49 snapshots
The world's borders, era by era
Each snapshot shows who controlled what at that moment, from Bronze Age kingdoms to today's 190-plus countries. Open any era on the map, or read what changed.
Ancient world
- 2000 BCE45 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersMost of the world is home to hunter-gatherers and farming cultures without fixed borders. States exist only in a few river valleys: Egypt along the Nile, the city-states of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and early dynasties on China's Yellow River.
- 1500 BCE68 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1000 BCE69 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersThe Late Bronze Age collapse has swept away the Hittites and weakened Egypt. Assyria is rebuilding, and the Zhou dynasty rules northern China.
- 700 BCE73 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 500 BCE74 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersThe Achaemenid Persian Empire stretches from the Aegean to the Indus, the largest state the world has yet seen. Greek city-states and Rome are small players on its western edge.
- 400 BCE76 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 323 BCE68 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersAlexander the Great has just died in Babylon. His empire, built in about ten years, is about to be divided among his generals.
- 300 BCE73 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 200 BCE86 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 100 BCE84 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1 BCE79 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 100 CE83 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersRome and Han China dominate opposite ends of Eurasia, linked by the Silk Road through Parthia and the Kushan Empire.
- 200 CE69 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 300 CE71 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 400 CE79 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
Middle Ages
- 500 CE87 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 600 CE83 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 700 CE125 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 800 CE117 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 900 CE135 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1000129 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1100139 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1200128 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersOn the eve of the Mongol conquests. Within decades, Genghis Khan and his heirs build the largest contiguous land empire in history.
- 1279114 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1300114 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1400116 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
Early modern
- 14921308 mapped states & peoplesApproximate bordersThe year Columbus reaches the Caribbean. This snapshot also maps hundreds of Indigenous nations across the Americas and Australia, which is why it contains far more shapes than its neighbours.
- 1500140 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1530270 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1600639 mapped states & peoplesApproximate borders
- 1650594 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1700584 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1715601 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1783550 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawThe Treaty of Paris recognizes the United States. Spain holds most of the Americas west of the Mississippi, and the Mughal Empire is fragmenting as the East India Company expands.
- 1800547 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
Modern
- 1815313 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawNapoleon is defeated and the Congress of Vienna redraws Europe. Spain's American empire is starting to break into independent republics.
- 1878173 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1880170 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1900166 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1914143 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawOn the eve of the First World War, European empires control most of Africa and much of Asia, and the Russian, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires are still standing.
- 1920164 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawFour empires have fallen. New states fill Central and Eastern Europe, and the USSR is emerging from civil war.
- 1930162 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 1938170 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawThe last full year of peace before the Second World War. Germany has just annexed Austria and the Sudetenland.
- 1945182 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawThe war has just ended. Germany and Korea are divided into occupation zones, and decolonization is about to begin.
- 1960157 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawThe Year of Africa: 17 African countries become independent. The Cold War divides Europe.
- 1994193 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international lawThe Soviet Union and Yugoslavia have broken up, adding more than 20 countries to the map in three years.
- 2000193 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- 2010193 mapped states & peoplesBorders fixed by international law
- Present242 mapped countriesBorders fixed by international lawToday's borders, as drawn by Natural Earth. Hatched markers show areas where control and international recognition do not match.