History deserves
sources.

Historical evidence, illustrative movement

The battle catalogue contains 23,606 sourced engagements, including battles, sieges and naval actions. 16,899 have a usable date and location; the remaining 6,707 stay available as catalogue records. This measures the sources ingested, not every battle that has ever happened.

Armies are anchored to the event’s recorded coordinates, or its associated place where explicitly indicated. Formations, movements and the timing of losses are illustrative. Authored 3D equipment models use dated museum references and reviewed participant profiles; they do not establish an exact uniform or an army’s composition.

Where comparable per-army strengths exist, both sides share one disclosed people-per-model or ships-per-model scale, rounded to whole models. Unknown strengths use symbolic representatives. Source ranges stay visible; any display midpoint is identified. Losses use only reviewed quantities, with deaths treated as a subset of casualties. Captured or missing soldiers are identified in the source notes, and army-level counts are never inferred by splitting a battle total.

202 engagements currently have reviewed per-army numbers for proportional scenes. The catalogue retains other quantitative source statements with their units, qualifiers and references, even when those statements cannot safely determine the size of an army.

Open sources, distinct licences

Sources and licences

The atlas combines sources under different terms; it is not a single CC0 dataset. Each record keeps its own attribution and links back to its source. The complete list, with every licence and link, is published as a manifest regenerated from the data at each release.

The application code is released under the MIT licence. Content written for the atlas (curated reviews and corrections, religion milestones, descriptions, generalized regions and diffusion links, map symbology) is released under CC BY 4.0; credit it as “HistoryOfAtlas contributors”. Third-party data keeps its original licence. 3D models whose origin is not documented in their own metadata are not covered until their provenance has been confirmed.

Strategic resources

The resources layer places 22,388 dated mines, oil and gas fields and deposits from 219 sources. A site appears from its documented discovery or earliest attestation; production periods stay separate. Each marker names its source and licence.

Religions

The religions layer follows 16 traditions through 145 dated milestones, hand-generalized regions and diffusion links written for the atlas. Each milestone cites at least one of 169 references (193 citations in total), listed for verification; their content is not redistributed. Regions are geographic guides, not exact borders.

Epidemics

The epidemics layer follows 22 diseases through 192 dated outbreaks, with transmission contexts, hand-generalized affected areas and documented tolls written for the atlas. Each outbreak cites at least one of 145 references, listed for verification; their content is not redistributed. Affected areas are geographic guides, not exact spreads.

Precision is not certainty

Years are stored using astronomical numbering: 1 BCE is year 0, and 2 BCE is −1. The interface displays historical notation. Julian, Gregorian or unspecified calendars and date precision are preserved when available.

Cliopatria describes polygons valid over inclusive intervals between 3400 BCE and 2024. Filtering these intervals changes the map. Ancient boundaries remain approximate; an absent polygon does not mean a place was uninhabited. After 2024, the last documented boundaries are retained and do not verify recent changes.

Historical Basemaps snapshots range from 4000 BCE to 2010 and may be centuries apart. Any visual transition between snapshots aids reading; it does not create new historical boundaries. Natural Earth rivers and coastlines describe the contemporary physical world.

Area charts measure the geometry of observations. A territory’s first and last observations are not treated as its founding or dissolution. Alliances grouped in Cliopatria are excluded from the main fill so they are not presented as unitary states.

The map synchronizes events and territories by date. It does not automatically attribute a boundary change to a nearby or contemporary battle. Lines between related events indicate chronology, not a documented army route.

World history, uneven coverage

Open sources reflect geographic, linguistic and chronological imbalances. The number of visible points measures available documentation, not the amount of violence in a region or period.

Coordinates obtained from an associated place identify that place; they do not establish the exact battlefield location. The Natural Earth 1:10m validation mask is separate from the 1:50m physical basemap. A 25 km coastal tolerance accounts for generalized geometry and small islands. Date anomalies, coordinate problems and offshore land events are recorded in the report.

The importance score organizes readability at different zoom levels. It combines interlanguage links, editorial selection and documented context; it is not a moral judgement on events.

Documented biographies, reigns and offices

People’s records connect encyclopedia biographies to Wikidata dates and offices. Each office retains its available date bounds and sources. A missing date stays unknown; competing dates stay visible. A political or military office is not automatically labelled a reign.

A commander is linked to an event when the source explicitly records command, including as a participant qualifier. Participation in a conflict alone does not establish leadership of its battles or conquests. Territorial changes are not automatically attributed to these people.

Leaders linked from a territory rely on a reviewed identity match. Ambiguous associations between geographical sources and Wikidata are excluded. Lists of people, offices and battles depend on available statements and are not exhaustive biographies or successions.

Improve the atlas

To report an error, include the shared link, event QID or territorial observation identifier, displayed year and a verifiable reference. Factual corrections should first be submitted to the relevant source. Archive pages and event records in the atlas also have a “Report an error” link that fills these details in for you.

• Report an error in the atlas ↗
• Correct a Wikidata statement ↗
• Report an error to Cliopatria ↗
• Report an error to Historical Basemaps ↗

The atlas takes a documentary approach. Limits and disagreements stay visible; names and sovereignty claims in the sources do not imply endorsement.