# The Histomap **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090 "2013-08-13T00:33:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sundog66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sundog66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sundog66)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/1 "2013-08-13T00:33:29Z")
Couldn’t find a thread on this and thought it deserved one. Check out [this Slate article](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/08/12/the_1931_histomap_the_entire_history_of_the_world_distilled_into_a_single.html) on the so-called “Histomap”. I’m surprised that this isn’t more popular; someone should really update it for the 21st century\*. Imagine spending the first half of your life learning about geography only through prose and then seeing a globe (or even a world map) for the first time. Replace “geography” with “history” and “globe” with this Histomap, and that’s how I felt when I first saw this earlier today. \*A possible way in which it might be updated, aside from adding 1932-2013: the map as it currently stands is not entirely PC since it only represents world powers. I wonder if it should be augmented to include native populations that never rose to world power but nonetheless have their own rich history. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/2 "2013-08-13T01:06:24Z")
They had one of those in my home town library in the 60s. I used to pour over it, wondering who the Hittites where. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/3 "2013-08-13T01:13:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I used to pour over it… Ooh, somebody’s gonna get in Big Trouble with the Librarian–you’re not supposed to bring food and drink into the library! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/4 "2013-08-13T03:14:56Z")
I have one of those in my classroom. A parent gave it to me a few decades ago. Fascinating to peruse. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/5 "2013-08-13T03:18:06Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Ooh, somebody’s gonna get in Big Trouble with the Librarian–you’re not supposed to bring food and drink into the library! \ ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/6 "2013-08-13T03:44:07Z")
This book: [the People’s Chronology](http://www.amazon.com/The-Peoples-Chronology-Year-By-Year-Prehistory/dp/0805031340) does this in book format. Year by year from prehistory forward, what events happened in art, politics, science etc all over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Tamarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tamarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamarin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/7 "2013-08-13T12:55:52Z")
I showed this to my husband who now wants to find one. He also pulled out the 1988 version of this: [Wall Chart of World History](http://www.amazon.com/The-Timechart-History-World-Unfolded/dp/078582782X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376398350&sr=8-2&keywords=wall+chart+of+world+history) which is similar and I didn’t even know we had it. Very cool. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-histomap/666090/8 "2013-08-13T13:04:25Z")
> [@sundog66](#): > > Couldn’t find a thread on this and thought it deserved one. Check out [this Slate article](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/08/12/the_1931_histomap_the_entire_history_of_the_world_distilled_into_a_single.html) on the so-called “Histomap”. I’m surprised that this isn’t more popular; someone should really update it for the 21st century\*. Imagine spending the first half of your life learning about geography only through prose and then seeing a globe (or even a world map) for the first time. Replace “geography” with “history” and “globe” with this Histomap, and that’s how I felt when I first saw this earlier today. There’s one of these histomaps in the Bible that I got in Sunday School in the early 1970s - I loved to look at it and see the growth and decline of the various empires (and the stunning growth of Rome at the end - the time line ended in the early AD era)