Old Maps Online

Old Maps Online, MapTiler and the David Rumsey Map collection have launched TimeMap.org, a new interactive world map which allows you to explore the history of human civilization over the last 6,000 years. TimeMap promises to throw open the doors to the past, allowing you to explore bygone eras, trace the shifting boundaries of nations, encounter history's most powerful figures, and witness the battlefields that forged the world as we know it now.

You can also use TimeMap to browse over half a million vintage maps.

TimeMap has four main views: Regions, Rulers, People and Battles. The titles of these views are fairly self-explanatory: 

• Select 'Regions' and you can use the timeline control to view the changing borders of countries and regions over time, since 4000 BC. 
• Select 'Rulers' and the names of individual emperors, kings and queens and other important rulers are added to the map. These names obviously change as you change the date with the map's timeline control. 
• The 'People' view is similar to the 'Rulers' view, except instead of rulers the map displays the names of notable individuals throughout history. 
• Select 'Battles' and you can use the timeline and map to view the locations of military conflicts throughout history.

TimeMap also makes extensive use of Wikipedia to provide context for the 6,000 odd years of historical information which can be browsed on the map. In any of the the four main views you can click on any of the map labels (whether placenames, rulers, battles or notable individuals) to learn more from the relevant Wikipedia entry.

TimeMap is significantly enhanced by also providing access to over half a million vintage historical maps. Click on the 'Maps' button (top-right) and a sidebar opens showing you all the available historical maps for the current map view and selected year. You can then select any of these vintage maps to see it overlain on the main map.

These vintage maps provide snapshots of the world at different points in history. By layering these maps, TimeMap allows you to visualize how borders have changed, empires have risen and fallen, and cities have grown over time. The maps themselves are of course important historical artifacts. They reflect the cartographic knowledge and techniques of their time, so TimeMap also helps reveal the evolution of map-making alongside the evolution of human history itself.