Historical world map · 1914
World map in 1914
A snapshot of the world immediately before the First World War, which transformed empires and state borders. On 1 July, CShapes counts 56 independent states and 94 colonies and dependent territories. This sourced reconstruction contains 177 mapped geometries. 144 have source labels representing 142 distinct names; 33 have no usable source label.
- Mapped geometries
- 177
- Labeled geometries
- 144
- Distinct labels
- 142
- Data source
- Historical Basemaps borders
World map preview and interactive explorer for 1914
Static map preview for 1914
Load the interactive view only when you want place search, year comparison, point history, or detailed border inspection.
Border changes
What changed on the world map in 1914
Independence, new states, transfers between rulers, and border changes recorded in CShapes during 1914. The map above shows borders as of 1 July.
- Northern Nigeria ceases to exist as a separate entity; its capital passes to United Kingdom.
- Southern Nigeria ceases to exist as a separate entity; its capital passes to United Kingdom.
- German Togoland passes from Germany to United Kingdom.
- German New Guinea passes from Germany to Australia.
- Nigeria appears as a territory of United Kingdom.
- Cyprus appears as a territory of United Kingdom.
- China loses about 165,053 km² of territory.
- Russia gains about 165,053 km² of territory.
- India gains about 74,661 km² of territory.
- Tibet loses about 74,661 km² of territory.
- Turkey loses about 78,704 km² of territory.
Named in the source
Countries, territories, and regions mapped in 1914
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
- 142
- Unlabeled geometries
- 33
- Abyssinia
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- American Samoa
- Anglo-Egyption Sudan
- Angola
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Arabia (Nejd)
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Azerbaijan
- Barbados
- Belgian Congo
- Belgium
- Belize
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- British East Africa
- British Protectorate
- British Raj
- British Somaliland
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Ceylon
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Empire of Japan
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
Show 94 more named labels
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.
- Determined by international law
- 177
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
Reuse terms: GPL-3.0 repository license. Check the original project for full attribution and reuse requirements.