Gotta give a shout-out to my boys in the Chinese Tang Dynasty empire and the Abbasid Caliphate.
Why? Mostly because of the perspective they give us against Eurocentrism. Here in Western countries, historic practices for a long time (and often still do) portray the West as some kind of unique, superior area. But you know what? It never really was, globally we've only been 'on top' for around a century and a half. Specifically, the Tang and Abbasid show that those 'Dark Ages' as we call them were only dark for a
really tiny bit of the planet. Most of the rest of the world wasn't just doing fine, they were thriving.
And I loathe the Eurocentrism I see everywhere in studies today. Hell, my own Philosophy course has
one freakin' class worth 5 meager credits covering 'Non-Western philosophy.' You want to stuff centuries upon centuries of intricate global philosophical developments in one tiny class simply because they're not Western? Man, fuck you. In two years of study we've had one pathetic little mention of an Arabian philosopher, Ibn Rushd, and not a single Chinese one. And man, that makes me angry as hell.
Akjosch said:
Ashanti Empire [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_Empire]
Beating the biggest empire of all times (the British) at the height of their power in a war would be a good reason to be a fan by itself, but the culture and customs are fascinating as well.
Beating? Impressive as they were, because Africa is vastly overlooked in Western history classes, they were just as much overrun in the 19th/20th Scramble For Africa as most of the rest of Africa.
Ethopia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adwa] on the other hand...