Countries that have been ruled by Emperor

List of countries that have been ruled by emperor

Currently, only Japan is under the reign of such a sovereign, the Emperor of Japan. Here are the list of countries that have been ruled by emperor:

However, several other countries were once ruled by emperors for longer or shorter periods.

Germany: Kaiser, German Emperor.
Austria.
Islamic caliphates: Umayyad Caliphate and Abbasid Caliphate.
Brazil.
Bulgaria: For the Bulgarians, “tsar” means “king” and not “emperor”. The title of “khan”, equivalent to “emperor”, was used by certain Bulgarian sovereigns such as Boris I and Simeon I.
Central African Republic: Bokassa I.
China: “emperor of China” and the list of monarchs of China.
Spain: On several occasions at the beginning of the second millennium, the best known emperor was Alfonso VII of Castile and León from 1135.
Ethiopia: Negus.
France: Napoleon I, Napoleon II and Napoleon III (Charlemagne, Louis the Pious, Charles II the Bald, Charles III the Fat never reigned over any “Empire of France” but over the kingdom of the Franks, as king and over the Western Empire as emperor).
Haiti: see Jacques Ier and Faustin Ier.
India: see Mughal Empire and British Empire.
Iran or Persia: see Shah (“King of kings”).
Madagascar: under Andrianampoinimerina who succeeded in reunifying almost all of the Malagasy territories.
Mali: see Mali Empire.
Morocco: empire until 1957, when Mohammed V renounced his imperial title of “Sultan of the
Cherifian Empire” in favor of that of “King of Morocco”.
Mexico: see Agustín I, Maximilian I and Aztecs.
Mongolia: Kaghan (Great Khan).
Ancient Rome (princeps, caesar and augustus) then Byzantium (basileus, autocrat and Sébastokrator from the 7th century).
Russia: Emperor, imperator; sovereign with the title of tsar until 1721.
Holy Roman Empire
Songhai Empire (West Africa).
Serbia: Tsar.
Tibet.
Turkey or Ottoman Empire: sultan, among other titles, although the latter is not the direct equivalent of emperor. Nevertheless, the Ottoman sultans carried the title of kaysar from 1453.