Dynamic map of African history

Here’s a gorgeous thing from Brown University.

Animated Atlas of African History

The Animated Atlas of African History is a map that shows year-by-year changes of selected themes in the history of Africa between 1879 and 2002. Toggle buttons allow you to select which thematic layers to activate. Choices include:

• Territory names
• Changing boundaries, imperial rulers and political systems
• Violent conflicts
• Economic and demographic trends

You can advance or reverse the chronology and change the speed and pause on particular years. The site also offers a textual summary of the year-by-year changes. The Flash-based animation may be operated interactively on the web or downloaded as Mac OS X or Windows executibles.

The map is designed to be an instructional tool at the secondary and college levels as well as for the general learner.

Brown University teaches a course in African Environmental History. Check out the online course guide for some great resources.

What a great educational resource! And because it is online, the kids at St Judes can use it to learn about African history. I love it when these extremely poor children living in homes with dirt floors and no electricity can access excellent learning resources like this!

Thanks Brown University! This outreach program is great!



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