Visualization of maritime empires’ decline

Posted on November 27, 2009 by | 3 Comments

Explained here. Critiques in the comments are (mostly) valid, but for a first effort at using this kind of visualization technique, I’d say it’s pretty impressive.

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3 responses to “Visualization of maritime empires’ decline”

  1. Rob Jase's avatar Rob Jase | November 27, 2009 at 5:24 pm |

    Effective but disturbingly silent – next time they should add a little elevator music.

  2. Coturnix's avatar Coturnix | November 27, 2009 at 5:27 pm |

    Interesting how that was my first reaction as well – I kept upping my volume on the laptop, to no avail.

  3. John McKay's avatar John McKay | November 27, 2009 at 6:07 pm |

    That was fascinating. It was clear that a lot of people in the comments didn’t quite get what he was doing. This was an experiment in the technique, not a definitive historical essay.
    His choice in calling his subject Maritime Empires confused me at first. My first thought was that it represented naval power. Overseas Empire is the English phrase that best represents what he meant.
    There is plenty to nit-pick in the history. How did he pick certain dates? Where is Ireland? Why is Spain bigger than Britain at the end? I would love to see an historian take it over now and work on the details, add Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and the US.