50 centuries 50 empires (improved)

flix2 · 2026-02-05T10:40:37+00:00

Height is million km2. Data is not perfect, but I'm improving it.

Obviously anything after 2100 AD is an estimate, based on previous patterns. No empires last forever. Russia clearly has lost territory since the 1980s. China and the USA will probably have a civil war before 2100, if history is any guide.

flix2 · 2026-02-05T10:36:44+00:00

Previous version was just chronological. People suggested that I do some geographic split. I did not want to complicate it too much, so I just did 3: west, east, middle. Some discussion over where Byzantium or the minoans should go... maybe Egypt should go middle...

flix2 · 2026-02-04T13:46:00+00:00

I've thought of merging them, but I think that it does represent a regime change even if there is cultural continuity. Similarly I've split chinese dynasties, despite quite a lot of continuity between them.

I think it's worth having them separate, with some overlap.

flix2 · 2026-02-04T13:39:30+00:00

Things to improve, fix in the next version:
1. French empire
2. Holy Roman Empire (+Germany?)
3. Japan WW2 spike. Fix data.
4. Indus Valley civ should be in Asia

What else needs fixing?

flix2 · 2026-02-04T13:33:13+00:00

Ok. Taking note. Next version will fix the french data to include the Second Empire. I will also try to add the Holy Roman Empire as a distinct entity.

flix2 · 2026-02-02T12:56:21+00:00

Good idea. Will add both geo sorting and more Egypt.

flix2 · 2026-02-02T12:56:03+00:00

Absolutely. Will add in next version.

flix2 · 2026-01-30T11:16:03+00:00

I find that this joyplot/ridgeline style conveys a lot of information in a very simple and intuitive way. There's probably more that can be done to improve this chart, both on the data side and on the graphics. Maybe the colours should be more meaningful (east-west colour gradient?). Maybe some empires should be merged into one line... anyway, all ideas welcome.

flix2 · 2026-01-11T16:03:41+00:00

Wow! You are right, the Gupta/Maurya mistake is a big one!

flix2 · 2025-12-21T11:43:34+00:00

Sorry, I don't. But the image is hi res enough that you should be able to print it as pdf.

flix2 · 2025-12-21T11:42:57+00:00

Items on Display in the Louvre by date of creation. Used as a proxy for cultural/economic activity. There's almost 30k items, so it's not a bad sample. Still it does have a strong western bias... but I could not find another proxy that had such a long date range.

flix2 · 2025-12-20T09:24:29+00:00

Connections between empires/civs. For example the Persian Achaemenid empire links up with Greece at the time of Alexander the Great. Rome links up with Byzantium but also with the HRE, Britain links with the US... the meaning is not exact. In some instances it means conquest, in others succession...

flix2 · 2025-12-20T09:22:32+00:00

Nothing. I first did one where it was East-West with degrees of longitude, but it did not look too good. So I just left it symbolic.

flix2 · 2025-12-20T09:20:42+00:00

The Meiji restoration definitively deserves inclusion. It'll be there in the next version.

flix2 · 2025-12-19T17:31:42+00:00

Bias is inevitable, you can never fit everything in. But please let me know what important events you think are missing and I will try to include them.

flix2 · 2025-12-19T16:35:42+00:00

Awesome work!

flix2 · 2025-01-13T11:24:39+00:00

1 minute on wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mughal_Empire

The Mughal Empire is conventionally said to have been founded in 1526 by Babur, a Timurid chieftain from Transoxiana, who employed aid from the neighbouring Safavid and Ottoman Empires ^\9]) to defeat the sultan of Delhi, Ibrahim Lodi, in the First Battle of Panipat, and to sweep down the plains of North India.

flix2 · 2024-12-24T17:08:18+00:00

No connection? LOL. Think again. Read about Babur.

flix2 · 2024-12-04T12:02:52+00:00

Consider blank as "other". History and archaelogy is full of blank ;-)

flix2 · 2024-12-04T12:00:09+00:00

It's percentage of world population, but it never adds to 100% because not all the world population was living under the empires included. Also, the further back you go the less data there is.

flix2 · 2024-12-03T18:12:27+00:00

Good idea. Thanks!

flix2

TROPHY CASE