  We study instantons in QCD with many colors. We first discuss a number of
qualitative arguments concerning the large N_c scaling behavior of a random
instanton ensemble. We show that most hadronic observables are compatible with
standard large N_c counting rules provided the average instanton size is O(1)
and the instanton density is O(N_c) in the large N_c limit. This is not the
case for the topological susceptibility and the mass of the eta'. For these
observables consistency with conventional large N_c counting requires that
fluctuations in the instanton liquid are suppressed compared to Poissonian
fluctuations. Using mean field estimates and numerical simulations we show that
the required scaling behavior of the instanton density is natural in models in
which the instanton density is regularized in terms of a classical repulsive
core. We also show that in these models fluctuations of the topological charge
are suppressed and that m^2_eta'=O(1/N_c). We conclude that the instanton
liquid model is not necessarily in conflict with the 1/N_c expansion.
