Amazing Atlas
June 2, 2005 10:45 PM   Subscribe

Matthew White's Historical Atlas of the 20th Century. One of those amazing internet reference sites created by some guy (okay, Matthew White). Lots of fascinating, incredibly researched stuff: complete lists of all manmade megadeaths in the 20th century, the 100 most important works of art of the 20th century, maps showing changes in the types of government by decade, comments on Wikipedia, and much more. Also, some fun stuff, like what the US would look like if every secessionist movement succeeded. Previously posted in 2001, but much updated and worth a second look
posted by blahblahblah (15 comments total)
 
This is amazing. Thank you. I really liked the maps showing the changing nature of the governments of the world over the 20th century. It would be neat if someone would create an animation of the changing map.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:12 AM on June 3, 2005


Too bad he's using the wrong view of the world in all those fancy maps!

Very cool find.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:40 AM on June 3, 2005


Good post. I have a soft spot for HTML 2.0 websites with tons of content.
posted by Galvatron at 1:25 AM on June 3, 2005


here's a kinda related conflict map. try the slider. (flash)
posted by dhruva at 1:53 AM on June 3, 2005


Very cool. Thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 8:48 AM on June 3, 2005


With such a balkanized North America, I wonder how he would extrapolate the world map from 1900-2000 with the lack of a 48-state USA.

Good post.
posted by linux at 10:38 AM on June 3, 2005


White's site is very cool, and I applaud anybody who makes the effort to create graphical means of representing historical change. Did anybody else wonder why he didn't list any sources at all? It's interesting especially in light of the whole big debate around wikipedia vs. the academy...
posted by never_work at 11:54 AM on June 3, 2005


He actually gives lots of sources (especially for the casualty statistics), and provides a giant bibliography.
posted by blahblahblah at 11:58 AM on June 3, 2005


Previously posted in 2001, but much updated and worth a second look

And, tangentially, in 2003, where, upon reading the history of Moslem Australia, languagehat noted in regards to Matthew White, This guy is a genius. It's a labor of love always worth a second look.
posted by y2karl at 12:00 PM on June 3, 2005


His balkanized North America map is missing my favorite non-existent country: The Free City of Tri-Insula, i.e., an independent republic of New York City.

The idea grows ever more appealing...
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:20 PM on June 3, 2005


This is all too awesome. Thanks for the post, blahblahblah.

Man, most of these things deserve special posts of their own... e.g. like the top 100 art works... or the Do Democracies Go to War? thing... this is a year's worth of posty goodness rolled into one.
posted by Kattullus at 4:19 PM on June 3, 2005


Yeah, its actually too bad that there is no discussion over the actual information -- too overwhelming? With permission, I'd love to post the art work as an FPP in a couple of days, just to see the discussion. Not a lot of art talk on MeFi, and this list is accessible and fun to argue over.
posted by blahblahblah at 7:01 PM on June 3, 2005


or most overrated... man, I love his reason why Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is overrated:

Her sole claim to fame is that she slept with John Kennedy -- like that's hard to do. I mean, if she had nailed a couple of popes or something, that would be something to write home about (and I mean properly geriatric and celibate 20th century popes, not some Renaissance Borgia party-popes), but we're talking about a Kennedy here. Anyone with a pulse and a vaguely humanoid appearance could have nailed John Kennedy.

Also, anyone who calls Gavrilo Princip the most important figure of the 20th Century has earned my undying love.

This site is truly best of the web.

It would probably be better to go over to metatalk before posting something from a site you just posted. Y'know, to keep people who'd get all huffy from ruining the thread.
posted by Kattullus at 5:55 AM on June 4, 2005


I didn't understand. Why were the US and UK "limited democracies" in 1900-10 while Australia was a "multi-party democracy"?
posted by bluffy at 6:35 PM on June 9, 2005


kaibutsu: Somehow, that map is nauseating.

Great post, blahblahblah. Thanks.
posted by sellout at 7:23 PM on June 9, 2005


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