What about ancient native south american religions?
What about Sikhism?
Also, FYI, Christianity traveled through persia and down to southwest india 52 AD and then of course missionaries brought catholicism to other parts of india.
I love this! It reminds me of the game civilizaiton, but I also think about this kind of thing in my head too.
You should do this for other things like maybe linguistic groups or ethnic migrations, the spread of knowledge, ideas and technology or maybe the movement of trade goods across places.
I presume that the colors show only the dominant religion in a particular area. After the diaspora, Judaism existed in Europe and elsewhere, but did not dominate any region. The map for our present time would be better depicted as a mosaic. My guess is that it would show western Europe and the US as religiously divere.
It shows major gaps in knowledge of history. A few glaring omissions 1. Conflict between Hinduism and Buddhism. 2. Why the British conquest of India is not shown as conquest by Christianity. -VD
I agree, to be more accurate the map needs to show the religion that gave birth to the three predominate monotheistic religions. Zoroastrian needs to be incorporated into this map.
Buddhism's spread is depicted incorrectly. The "Northern Transmissions" (Zen, Tantric, etc) Buddhism traveled as shown, but Theravada Buddhism spread only slightly later to Sri Lanka, and then outward into the rest of Southeast Asia from there.
Can we get some atheistic love on this map? Eventually it will dominate. Although, so many dumb people are procreating at a much higher rate, it is a pipe dream.
A great idea but you might want to include secular religions that have taken grip and forced the issues of war, such as revolutionary Marxism, Zen buddhist-endorsed nationalism, etc. These are "religions" in the orthodox sense of the term even moreso than many religions, since they require strict obedience to a code of dogma that itself requires war. Also portraying conflicts in pure parity such as "Muslim vs. Christian" is somewhat disingenuous to history since one religion mandates its followers to smite others while the other pretty much frowns on it.
It is impossible to sum up the history of religions in 90sec! There are a lot of mistakes. Zoroastrians have been forgotten, and all the non monoteistic religions...
Nice one douche - completely forgot about Sikhism (which is recognised as a major world religion) plus I think most folk would argue that the clash between Catholics and Protestants (both allegedly Christan) has shaped a number of conflicts in world history.
Apart from historical revisionism in a supposed history - well done
Ethiopia was the second official Christian kingdom, after Armenia, neither of which was noted. Russia was Orthodox from about the tenth century. Islam penetrated much further into the Horn of Africa, especially if you consider demographics, even today. Also, majority rules dismisses a ton of interesting areas that would be more of a mixture between green/blue etc. and leaves out minority religions completely. Misinformation is really great, though.
I personally would have to recommend to start the map with a base paganistic religion in most parts of the world... As long as humans looked skyward, they have worshipped the gods - long before the first organized, 'major' religion
cool looking,but even if I agree it is impossible to track all religions, It really sucks when you assume there was nothing in america until christianity. Toltec based religions were here from maybe even before krishna. And that is only one mistake, albeit the biggest one IMO
As an Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox Christian, I am disappointed your graphic doesn't show the introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia around 300 AD. Also, because the Prophet Mohammad's relatives were given shelter by the king of Ethiopia, he forbade his followers from conducting jihad on the country, leaving it an island of Christianity in a sea of Islam for millenia.
I think it is absolutely amazing how, after Christianity was established, along comes Mohammed and says, "Allah said you guys don't have it quite right, He told me you forgot to add a few things to this love your brother religion. First, Christ is Jewish and we don't care for Jews, but they have some good ideas, like NO Pork, let's put that in our religion. Then, after looking at Christianity, he says, we gotta have some kind of holy season like Hanakuha and Christmas, let us do a Ramadon. And let's get it out of the desert into a city where there is alredy religious presence. Let us make it Jerusalem, that way, in the future, there will be lots of competition, benefits, etc. And this Jewish 10 rules like don't kill, that ain't gonna work. We need to scare the hell out of these folks who are already 600 hundred years ahead of us. Let's just force these people to become members...and if they don't, we will cause some problems, like a Jhad, and we will kill 'em if they don't think like us. Aint no room for freedom and equal, they will either join us or we will slice off their heads. Thats how it looks like one religion got started. Its a shame people aren't simply left alone to worship as they please. There would have been no 9/11 if these followers of Allah had minded their own business and demonstrated love for one another.
This religion map is pretty cool, but the creator(s) of the map left out several major conflicts--hundreds in fact--where Islam has come into violent conflict with other religions and cultures, ranging from Southeast Asia to the Mughal's attempted conquest of India, and the conquest and enslavement of many parts of Africa (after all, it was Arab Muslims who "invented" the slave-trade of black Africans, and who continue to butcher/force-convert Africans today).
Looks like they need to add a few things, and quit giving Islam, the most violent religion (by far) in the history of the world, a "pass."
95 percent of armed conflicts in the world today have Muslims on either one side, or both sides.
I have to say that the Christianity in South America didn't come from north as your map shows. It come from the coast with the colonization by Portugal and Spain mainly.
Cute, but a vast and misleading oversimplification. The title is deceptive. It's a territorial history of some religions. Where are the older pagan religions? What about various diasporas? The founding of Israel was not an expansion of Judaism, but a contraction, in that it represents an in-gathering of a disapora.
Great map, nice overview. I'd love to see additional cultural assimilation comments. Someone's already mentioned Zoroastrianism - it'd be interesting to see where Judaism got the concept of a soul and afterlife from, and how pagan festivals like Eostr (sp?) and Yule become assimilated. Also how the Eastern religions developed.
I believe that you forgot the land of Axum, which was ancient Ethiopia, which was, and still is largely Christian. Plus, Judaism was also in Axum as well, the Ethopian Jews.
