Explore the History of Any Place on Earth With This Interactive Map

Filling in the blanks of your historical knowledge would probably be easier if you could readily visualize when and where events occurred in relation to other events. Fortunately, there’s an interactive map that can help with that.

As Boing Boing explains, TimeMap.org combines the what, who, and where of history into one convenient world map. Use the timeline slider along the bottom to select any year from 2010 all the way back to 4000 BCE to see what was happening during that era. The focus is on civilization—not the natural world—so you’re mainly exploring where certain people and groups of people lived during a given period and how national and regional borders have evolved over time. The tabs at the top of the map reflect this focus: regions, rulers, people, and battles.

It’s a fun way to broaden your historical perspective beyond your own local leanings. If you grew up in the U.S. mainly learning about American history, the early 1860s probably evokes the American Civil War above all else. Zooming around TimeMap.org for a few minutes can clue you into some farther-flung goings-on: China, for example, was dealing with a civil war of its own (the Taiping Rebellion, which lasted from 1850 to 1864). Applicable Wikipedia pages are built into the site so you can deep-dive at your leisure.

TimeMap.org is hosted by OldMapsOnline, which describes itself as the internet’s “largest portal for historical maps.” It boasts more than 500,000 map scans, which are loaded into TimeMap.org for your perusal. You can also make a free account and add to the collection by uploading digital maps that you come across in your own research. Learn more here.

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