When I started writing on Byothe.fr in 2013, my motivation was to introduce my friends and family to useful and intelligent websites… And that’s exactly the characteristics of the site I’m offering you today: OldMaps Online.
OldMapsOnline is a project that has been constantly evolving since its launch in 2012 and has become one of the best tools for discover the history of any region of the world through maps.
If you're passionate about history and old maps, or are simply curious, you've come to the right place. This free online tool combines history, cartography, exploration, and geopolitics to help you rediscover world history in an original and interactive way.
OldMaps Online: a Google Maps of history to understand the evolution of the world
In addition to having a very complete and functional free version, OldMaps Online is an incredibly rich tool for exploring the history of countries, rulers, famous historical figures and even major battles, from 4000 BC J.-C. until our days.
Indeed, this site offers a design intuitive and elegant, allowing you to navigate a timeline (at the bottom of the screen) to explore a wealth of historical data on each region of the world using the interactive mapOnce you have selected the year that interests you, the site displays, in a visual and graphic manner, the leaders of each country, the important figures in history and even the most important battles of the chosen period.
All these elements are displayed on the map and can be clicked to obtain more information. Thus, by clicking on a country, the name of a sovereign or a personality, on a battle… a panel will open on the left of the map with the corresponding Wikipedia page.
Another advantage of this tool is that it allows you to visualize the evolution of a country's borders over time. To do this, simply move around the timeline and the map will display the borders at each date.
And if you want to go further, you can also search for specific locations in the search bar at the top left.
The events referenced cover a period ranging from 4000 BC J.-C. up to 2010 (yes, not quite “to the present day”, but it’s not bad, right?).
In addition to its website, OldMapsOnline offers a mobile version for Android et iOS, allowing you to explore these historical maps directly on your smartphone.
Period maps to consult
If you are a map fan, OldMaps Online also allows you to consult old period maps in your browser.
Move around the map and in the right-hand box, the maps corresponding to the historical period and location will be displayed.
All you have to do is click on it and it will open and be superimposed on the OpenStreetMap map. If the work is done well by the map contributor, the borders should normally correspond with the base map... and suddenly it's super cool!
There are several options for playing with the map, including adjusting its opacity to show or hide the basemap. The site also offers a 3D view that allows you to slightly rotate the map axis.
In short, this project is absolutely brilliant and offers a lot of resources for all fans of history and cartography... The project is accessible for free, but there are also subscriptions to unlock some additional features while supporting development.
