Best Historical Atlases Ever Made

[St Leo]

You will probably have to find a local website for purchasing these, but all the atlase s by Colin McEvedy earn my seal of approval (I have had direct contact only with the Medieval and Ancient ones, but the rest follow the same brilliant format.) Unlike most historical atlases, these use a slideshow-style series of the same region over time, thus giving a feel for what really happenned.

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St. Leo
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[This message has been edited by St Leo (edited July 02, 2000).]

[Michael Daumen]

I agree totally, I love the Atlas of Midieval European History.

[Stefan Härtel]

Making my book wishlist total about DM 2600 ($ 1300)

[Geography Dan]

What a coincidence. I'm looking at Colin McEvedy's Atlas of Medieval History right now as I read this thread. Yes, I have both his Ancient and Medieval ones, and they are excellent. However, I have numerous historical atlases, and some other good ones are:

The Times Concise Atlas of World History

The History Atlas of Europe by Ian Barnes and Robert Hudson

as well as any of the Penguin Historical Atlases, especially those of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome



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GeoDan, Apolyton Geography Expert
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[SCDARS]

BTW, are you using internet maps, too?
It would be more thrifty, I think (refering to Stefan's remark)

I just found a nice (very comprehensive)interactive map with greek colonies at
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/atlas?sites=Athens

I would like to know some more map archives, especially about the ancient times...

[The ANZAC]

I got this from someone on Apolyton, but who I forget...anyway here it is: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/M...ollection.html

The best historical atlas I've come across is the (full) Times World History Atlas. It has the best range of maps for European scenarios I have ever seen. It also has a wealth of background material- charts, graphs and text. It is quite possible to build a scenario just on what's there.

[Michael Daumen]

My goodness Stefan, that's an impressive total.

I also like the Penguin Atlas of Russia, obviously.

[Harlan]

I dunno, the Colin McEvendy atlases are good, but hardly the best out there. Their big problem for scenario creation is the lack of cities. I do like the occasional "towns and trade" pages that show where the big towns were, but these are too infrequent and the detail lacking.

I own two historical atlases: The Hammond Atlas of World History, and one called the Atlas of World History by John Haywood. The Haywood atlas also has periodic snapshots of political borders, but does it for the whole world.

Generally, I find the historical atlases out there to be lacking. Most of them are out of date, for instance the Times one, which haven't updated the data for most of their maps for decades, despite having new editions all the time. And there just aren't that many truly different atlases out there (though one finds the same info by a given company repackaged in different ways). With all the new historical discoveries going on all the time, the altases haven't kept the pace.

[quote]Originally posted by Harlan, I find the historical atlases out there to be lacking. Most of them are out of date, for instance the Times one, which haven't updated the data for most of their maps for decades, despite having new editions all the time.

The Times new edition is the first one use computerised maps rather than hand drawn. Also there are a set of pages on the modern world, which must be new info.
[This message has been edited by Michael Dnes (edited July 06, 2000).]

[Michael Daumen]

McEvedy wrote the _Atlas of Population History_ in 1978. I've not been able to get my hands on it but it sounded promising in regards to city populations.

[Prometeus]

Hmm... i have the Garzanti "Universal history atlas"; it's a useful source for me.

[Geography Dan]

Atlas of Population History? wow, I'd love to have that atlas!

[Stefan Härtel]

Not to mention that there are some very interesting Atlasses from DTV (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag-obviously available only in German):
Atlas of Geneanology
Atlas of urban developement
Atlas of Astronomy
and several Atlases on natural sciences. Interesting stuff, indeed.

quote: My goodness Stefan, that's an impressive total.

For some impressive books. All the 9 volumes of the "Cambridge history of Iran". Damn expensive, and forcing me to save my allowance money for over a year

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[Michael Daumen]

Speaking of reference materials, does anyone rely heavily on any of the Osprey titles? I have quite a bit.

[Kull]

I frequent the "Reduced Price" historical section at the local Barnes & Noble, and recently picked up three of Haywood's Historical Atlases for $10 each. All are excellent and were published in 1998, so they are quite current:

- Historical Atlas of the Ancient World 4,000,000 to 500 B.C.
- Historical Atlas of the Classical World 500 B.C. to 600 A.D.
- Historical Atlas of the Medieval World 600 to 1492 A.D.

Also of 1998 vintage is Michael Roaf's Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia. The detail is wonderful, including the changing political boundaries of ancient Sumer (as supremacy ebbed and flowed from one city to another), king lists for every civilization, a map outlining the little known Empire of Mari (@1800 BC) including the 30 towns and cities under it's sway, as well as plenty of maps and pix for all the better known groups (Assyria, Babylonia, Hittites, etc.)