Best Unifier
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was an Indian independence leader who became the country's first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs after independence in 1947. He played a central role in integrating the many princely states into the Indian Union through negotiation, political pressure, and...
Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in the late fourth century BCE after overthrowing the Nanda dynasty and gaining control of Magadha. He established an empire that covered much of the Indian subcontinent and defeated or reached a settlement with Seleucus I Nicator in the northwest. Greek...
Qin Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first ruler to adopt the title emperor after conquering the rival Chinese states in 221 BCE. His government centralized administration and standardized forms of writing, weights, measures, coinage, and axle widths across the empire. He also or...
Abdulaziz ibn Saud was the founder and first king of Saudi Arabia. Beginning with the recapture of Riyadh in 1902, he brought Najd, Hejaz, and other regions of the Arabian Peninsula under his authority through warfare, alliances, and negotiated settlements. In 1932 he proclaimed their union as the K...
Harald Fairhair is traditionally regarded as the first king to unite a substantial part of Norway, with his rule conventionally placed in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. Later sagas connect his ascendancy to victory at the Battle of Hafrsfjord, but these narratives were recorded long after...
