"History of the World" by Thomas Lessman

World History
by Thomas Lessman

* Please note: this site is under construction

and will be finished as time permits!

* World History has been my favorite subject since I was a child listening to stories from my grandfather (Tom Lessman) about World War II. I wanted to know where my family was from. I learned that my great-great grandfather (Gustav Lessmann) was an officer in the Prussian army, who left Germany in 1879 after the reunification. He immigrated from Bavaria to the U.S., where he purchased a farm in Kansas that we still own today - the Lessman Farm.

That satisfied my initial curiosity, but it was only a start...

The old world in 476 AD.
(at the end of the Ancient era)

Later I began reading about American history, then German and British history. By age 10 I was reading about the Vikings and Charlemagne. One particular nation caught my attention: the Roman and "Byzantine" Empire. Over the years I've studied a wide range of world history subjects. At one point I seriously considered becoming a History Professor, but life had other plans and I became a single parent in high school. So I had to be content to just learn as much about history as I could.

Along with history, I love maps. During my studies, I'm often disappointed by the lack of detailed maps. Sure most books show a map of the subject at its height, and maybe some neighbors. But I wanted a much bigger picture than that; I wanted to see what the rest of their world looked like. The only maps I could find were usually in books that cost more than I made each week! Eventually I realized if I wanted them badly enough I'd have to create them myself.

It would be a shame to let this knowledge go to waste! Currently I'm writing a book about World History, which will include several world history maps, a detailed timeline, and a special section on alternate histories (what-ifs). The book will probably take me a few decades to finish, so in the meantime I'm happy to share!

Enough about me, let's get back to history. Please remember that this site is under construction, so some of the pages and/or features are not yet available. My finished maps are listed below, just click on the links!

What Political

Philosophy do

you follow?

----->

Take the

World's Smallest

Political Quiz

to find out!

<-----

***

Map of the Eastern Hemisphere in 1200 AD.

History Pages

& Timelines

(These pages are under construction

and not ready for viewing.)

Primeval Era (to circa 3000 BC)

Human beginnings and Prehistory

Ancient Times (3000 to 1200 BC)

First civilizations: Summer, Egypt,

Indus River Valley, and China

Classical Era (1200 BC to 500 AD)

Greeks, Persians, Romans, Gupta, Han, etc.

Medieval Period (500 AD to 1500 AD)

Germanics, Romans, Arabs, etc.

Modern Times (1500 AD to Present)

Explorations, Colonialism, World Wars, etc.

***

39 Historical Maps

by Thomas Lessman

Primeval History Maps

(3000 BC to 601 BC)

3 Primeval maps currently finished.

* 3000 BC * 2400 BC * 2200 BC

* 2000 BC * 1800 BC * 1300 BC

* 1200 BC * 1000 BC * 900 BC

* 750 BC * 650 BC * 625 BC

Ancient History Maps

(600 BC to 499 AD)

22 Ancient maps currently finished:

* 600 BC * 550 BC * 527 BC

* 500 BC * 400 BC * 350 BC * 335 BC

* 323 BC * 300 BC * 250 BC * 220 BC

* 200 BC * 150 BC * 100 BC * 050 BC

* 001 AD * 050 AD * 100 AD * 150 AD

* 200 AD * 250 AD * 270 AD * 300 AD

* 350 AD * 400 AD * 420 AD * 450 AD

* 475 AD * 476 AD * 477 AD * 480 AD

* 486 AD

Medieval History Maps

(500 AD to 1499 AD)

13 Medieval maps currently finished.

* 500 AD * 510 AD * 525 AD * 535 AD

* 550 AD * 565 AD * 600 AD * 610 AD

* 700 AD * 750 AD * 800 AD * 850 AD

* 900 AD * 950 AD * 1000 AD * 1025 AD

* 1050 AD * 1100 AD * 1150 AD * 1200 AD

* 1250 AD * 1300 AD * 1350 AD * 1400 AD

Modern History Maps

(1500 AD to Present)

1 Modern maps currently finished.

* 1500 AD

* I created the maps using reference sources that are listed below. The maps are as accurate as possible, keeping in mind that sources sometimes conflict, are incomplete, or didn't have information for a particular area. Any possible errors can be corrected. If you have any comments or corrections, or if you'd like to help, please email me at talessman@yis.us.

My favorite sources:

Top History Sites:

1. Regnal Chronologies by Bruce Gordon,

http://starnarcosis.net/obsidian/regindex.html

2. Euratlas Maps of European History,

http://www.euratlas.com/time1.htm

3. Wikimedia maps of World History

Template:Maps_of_world_history

4. Early British Kingdoms

http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com

5. Maps of South Asia, Columbia University

Maps of South and Southeast Asia

6. DK Atlas of World History, 2000 edition.

7. Fsmitha Macrohistory and World Report

http://fsmitha.com/maps.html

8. Friesian School of Philosophical History, http://www.friesian.com/histindx.htm

9. Historical Map Resources on the University of Texas website

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/index.html

10. World History Maps.com

http://www.WorldHistoryMaps.com

11. Huhai.net maps of Asian and Chinese History

http://huhai.net

12. Various Wikipedia articles.

* Also several wikipedians have sent me information to help correct minor errors or add missing information.

People whom have helped me with these maps:

1. Bruce Gordon (Regnal Chronologies)

2. Bogomolov.Pl (Wiki-talk page)