Civilizations of the World

An interactive historical atlas — watch the nations, kingdoms, empires and republics of the world rise, spread and fall across nearly seven thousand years, from 5000 BC to the present day.

The map covers every region — North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania — and every era: the first Neolithic cultures, the Bronze and Iron Ages, classical antiquity, the medieval world, the age of empires, and the modern states of today. Over 2,600 polities are drawn, each with sourced dates, borders that change over time, and curated books for further reading. Every one also has its own page — browse all civilizations for a readable, linkable version of each record.

This is a living roadmap, not a finished work. The map grows and sharpens as research continues, so expect borders to shift and new polities to appear over time.

What you can do here

• Travel through time. Drag the timeline at the bottom — or press play — to scrub through the centuries and watch the map change.
• Explore any territory. Click a shape on the map to read who they were and the years they held that land.
• Focus the view. Filter by region (World, Americas, Africa) and by type — native nations, kingdoms & empires, colonies, and modern states.
• Follow the story. The Chronicle panel surfaces the key events at whatever moment you're viewing.

Where it's going

• The full world atlas is in — every continent, every era. The work now is depth: sharper borders, borders that move over a polity's lifetime, and deeper sourcing with every pass.

Spot an error?

The data is the whole point, and corrections are genuinely welcome. If something looks wrong or missing, use the Suggest a correction link at the top of the page.

Credits & licenses

© Civilizations Map contributors, data under ODbL · Basemap Natural Earth (public domain) · Historical borders historical-basemaps by A. Nacu (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Facts from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA) and Wikidata (CC0) · Rendered with MapLibre.

Modern Indigenous land boundaries are drawn from official national sources: US Census TIGER/Line (public domain); Canada — NRCan Aboriginal Lands and Indigenous Services Canada Inuit Regions, and the Government of Alberta Métis Settlements (contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada / – Alberta); Brazil — FUNAI Terras Indígenas; Colombia — Agencia Nacional de Tierras resguardos (CC BY 4.0); Argentina — INAI (CC BY 4.0); Paraguay — INE (public domain); Australia — National Native Title Tribunal and NT/SA land-rights datasets (CC BY); New Caledonia — customary areas (data.gouv.nc, Licence Ouverte). Approximate extents for other peoples are built from attested community locations; each frame notes its basis.

Thanks for visiting — enjoy exploring.

This map improves because people who know their history point out where it's wrong. Every correction sent through the form is researched and verified — and when it checks out, the contributor earns points.

How points work. The bigger the fix (a typo → a whole era redrawn) and the more accurate the claims, the higher the score — with bonuses for citing checkable sources, proposing the correct fix, being first to spot it, and leading us to bugs we didn't know about.

#	Contributor	Last contribution	Points

Spotted something wrong? Suggest a correction and claim a spot.