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Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

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Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#71

Post by paulirish »

mg wrote: post #20

I always wanted something like a "History of human progress" which when zoomed out shows me something like this: -2000000 Stone tools -1000000 Using fire -6000 Metal tools -6000 Agriculture -4000 Writing 1550 Printing 1888 Telephones 1888 Cars 1903 Planes 1941 Penicillin 1941 First computer 1982 Homecomputers 1983 Mobile phones 1990 The internet 2001 Wikipedia 2004 Facebook 2007 IPhone 2022 ChatGPT And then I can zoo…

Makes me think of the Histomap, designed in 1931. It's an attractive design for history over a timeseries: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/...

In 1942 he did one for Evolution which is closer to your pitch (log scale Y axis, etc): https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~2...

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#73

Post by zamadatix »

lordnacho wrote: post #12

How do you make this? It doesn't seem to be like Wikipedia has coordinates or map boundaries for ancient empires, so there's no simple way to mine the data. And if you don't mine it from somewhere, how do you know what to include? How many people will have heard enough about every part of the world to even be able to research ancient borders?

This is the same question as "How would the information even get put into something like Wikipedia in the first place" - knowledgeable people in the field do the work of aggregating academic information and turn it into a database of sorts. This seems to be accomplished in this case by running it as a business with a founder who has a degree in geography and history + a team of variously skilled people (history + tech + business).

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#74

Post by adwn »

kbrannigan wrote: post #42
usrnm wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The map certainly is not built in a eurocentric way. It does reflect the fact that the political history of Eurasia and the Mediterranean region are much better studied and better understood, but this is hardly the fault of the creator of the map. Do you have a better political map of the Americas two thousand years ago?

The timeline spans "3000 BC" to now, but BC/CE itself is a European framework. The Han Dynasty, Maya, and Kingdom of Kush all had their own calendars and ways of marking significant time. Yet this "world" history uses Europe's reference point as universal. So yes, the map reflects available documentation. But the very framework - organizing all human history around BC/CE - already embeds a European perspective. The b…

The Gregorian calendar is the de-facto global calendar system today, even in cultures and states that are far removed from its Christian and European roots. You might as well complain about the text on the website being in English.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#75

Post by whobre »

mg wrote: post #20

I always wanted something like a "History of human progress" which when zoomed out shows me something like this: -2000000 Stone tools -1000000 Using fire -6000 Metal tools -6000 Agriculture -4000 Writing 1550 Printing 1888 Telephones 1888 Cars 1903 Planes 1941 Penicillin 1941 First computer 1982 Homecomputers 1983 Mobile phones 1990 The internet 2001 Wikipedia 2004 Facebook 2007 IPhone 2022 ChatGPT And then I can zoo…

I know it was just an example, but out of curiosity, why 1982 for home computers? Commodore 64?

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#76

Post by FridayoLeary »

pell wrote: post #24
Jolter wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

In a grand view removed 1000 years from now the introduction of digital communication and their network effects must have been pivotal though even if it was in a negative way (which very well may be). I just doubt that would then be a point about Facebook specifically as this is just a tiny slice of that era, I think.

We are a tiny slice of history. A thousand years from now we may be hazily recalled as the period that slavery was abolished (edit: sadly enough we probably won't be) , electricity and computers were invented, 3 of the world wars occured, and the first great population explosion and cultural implosion took place. Most electronic information will be lost so our century will be known as the electronic dark ages. All of this will be studied by the advanced artificial intelligence entities and the sentient cockroaches, the last surviving carbon life forms on earth.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#77

Post by janlukacs »

foofoo12 wrote: post #35
Jolter wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook was not ”human progress”. Future historians will point to its founding as a pivotal point of regression of democracy and humanity.

It's the reverse of the Cloaca Maxima, the Roman empire sewage system. Facebook is where unprocessed sewage is fed back to the people, straight into their hands.

Preach brother, preach! :)

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#78

Post by yehat »

Unfortunately, the bold title of that "project" doesn't hold well to subject that it pretends to cover. Maybe not complete, but that should be stated. For example - why since 3000 BC? Why "World History", the World started 3000 BC? I can continue about the mixing of "states" and populations" neither of which is complete on that map. I would get this as a nice try, but in reality it looks like a school assignment project.

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#79

Post by prmph »

zarzavat wrote: post #68
prmph wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then don’t present it as an Atlas of world history. It should be called an Atlas of Eurocentric history. Furthermore, we would have had much more records from non-european sources if many European explorers and colonialists had not gone on a rampage destroying whatever indigenous documents and history they could lay their hands on. As a Latin American I’m sure you know about how the conquistadors destroyed written re…

The meaning of the word "history" is the study of historical records. The events that happened in times before writing are called "pre-history", and similarly the events that happened in places that didn't write things down are out of scope.

This is kind of missing the point.

What I'm saying is there are records that have either been ignored, neglected, or destroyed.

In Mali alone there are millions of historical documents [1] that have not been suitable explored. The Meroitic [2] script that contains historical records is still poorly understood

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu_Manuscripts

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meroitic_script

Re: Interactive World History Atlas Since 3000 BC

#80

Post by prmph »

adwn wrote: post #74
kbrannigan wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The timeline spans "3000 BC" to now, but BC/CE itself is a European framework. The Han Dynasty, Maya, and Kingdom of Kush all had their own calendars and ways of marking significant time. Yet this "world" history uses Europe's reference point as universal. So yes, the map reflects available documentation. But the very framework - organizing all human history around BC/CE - already embeds a European perspective. The b…

The Gregorian calendar is the de-facto global calendar system today, even in cultures and states that are far removed from its Christian and European roots. You might as well complain about the text on the website being in English.

But he is not complaining that we use the Gregorian calendar. He is pointing out that is just one calendar among many, and we should be aware that it is a conscious choice the world has made to use it by convention.
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