Periodical Historical Atlas
OF
EUROPE
DEPICTING WITH ACCURACY THE STATES OF THIS CONTINENT
EVERY FIRST DAY OF EACH CENTENNIAL YEAR
from AD 1 to AD 2000
designed  and drawn by Christos Nüssli
BASIC demo version 1.21
offering maximal enlargement factor for years 1300 and 1800 only


EURATLAS

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These maps are forming a historical atlas of a new kind. I did not seek to depict the crucial historical moments but to present the evolution of a continent. Thus it is a cartographic work describing with a regular frequency the countries of Europe over the centuries.

An atlas depicting history by periods
History is an uninterrupted string of insignificant events among which prominent facts sometimes emerge: wars, conquests, revolutions etc. It becomes possible to evaluate the influence of these important movements in the course of time by comparing them to less determining periods, to "control years" in some way. The Periodical Historical Atlas describes the political status of the European continent at fixed intervals. It therefore represents a list of reference points and permits an appreciation of the real range of important items on the continuation of political changes. Emphasis is therefore put on the precise drawing of territories at one exact instant defined by an arbitrary periodicity, the first day of each centennial year.

The notions taken into account are merely legal, literary or linguistic. Ethnic criteria or nationalist theories are not taken into account.  I noted in English the official names of the states as they are known, and I distinguished the sovereign states, the semiautonomous entities, the parts of states and the administrative circumscriptions. When information was insufficient, usual names of groups or federations of populations only have been indicated. The names of the cities are usually mentioned in the local language but, on some maps, alternative forms are used also for easier research.
Names
Names of entities mentioned in the Periodical Historical Atlas are those officially used at the considered time. When the latter are not known or when sources are contradictory, I have applied the names mentioned by sources close to the depicted region and to the century of the map. In cases where such information isn't available, a short circumlocution names such an entity. Last, notably for nomad populations, I have used the names by which those people were commonly described in the 20th century.

Borders
According to knowledge existing in the second half of 20th century, only effective borders were drawn. This means that territories nominaly subjected to a state without any real control on it are merely inserted in the area of the ruling country. An edge of the same color as that of the dominant power surrounds such a territory and its official name is written in dark grey whereas the main name is black.
To simplify matters, one can say that borders are lines one cannot cross without difficulty at the considered century.

Categorization
Three kinds of entities are shown:

1)    Independant states, which possess these four features simultaneously:
a) a territory delimited by borders,
b) a population,
c) an authority exercising the effective public power on population and territory,
d) supremacy, that is with capacity to control absolutely the (a) territory and the (b) population.

Such states are drawn in plain color and their names are written in black. They may be divided in parts, with names in red italics. These parts may contain sub-parts, counties or provinces etc., with names in grey italics. Borders of parts are broken brown lines with white edging and borders of sub-parts are mere brown broken lines.

2)    Dependant states , possess:
a) a territory delimited by borders,
b) a population,
c) an authority subject to a higher-level authority. Such a dependancy may be the result of a union with a stronger country, a legal link or a military occupation.

These entities are drawn with their own color, which appears plain when they are independant but, here, is surrounded by a strip of the same color as the dominant state. Their names are marked in plain grey fonts while the main name is written in black. Dependant states sometimes include sub-parts whose names are printed in grey italics.
Dependancy may be the result of many different reasons. I have tried to consider only effective dependancy. In spite of this, many complex cases are left. The most common are those where a country X claims lordship over a country Y while the latter maintains his independancy and sources are not very clear. When the state Y does not rule the state X according to him, it is drawn as dependant.

3)    Not well-known or nomadic populations. Their names are written in dark grey italics on white, grey areas or shaded with grey areas.

Graduate colors towards white or another color are often used. This shows uncertain boundaries.
On all maps, names are written in latin from Anno Domini (= AD or Common Era) 1 to AD 500 and in english from AD 600 on.

Christos Nüssli, November 2003


Euratlas