Bulding empires?

[crazy legs]

This question has a few different sections:
1.Who do you think was the best at it?(a person/ people)
2.Was Ghengis Khan's that hard to build?
3.Is there any not well known, but still impressive, empires.
and 4. How come there's no proper ones anymore. I mean when America conquered/defeated Iraq they didn't take there land, it's still called Iraq (Not that I'm complaining). tnx

[banned-dot]

1) John Moores
2) He didnlt build anything he just killed thousands and stole countries
3) the mayan empire is not necessarily well known, not like the Egyptians or Romans, but just as inpressive though not as intellectual
4) Modern Empires are still about wealth and power, and there are many, Richard Branson has one for instance

[jno]

empires are often about gaining access to resources. So America doesn't need to take Iraqi land, it just needs to get a pro-US government installed that will agree to sell cheap oil to the USA. I forget how many countries the Americans have military bases in - about 130, I think - so that gives them plenty of opportunity to lean on foreign governments without the bother of going to war with them. Britain's eagerness to follow the USA into Iraq is a case in point. Why should they risk more American lives than they have to when they can risk British ones instead?