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Historical Atlas of Europe

Courtesy Euratlas

Periodical Historical Atlas of Europe Explanation

These maps are forming a historical atlas of a new kind. I did not seek to depict the crucial historical moments but to present the evolution of a continent. Thus it is a cartographic work describing with a regular frequency the countries of Europe over the centuries.

 

An Atlas Depicting History by Periods

History is an uninterrupted string of insignificant events among which prominent facts sometimes emerge: wars, conquests, revolutions etc. It becomes possible to evaluate the influence of these important movements in the course of time, by comparing them to less determining periods, to "control years" in some way. The Periodical historical Atlas, describes the political status of the European continent at fixed intervals. It therefore represents a list of reference points and permits an appreciation of the real range of important items on the continuation of political changes. Henceforth, stress is put on the precise drawing of territories at one exact instant defined by an arbitrary periodicity, that is the first day of each centennial year.

The notions taken into account are merely legal, literary or linguistic. I noted in English the official names of the states as they are known, and I distinguished the sovereign states, the semiautonomous entities, the parts of states and the administrative circumscriptions. When information was insufficient, usual names of groups or federations of populations only are indicated. The names of the cities are usually mentioned in local language but, on some maps, alternative forms are used too, in order to allow easier research.

Names

Names of entities mentioned in the Periodical Historical Atlas are those officially used at the considered time. When the latter are not known or when sources are contradictory, I have applied the names mentionned by sources close to the depicted region and to the century of the map. In cases where such information isn't available, a short circumlocution names such an entity. Last, notably for nomad populations, I have used the names by which those peoples were commonly described in the 20th century.

Borders

According to knowledge existing in the second half of 20th century, only effective borders were drawn. This means that territories nominaly subjected to a state without any real control on it are merely inserted in the area of the ruling country. An edge of same color as that of the dominant power surrounds such a territory and its official name is written in dark grey whereas the main name is black. To simplify matters, one can say that borders are lines someone cannot cross without difficulty at the considered century.

Categorization

Three kinds of entities are shown:


1) Independent states, that are possessing these four features simultaneously:

a) a territory delimited by borders,

b) a population,

c) an authority exercising the effective public power on population and territory,

d) supremacy, that is with capacity to control absolutely the territory and the population.

Such states are drawn in plain color and their names are written in black. They may be divided in parts, with names in red italics. These parts may contain sub-parts, counties or provinces etc., with names in grey italics. Borders of parts are broken brown lines with white edging and borders of sub-parts are mere brown broken lines.

2) Dependent states that are possessing:

a) a territory delimited by borders,

b) a population,

c) an authority subject to an higher-level authority.

 

Such a dependency may be the result of an union with a stronger country, a legal link or a military occupation. These entities are drawn with their proper color which appears plain when they are independent but, here, is surrounded by a strip of the same color as the dominant state. Their names are marked in plain grey fonts while the main name is written in black. Dependent states are sometimes including sub-parts whose names are printed in grey italics. Dependency may be the result of many kinds of reasons. I have tried to consider only effective dependency. In spite of this, many complex cases are left. The most common are those where a country X claims lordship over a country Y while the latter maintains to be free and sources are not very clear. When the state Y does not rule the state X according to him, it is drawn as dependent.

 

3) Populations not well-known or nomadic. Their names are written in dark grey italics on white, grey areas or shaded with grey areas.

Graduate colors towards white or another color are often used. This shows uncertain boundaries.

On all maps, names are written in Latin from AD 1 to AD 500 and in English from AD 600 on.

 

Christos Nüssli, 2009

          You may use the Euratlas images and maps, as they are available on the websites euratlas.com and euratlas.net, for educational or illustration purposes but you must mention the source in that way:
          © 2010 Christos Nussli, www euratlas.com

          No commercial use is allowed.

          Nüssli is a Swiss business specialist in historical digital cartography.

 
 

 

 

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