The Japanese colonial empire (Nihon no Shokuminchi Teikoku) constituted the overseas colonies established by Imperial Japan in the Western Pacific and East Asia region from 1895. Victories over China and Russia expanded the Japanese sphere of influence, notably in Taiwan and Korea, and southern Sakhalin became a colony of Japan as the Karafuto Prefecture in 1905. At its apex, the Japanese colonial empire was one of the largest empires in history. Including the home islands, the total amount of land under Japanese sovereignty reached 8,510,000 km2 (3,300,000 sq mi) in 1942. By 1943, it accounted for more than 20% of the world's population at the time with 463 million people in its occupied regions and territories.