Skip to content
Draw on a Map
Start drawing

World map in 1500

Explore a historical reconstruction of countries and cultural regions in 1500. Add colours and notes to compare areas and tell a historical story.

Preview of World map in 1500
Historical Basemaps by A. Ourednik and contributors. GPL-3.0. Source geometry rounded to four decimal places where polygon validity is preserved; selected properties retained by Draw on a Map on 2026-09-12.

About this historical map

  • Borders are reconstructed for the year shown and may be approximate, disputed, or incomplete.
  • Cultural regions can overlap. Areas without names may still have been inhabited.
  • The background shows present-day coastlines and terrain. The 2D map has no modern labels or borders.

Source and licence

Historical Basemaps

Licence: GPL-3.0

GeoJSON download details

The download includes all 291 features as area groups. Coordinates use longitude and latitude in WGS84.

The preparation date is when we prepared this dataset. Read the source notes for the dates covered by the data.

GeoJSON fields 4
NAME
Country or cultural region name; some areas are unnamed.
SUBJECTO
Controlling power or region, as recorded by the source.
PARTOF
Larger cultural area, where available.
BORDERPRECISION
Source precision: 1 approximate, 2 moderately precise, 3 defined by international law.