Historical world map · 1500

World map in 1500

An early-modern threshold snapshot showing political regions at the start of the sixteenth century. This sourced reconstruction contains 291 mapped geometries. 143 have source labels representing 139 distinct names; 148 have no usable source label.

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Mapped geometries: 291
Labeled geometries: 143
Distinct labels: 139
Data source: Historical Basemaps borders

Historical world map reconstruction showing mapped regions in 1500 — Static map preview for 1500
Load the interactive view only when you want place search, year comparison, point history, or detailed border inspection.
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Named in the source

States, realms, and regions mapped in 1500

Usable source labels can mix states, empires, dependencies, cultural regions, and other mapped entities. Wording follows the dataset rather than forcing every shape into a modern-country category.

Distinct named labels: 139
Unlabeled geometries: 148

Aceh
Adal
Ahmadnagar
Ainus
Akan
Algonquin
Alwa
Amazon hunter-gatherers
Andean hunter-gatherers
Apache
Arabs
Aragón
Arakan
Athabaskan
Australian aboriginal hunter-gatherers
Ayutthaya
Aztec Empire
Bahmani Kingdom
Bantou
Bella
Bengal
Benin
Beothuk
Bidar
Bijapur
Bornu-Kanem
Britany
Burmese kingdoms
Calusa
Cambodia
Caribbean hunter-gatherers
Castille
Chagatai Khanate
Champa
Cherookee
Cheyenne
Comanche
Congo
Coqs
Crimean Khanate
Crow
Cyprus
Đại Việt
Delaware
Denmark-Norway
Desert hunter-gatherers
Emirate of the White Sheep Turks
England

Show 91 more named labels

Ethiopia
Expansionist Kingdom of Merina
France
Funj
Georgia
Golden Horde
Golkonda
Grand Duchy of Moscow
Guanches
Hadramaut
Hafsid Caliphate
Hausa States
Holy Roman Empire
Hopi
Huron
Imperial Hungary
Inca Empire
Innu
Iroquois
Islamic city-states
Islamic states
Japan
Kalmar Union
Khanate of Sibir
Khoiasan
Korea
Laos
Madagascar
Malacca
Malaysian Islamic states
Mali
Mamluke Sultanate
Maori
Maya city-states
Mi'kma'ki
Ming Chinese Empire
Mixtec Empire
Mossi States
Muscat
Mwenemutapa
Natchez
Navajo
Navarre
Ndongo
Nez Perce
North American Pacifi foraging, hunting and fishing peoples
Novgorod-Seversky
Oirat Confederation
Orissa
Ottoman Empire
Oyo
Pampas cultures
Papal States
Papua New Guinea
Patagonian shellfish and marine mammal hunters
Pegu
Philippines
Plain bison hunters
Plateau fichers and hunter gatherers
Poland-Lithuania
Polynesians
Pomo
Portugal
Pskov
Rajastan
Ryazan
Sámi
Savanna hunter-gatherers
Scottland
Shuar
Siberians
Sinhalese kingdoms
Songhai
Subarctic forest hunter-gatherers
Sultanate of Delhi
Swiss Confederation
Taiwan
Tasmanian hunter-gatherers
Teutonic Knights
Thule
Tibet
Timurid Emirates
Tlinoit
Tuʻi Tonga Empire
Venice
Vijayanagara
Wattasid Caliphate
West African cereal farmers
White Horde
Yemen
Zayyanid Caliphate

Precision in the source

Not every border deserves the same confidence

Precision is inherited from the dataset when available. It describes how the line was encoded, not the overall certainty of every historical claim inside the polygon.

Approximate border: 291

These precision categories cover all mapped geometries. Label coverage is reported separately above, so the two sets of counts should not be added together.

Source, license, and download

Historical boundary snapshots for countries and cultural regions, used through 2010. Coverage: 53 available snapshots from prehistory through 2010

Original source Download snapshot JSON

Reuse terms: GPL-3.0 repository license. Check the original project for full attribution and reuse requirements.

World map preview and interactive explorer for 1500

Not every border deserves the same confidence

Source, license, and download