbai and Madras30765~50000
BritishUnited Kingdom10481~50000
BritishIreland5000~50000
BritishBritish Caribbean437~50000
BritishCanada400~50000
BritishBelize15~50000
BritishGibraltar5~50000
BritishAustralia5~50000
BritishBermuda4~50000
BritishBritish Citizens elsewhere (includes India, Europe, Africa, Asia)?????~50000
FrenchFrance2675850000
FrenchNetherlands (Nederlandse) occupied by Napoleon
Dutch United Provinces (including Holland) 1850
Dutch East Indies (Java) 4200
620050000
FrenchAustrian Netherlands (later known as Belgium)400050000
FrenchLigurian Republic (Genoa, Italy)201150000
FrenchHelvetic Republic (Switzerland)160050000
FrenchCisrhenian Republic (Cologne, Germany)160050000
FrenchCisalpine Republic (Milan, Italy)130050000
FrenchSaint-Domingue (French Caribbean)65750000
FrenchFrench India17550000
FrenchLuxembourg14050000
FrenchMauritius7050000
FrenchMalta6050000
FrenchLouisiana
An area that included 15 modern day states west of the Mississippi River. Sold by Napoleon to USA in 1803
4450000
FrenchFrench Guiana (South America)1550000
FrenchAndorra (Between Spain and France)550000
RussianRussia Ros-siy-skaya2124835113
RussianUkraine780035113
RussianRomania177035113
RussianRussian Poland120035113
RussianFinland100035113
RussianLivonia and Courland (Latvia)72535113
RussianEstonia65035113
RussianLithuania60035113
RussianSeptinsular Republic (Corfu, Greece)12035113
Japan NipponTokugawa Shogunate (Japan)2900029000
Ottoman OsmanSyria, Palestine, Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, Moldavia-Wallachia (Romania), Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, Cyprus, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, etc1654226000
Ottoman OsmanAnatolia (Turkey)560426000
Ottoman OsmanEgypt Eyalet385426000
Spanish EspagnolSpain1054125729
Spanish EspagnolNew Spain
Mexico and area to the north under its administration
594525729
Spanish EspagnolNew Granada
Colombia and areas under its administration - modern day Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador
230025729
Spanish EspagnolRio de la Plata
Argentina and areas under its administration - modern day Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay
208225729
Spanish EspagnolPhilippines180025729
Spanish EspagnolPeru140025729
Spanish EspagnolChile80025729
Spanish EspagnolGuatemala42525729
Spanish EspagnolCuba30025729
Spanish EspagnolPuerto Rico13625729
Austria-HungaryHungary (including Slovakia in the north)630023145
Austria-HungaryGalicia (West Ukraine), Lodomeria (Poland)390023145
Austria-HungaryBohemia - Prague (Czech Republic, Germany)281023145
Austria-HungaryVenetian Province (Venice, Italy)184523145
Austria-HungaryAustria182023145
Austria-HungaryTransylvania (Romania)150023145
Austria-HungaryMoravia (Czech Republic)126023145
Austria-HungaryCroatia85023145
Austria-HungaryStyria (Austria and Slovenia)80023145
Austria-HungaryTyrol (Austria and Italy)61023145
Austria-HungaryCarniola (Slovenia)40023145
Austria-HungaryCarinthia (Austria and Slovenia, also Italy, Croatia)30023145
Austria-HungaryDalmatia (Croatia)30023145
Austria-HungaryAustrian Silesia (Czech Republic and Poland)25023145
Austria-HungaryBukovina (Romania and Ukraine)13023145
Austria-HungaryTrieste (Italy)4023145
Austria-HungaryRagusa (Croatia)3023145
German DeutschesPrussia (Brandenburg)970021720
German DeutschesSalzburg, Hannover, Trier, Cologne etc (Germany)481021720
German DeutschesBavaria (Germany)320021720
German DeutschesWurttemberg (Germany)135021720
German DeutschesBaden (Germany)91221720
German DeutschesThuringian states (Germany)61221720
German DeutschesMecklenburg-Schwerin (Germany)31821720
German DeutschesWurzburg (Germany)25021720
German DeutschesOldenburg (Germany)15921720
German DeutschesReuss Elder Line (Germany)7621720
German DeutschesLippe (Germany)7021720
German DeutschesMecklenburg-Strelitz (Germany)7021720
German DeutschesAnhalt-Dessau (Germany)5221720
German DeutschesArenberg (Germany)4821720
German DeutschesAnhalt-Bernburg (Germany)3521720
German DeutschesAnhalt-Kothen (Germany)3321720
German DeutschesSchaumburg-Lippe (Germany)2021720
German DeutschesLiechtenstein521720
Korea — Jo-seonKorea (North and South)1650016500
IndonesiaIndonesia outside of Java (no census)1200012000
Italy unified in 1870Naples (Southern Italy)500011170
Italy unified in 1870Papal States (Rome in West, Marche Umbria Romagna in East)230011170
Italy unified in 1870Sicily170011170
Italy unified in 1870Tuscany (Capital Florence in Centre-West)120011170
Italy unified in 1870Sardinia (Island in West plus Capital Turin in North-West)45011170
Italy unified in 1870Parma (North-Centre)40011170
Italy unified in 1870Lucca (Northern Tuscany)12011170
PortugueseBrazil36009340
PortuguesePortugal29709340
PortugueseMozambique12509340
PortugueseAngola10109340
PortugueseTimor3009340
PortuguesePortuguese India2109340
Viet NamAnnam (Viet Nam)72917291
Persia (Iran)Persia (Iran)60006000
USAUSA53085308
ThailandThailand (no census)45004500
Burma (Myanmar)Burma (Myanmar)42004200
MoroccoMorocco26002600
SwedenSweden23472347
DenmarkDenmark9292253
DenmarkNorway
In 1814 Norway became independent from Denmark, uniting with Swedish crown which took over its debts. Prussia purchased Pomerania from Sweden, also took over paying back a Denmark debt to Sweden.
In 1905 Norway's union with Sweden was dissolved.
8832253
DenmarkHolstein (Germany)3502253
DenmarkIceland462253
DenmarkDanish West Indies (Virgin Islands US)402253
DenmarkGreenland52253
ArabiaArabia (Saudi Kingdom)21322132
CambodiaCambodia20902090
Sikh (North India)Sikh (Northern India)15001500
Oman and BahrainBahrain363663
Oman and BahrainOman300663
QatarQatar1414

** End of List

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