Historical world map · 1939
World map in 1939
The world in the summer the Second World War began, after Germany had absorbed Austria and dismembered Czechoslovakia. On 1 July, CShapes counts 69 independent states and 103 colonies and dependent territories. This sourced reconstruction contains 172 mapped geometries with source labels representing 172 distinct names.
- Mapped geometries
- 172
- Labeled geometries
- 172
- Distinct labels
- 172
- Data source
- CShapes 2.1 borders
World map preview and interactive explorer for 1939
Static map preview for 1939
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 1939
Independence, new states, transfers between rulers, and border changes recorded in CShapes during 1939. The map above shows borders as of 1 July.
CShapes records no change to state borders during 1939.
CShapes does not code wartime military occupation as a border change, so occupied countries keep their prewar borders in these maps.
Named in the source
Countries, territories, and regions mapped in 1939
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
- 172
- Unlabeled geometries
- 0
Independent states (69)
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Czechoslovakia
- Denmark
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- Iran (Persia)
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Latvia
- Liberia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Oman
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Tibet
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Yemen
- Yugoslavia
Colonies and dependent territories (103)
- United Kingdom (47)
- Aden, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, British Cameroons, British Somaliland, British Togoland, Brunei, Cyprus, East Aden Protectorate, Federated Malay States, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Myanmar, Newfoundland, Nigeria, Mandatory Palestine, Qatar, North Borneo, Sarawak, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Straits Settlements, Sudan, Eswatini, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Unfederated Malay States, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Zanzibar, Zimbabwe
- France (30)
- Algeria, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Inini, Laos, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Morocco, New Caledonia and Dependencies, Niger, Reunion, Senegal, Syria, Togo, Tunisia, Vietnam
- Portugal (5)
- Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique
- United States (4)
- Alaska, Hawaii, Philippines, Puerto Rico
- Japan (3)
- Korea (until 1945), Southern Sakhalin Island, Taiwan
- Spain (3)
- Equatorial Guinea, Spanish Morocco, Spanish West Africa
- Belgium (2)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda-Urundi
- South Africa (1)
- Namibia
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
- 172
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
Sovereign-border dataset of independent states and colonies, dated to the day. It fills every year since 1886 in which state borders changed and covers 2011 through 2023 annually. It does not code wartime occupation. Coverage: Independent states and dependent territories, 1886–2023; each frame shows borders on 1 July
Reuse terms: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Check the original project for full attribution and reuse requirements.