List of dynasties

This is a list of monarchical dynasties and dynastic regimes organized by geographic region. Extant dynasties are rendered in bold and highlighted.

General information

Criteria for inclusion

This list includes defunct and extant monarchical dynasties of sovereign and non-sovereign statuses at the national and subnational levels. Monarchical polities each ruled by a single family—that is, a dynasty, although not explicitly styled as such, like the Golden Horde and the Qara Qoyunlu—are included. Dynasties had/have assumed power in various types of monarchical entities, from loose hereditary tribal units to multinational dynastic empires.

While most dynasties were/are reckoned through the male line, the relatively uncommon cases of dynasties formed through matrilineal succession, such as the Rain Queen (Modjadji) dynasty, are also listed.

Although thrones could theoretically be rotated among several families in elective monarchies, some entities consistently elected/elect their rulers from the same family, effectively functioning as hereditary monarchies controlled by dynasties. For example, the Holy Roman Empire was de jure an elective monarchy, but came under the de facto hereditary rule of the House of Habsburg from AD 1440 to AD 1740, and is therefore listed as such in the "Germany" section.

This list also includes monarchical regimes whose ruling houses became extinct or were removed from power after having produced only one monarch, but would otherwise have been dynastic in their throne successions. For instance, whereas the Thonburi kingdom had only one ruler, it would likely have produced a series of monarchs from the same ruling clan had the throne not been usurped by the Chakri dynasty; the Thonburi kingdom is thus included under the "Thailand (Siam)" section.