Back in time
Open the live mapBorder changes and territorial claims
About 900 times territory passed from one state to another since 1816, and about 1,200 claims one state made to another’s territory, each placed at the territory.
What you see
- Each change or claim as a violet mark at the territory; a claim stays on the map for as long as it was pressed.
- Click a change for the territory, who gained and lost it, how (conquest, cession, annexation and others), its area and its population.
- Click a claim for the territory and how many pairs of states disputed it.
- Opened from this page, the map plays 1816 to 2001.
Where the data comes from
- Correlates of WarTerritorial Change, version 6: transfers of territory between states from 1816 to 2015.
- ICOWThe Issue Correlates of War’s territorial claims between states, 1816 to 2001.
- Stanford Spatial History Lab81 annexations and occupations in Europe from 1938 to 1945.
Published datasets; they change when their authors release a new version.
Good to know
- A change is one point at the territory; History’s border layer draws the borders themselves, from Cliopatria.
- The Wikipedia article is usually about the territory, not the change.
- Claims stop at 2001, changes at 2015.
The first recorded here in each decade
- Modena → Italy (unification)1860 · Territorial change
- Vatican City → Italy (unification)1870 · Territorial change
- CotonouJan 1880 · Territorial claim
- Heligoland: United Kingdom → Germany (cession)1890 · Territorial change
- Nicaragua CanalJan 1900 · Territorial claim
- Lado Enclave: Belgium → United Kingdom (cession)1910 · Territorial change
- United Kingdom → Canada (unknown)1920 · Territorial change
- Walwal-Wardair-EthiopiaJan 1930 · Territorial claim
- Eupen-Malmédy → Germany28 May 1940 · Territorial change
- Belz/Sokal/Bug River ExchangeJun 1950 · Territorial claim
- France → Mali (unknown)1960 · Territorial change
- United Kingdom → Fiji (unknown)1970 · Territorial change
- United Kingdom → Zimbabwe (unknown)1980 · Territorial change
- South Africa → Namibia (unknown)1990 · Territorial change
- Halaib Triangle: Sudan → Egypt (conquest)2000 · Territorial change
- Tajikistan → China (cession)2011 · Territorial change
Goes well with
Treaties in historyAbout 2,200 treaties from Wikidata, from the Bronze Age to today, each placed where Wikidata puts it and dated to the day where known, with its article.
The world in 1914The world in 1914 on an interactive map: the empires and borders on the eve of the First World War, then the war’s battles as they happened.
The world through historyAn interactive historical atlas: the world’s borders year by year from 3400 BCE, with wars, battles and other events from 7500 BCE, on a 3D globe.
The world in 1914The world in 1914 on an interactive map: the empires and borders on the eve of the First World War, then the war’s battles as they happened.The world through historyAn interactive historical atlas: the world’s borders year by year from 3400 BCE, with wars, battles and other events from 7500 BCE, on a 3D globe.