1880s map showing the railway systems of Australia

1880s map showing the railway systems of Australia

5000 x 3736

‘Was going to whinge they left out Tasmania, but then again, being the 1880’s, Tasmania was a totally independent colony, no more a part of ‘Australia’ (as a unified concept) than NZ, Malaysia, or any other British colony in the region. But from the modern perspective, it seems odd. The focus on the trans-continental seems to be the primary reason for the choice of area covered/features shown

Also because no one gives a shit about tasmania

As a Tasmanian I agree’

The distribution of the Irish language in 1871

The distribution of the Irish language in 1871 - From E.G. Ravenstein, “On the Celtic Languages of the British Isles: A Statistical Survey”, in Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 42, no. 3, (September, 1879)

793 x 967

‘Bearing in mind most of the red areas are very sparsely populated (and were at the time of the map, too) does anybody have an estimate as to what percentage of the total population would fall into the various red and pink categories?

They weren’t as sparsely populated back then though. Yes it’s post famine, but the depopulation of the West took place over 150 years’

The City of Brooklyn, USA (1879)

The City of Brooklyn, USA (1879)

8635 x 5927

‘I guess I didn’t know offhand when the Brooklyn bridge was built, but if you had asked me I would have definitely guessed sometime after 1900.

The construction commenced in 1869 and was completed in 1883.

It’s designer, John Roebling, has an older bridge, still in use today in Cincinnati, the John A. Roebling Bridge which was built from 1856-1867 which is nearly as grand in stature.’

Main ethno-linguistic groups in Europe (1899)

Main ethno-linguistic groups in Europe (1899)

1152 x 1166

‘As a berber, what made me relief is that the map depicted North Africa accurately, ethnic arabs are a microscopic minority here, there are arabized berbers who kept berber customs to an extent, and berbers who kept speaking their languages, the idea of arab north africa started in the 30s with the rise of panarabism, and the arabization policy done by algerian and moroccan governments to erase berber identity’

1805 map of Australia

1805 map of Australia

2592 x 1925

‘The Ulimaroa name has some interesting background- that’s a real TIL! - thank you!

Same! Very cool. And in the age of Spanish, Portugese, Dutch and British ruling the waves, a Swedish cartographer is out of left field

That Australia was very nearly claimed by the French, and the populate or perish mentality is well known - this was a snippet that I really didn’t know, especially: did the Maoris know of Australia? Really cool’

Rand McNally map of Canada (1889)

Rand McNally map of Canada (1889)

8330 x 5221

‘I didn’t realize Saskatchewan used to be like that

Those were the districts of the North West Territories at the time. The districts of Assiniboine, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Athabasca would be combined to make the two provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905.

Originally, Frederick Haultain, Premier of the NWT during that time, was pushing for a province of Buffalo, which would include all of the two provinces lands. Prime minister Laurier, fearing a provincial rival to the existing duopolistic control of Ontario and Quebec, split it at the 110th meridian’

Ethnographic Map of Great Britain and Ireland (1850)

Ethnographic Map of Great Britain and Ireland, according to Dr. Gustaf Kombst - by A.K. Johnston (1850)

7548 x 8970

‘This is fantastic! Very good work here.

It should be noted however that this is primarily a cultural influence map, as the amount of DNA contributed by Scandinavians (and likely even Angles and Saxons) was pretty minor compared to the people that lived here previously. The days where conquerers would replace populations was long over at this point, they just took over the positions of power and influence at the top of society.

So are you saying that a DNA based map would look significantly different?

I’ve done a little research into this (for genealogy purposes), and believe that the majority of the DNA in Britain is still pre-Celtic and Celtic. Later waves of conquerers (northwest Germanic Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Frisians), Scandinavians (mainly Danish with some Norwegian), and Norman (mostly French) only contributed a minority part of the genetics to the current population. The new groups that came in usually just took over the upper echelons of power and privilege in society, so their cultures kind of became more of an influence (or dominant), but the DNA they contributed overall wasn’t very large.

If I had to estimate, it would be around: 40% Pre-Celtic 40% Celtic 15% Anglo-Saxon 1% Viking 1% Norman

3% other’

1823 map of Australia

1823 map of Australia

1093 x 1472

‘Wales, Holland.. what a unique names for a new continent

Specifically “south ” Wales. No Northern Welsh here!

There’s a New England in the US, a New Scotland (Nova Scotia) in Canada, a New South Wales in Australia, and (formerly) a New Ulster in New Zealand.

New North Wales is all that’s missing from the New United Kingdom.

As someone from North Wales that is a good thing.

This place is full of twats ruining it, let’s not recreate that.’