World Back Then is an interactive world history map that lets you explore geopolitical boundaries across key periods of history — like Google Maps, but for the past.
Each time period shows the political landscape of the world — countries, kingdoms, empires, and other societies — with contextual information for each. Click any territory to learn more or follow links to external sources.
Use filters to overlay additional layers, such as notable inventions and military conflicts.
Where the data comes from
All content comes from open sources:
Disclaimer: all information is provided on a best-effort basis and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies.
Why only specific years
The available time periods are fixed by the original GIS shapefile dataset; arbitrary years aren't supported.
World Back Then was built by Gianluca Amori.
Found a bug or have a suggestion? Reach out at hello@backthen.world.