Make a historical map
Choose a year, see the empires and states of that moment, and draw your own history over them: campaigns, trade routes, battles, borders and notes.
- Free
- No account
- 3000 BC to today
- 1,600+ states and empires
Layers
Eraser
What it does
Erase from
Choose a year, see the empires and states of that moment, and draw your own history over them: campaigns, trade routes, battles, borders and notes.
What you can make
Europe in 1914The borders of 1914, with the first moves of the First World War drawn over them.
A rail trip across EuropeEight cities by train, with numbered markers and a dashed route.
How far from Delhi?Circles of 250, 500 and 1,000 km measured on the globe, with the cities inside them.
The euro area in 2026Countries coloured in with two legend colours: 21 use the euro, 6 EU members keep their own currency.
What you can do
Every drawing tool
Markers, text, lines, arrows, curved arrows, areas, boxes, circles, a freehand pen and a measuring tool.
Any year, 3000 BC to today
Move the timeline and the borders change with it. Give a drawing a start and end year and it appears only then.
Colour in countries
Tap countries, states, provinces or empires to colour them, with a legend of colours and patterns you can rename.
Real data underneath
Cities, rivers, voyages, World Heritage Sites, tectonic plates and more, ready to copy into your drawing.
True distances and areas
Circles of an exact radius, distances and areas, measured along the curve of the Earth.
Share and export
A link to share, PNG for slides, PDF for print, and GeoJSON, KML or GPX for other mapping tools.
How it works
Go to your year
Drag the timeline, or tap a year on it. The borders change with it, century by century, from 3000 BC to today.
Copy a state to start from
With the Select tool, tap an empire and choose "Copy into my drawing". Its outline becomes yours to recolour, label or reshape, and it keeps its own years.
Draw what happened
Curved arrows for campaigns and migrations, markers for battles and cities, areas for conquests. Give each a start and end year to animate the story along the timeline.
Export for class, a post or print
PNG for slides and posts, PDF for print. The borders are credited to Cliopatria (Seshat) on the picture.
Data you can cite
- Natural EarthPublic domainCountries, coastlines and the simple base map
- Cliopatria (Seshat)CC BY 4.0Borders of 1,600+ states and empires, 3000 BC to today
- OpenStreetMapODbLStreets and places on the detailed base maps
- geoBoundariesOpen licences, per countryDistrict lines inside countries
Every exported picture prints the credits of the data on it. All sources: data sources.
Your maps stay yours
- Your map is saved in this browser as you draw. No account, no sign-in.
- Files you open (GeoJSON, KML, GPX, CSV) are read in your browser and never uploaded.
- A short link stores a copy of the map only when you make one, so the link works for anyone you send it to.
- What you draw is yours to use in lessons, articles, books and slides; keep the data credits on it.
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Questions
Which years can I map?
Any year from 3000 BC to today. The borders come from Cliopatria, a dataset of more than 1,600 states and empires built by the Seshat Global History Databank.
Can I show change over time?
Yes. Give any drawing a start and end year (Style tab, "On the timeline"); it then appears only while the timeline is inside those years. Copied empires keep their own years automatically.
How accurate are the historical borders?
They are a reconstruction for each year, good for showing who held which region, not a survey of exact frontier lines. Many pre-modern borders were zones rather than lines; treat the edges as approximate.
Is YearMaps Draw free?
Yes. Drawing, sharing links and exporting PNG, PDF, GeoJSON, KML and GPX files are all free, with no account. Exported pictures carry a small @yearmaps.com mark and the credits of the data on the map.
Do I need an account to save my map?
No. Your map is saved in your browser as you draw. To keep it elsewhere, share its link, or save a YearMaps file and open it again later from the File menu.
Can I use the maps I make?
Yes. The map belongs to you, in school work, articles, presentations and books. Keep the data credits printed on the picture: the borders come from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0) and the base map from Natural Earth (public domain).
Can I import my own data?
Yes. Open or drop GeoJSON, KML, KMZ (Google Earth) and GPX (GPS) files onto the map. They are read in your browser and never uploaded.
More ways to use it
- Draw on a mapMark places, draw routes and areas, measure distances, and sketch history over the borders of any year from 3000 BC to today.
- Draw a radius on a mapType a radius and tap the centre, or drag a circle by eye.
- Map maker for teachersMake the map for today's lesson in minutes: a blank or historical base, your labels and arrows, then a PDF for the worksheet or a link for the class.
- Make your own mapA free map maker in the browser.
- Draw a route on a mapTap stop after stop to draw a route, read its length as you go, then style it as a dashed trail, an arrow or a curve and add the stops as numbered markers.
- Measure distance on a mapTap two places, or a whole path of them, and read the distance along the curve of the Earth in kilometres, miles or nautical miles.
Every map page on YearMaps has a Draw on this map button in its Share panel, which opens the same view here. See what's new in YearMaps Draw.