18th & 19th century: strongest non-European-origin countries?

Much of Europe and the Americas were obviously able to project wealth and military strength. But what about other countries? Japan was isolationist, so that rules that out. Maybe a kingdom of the subcontinent?
 
Well, the 18th and 19th century are very different (and for that matter, e.g. 1701 is very different from 1799). Late 19th-century, it's obviously Japan.

Early 18th century? Probably Qing China (who were actively expanding well into the 18th century; look at e.g. the Ten Great Campaigns), though an argument could be made for the Ottomans, if they are considered non-European. The Mughals were beginning to fall apart, and none of their successor states were at the level of those two.
 
I'm thinking between 1790 and 1820. I'm developing the beginnings of a TL and want to have some events occur across the Pacific around 1817ish.
 
Well, the Ottomans, albeit clearly geographically European, are "non-European-origin" :p

Jokes aside, what does "strongest" mean?
 
Well, the Ottomans, albeit clearly geographically European, are "non-European-origin" :p

Jokes aside, what does "strongest" mean?


By "strongest" I mean "best able to project wealth, influence and/or military strength on a large geographic scale" whether or not they actually did.
 
How about this guy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nader_Shah is his empire too short lived? Delhi is further from Isfahan than Moscow is from Paris, and you have to cross more mountain ranges. I figure that is reasonable projection ability, considering Napoleon a century later.

Edit: sorry, he is mid 18th century, falling just outside the specified time period.
 
By "strongest" I mean "best able to project wealth, influence and/or military strength on a large geographic scale" whether or not they actually did.

Given the conditions, China is the obvious choice. However, I'm not entirely convinced that the Manchus can actually project influence. I'd say Muhammad Ali if you consider Egypt as independent.
 
What about Oman and Zanzibar? They *did* project power all the way from Mozambique to the south to Congo in the west to Bahrain in the north to Pakistan in the east. It's not the most populous country but it's certainly wealthy and could be on par with some of the smaller European colonial powers.
 
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