Reference Map
Compare the Empires
Pick a land-based empire to light up its territory and load how it expanded, ruled, and what it believed. Then layer on capitals, belief systems, and the spread of gunpowder — shown as arrows from where it began. Click anything to read more.
Three networks knit Afro-Eurasia together between 1200 and 1450 — moving silk and salt, faiths and inventions, merchants and microbes.
Select a route above, or Show all to compare them, then click the colored lines and dots on the map.