Helpful broadbrush, especially to take people back and forward in time and major events..as many people are historically challenged. I think there is a lot more religious blending and diversity in most areas, past and especially present. Also with secularization worldwide, all religious colors are now 'paler' (ie. less dominant) with good/bad religious hot spots.
1. Hinduism was founded long before Krishna's birth. 2. Where the hell are classical greco-roman panthe? 3. What about shintoism and confucianism? 4. Russia was Christian since X century. 5. Why Christianity is shown as single faith without confessions? Same for Islam, actually.
Among the MANY errors in this presentation I noticed that apparently Russia wasn't Christian until somewhere in the 19-20th century. Lets not even get into all the religions not mentioned, nor whther one should base the spread of religion on the political rulers or the belief structure of the populace.
inaccurate visualation. Mixed religions in US, all appearing as 'Christian', also Far East was shown as all Budhist, incorrect, there are Muslims and Christians as well. Also Europe has a mixed blend of religion but all shown as Christian not to forget US also have a ton of Jews, hello? And finally, what about those who do not believe in any religion, god or anything at all? How about a imaginary map of Hell to show those?
Zoroasterianism was the first monotheistic religion that is the root of Christianity and other monotheistic religions in the world. The person or persons who worked on the History of Religion obviously have spent more time learning about graphics art and computers than religion! I am an atheist but if I ever take up a religion, it would be zoroasterianism!
Good work, I've also enjoyed your other maps as well. However, I've noticed an error in the spread of Buddhism. You've only depicted the northern spread of Buddhism after the birth of the Buddha. But there were also significant growth of Buddhism inside India as well. Also it shows Sri Lanka as a Hindu country, which it never was. In fact Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka as early as the 2nd century BCE (being one of the first Theravada Buddhist countries).
The worship of Elohim is pretty important. You probably should have added that in there, since it is the beginning of Judeo-Christian, and by relation Islam. Obviously, it would be tough to give a date, but it is somewhere between 4000-5000bc.
If you can record the birth of Krishna on a real date, then surely you could attempt to place Adam and the God his descendants worshiped.
I think this method of analysing the broader aspects of religious expansion , however it would be more appropriate to have a more detailed version showing a larger array of religions. but in the same style, as it conveys the message well.
I just hosted a bunch of Russians from Kamchatcka, Siberia and Lake Baikal -- not one was Christian, nor from a Christian tradition. All said their religions were more "localized" than Christianity, one described religion of Kamchatka as "indigenous" and more "animist" than anything else. The folks from Lake Baikal and Siberia seemed to have shamans and extensive rituals involving horses and large feasts-- no priests/churches/bibles could be pinned to these people. None celebrated xmas, none were Islamic/Jewish or Orthodox. Are you sure all of Russia is xtian and not a great hodge podge of many religions? Did I happen to host 25 unusual Russians?
What a fabulous site. Thank you for presenting such complicated ideas in such a beautiful way. I know things have been simplified, but it was necessary in order to make the show.
Please check the following sites about Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism:
http://www.duke.edu/~jds17/zoroast.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion of Persia. It was founded about 3500 years ago by the prophet Zarathushtra. Arising out of the polytheistic traditions of ancient India and Iran, he was one of the first monotheists in human history. Zarathushtra preached that there was one God, whom he called Ahura Mazda. Ahura means "Lord," and Mazda means "Wise," so Zoroastrians call God the "Wise Lord." Zarathushtra has been known in the West as Zoroaster, from the Greek transliteration of his name; in Persia and India he is known as Zarthosht. No one knows exactly when Zarathushtra lived. Zoroastrian tradition places him at around 600 B.C.E., but this date is thought by modern scholars to be far too late. The modern estimate of Zarathushtra's date is anywhere from 1500 to 1000 B.C.E.
Which "CHRISTian" tradition are you referring to? There are over 2,000 substantially different(in at least one doctrine, belief, process, liturgical practice, etc) religous traditions in the USA and over 5,000 internationally which claim to be CHRISTIAN?
As your first commentator said, you have forgotten Zoraster.
The major problem is that your diagram shows each growth as if it occured in a vacumn. Obviously you can't include every religion, especially now that many are forgotten but there are several major ommissions.
Apart from the example mentioned, you could include Shintoism and perhaps together animism and paganism. That would show that Africa, far from becoming Christian/islam is actually a 3 way split. Similarly Buddism might have spread where you show but it has never been the sole religion in many areas "claimed" for it.
Arguably Confucionism is a religion. Sikhism is omitted.
Islam is shown as extending over most of India whereas in fact the map shows political control. Conversion in fact in all areas lapsed far behind the political control - Lebanon was Christian until this century as was Instanbul and the area surrounding it and Izmir. It's debatable how many Spanish converted or lived as dhimmis within Granada. The same points could be made about Christian conversion in the European colonies.
I also am disturbed by the only "clashes" occur at the meeting of Islam and Christianity. Given the claimed deaths of up to 10 million Indians during the Mogul conquest, I think you might possibly add at least one more.
The Muslim domination over the Levant, North Africa, modern Turkey, Southern Russia, Armenia and the Balkans was hardly a peaceful. I think one or two Muslims might have picnic'd near Vienna once or twice as well, holidayed in Greece, Rhodes and Malta too!
The number of people following a religion doesn't matter, what matters is the how much research has been done in one religion, how much truth has been found out, how many great men have been, how many have realized the ultimate truth by following the religion. These are very important, and a TRUELY religious person will look at these numbers rather than number of people claiming to be following a religion.
1. Hinduism - the Vedic religion didn't reach India until about 2000 BC. Hinduism grew out of the Vedic religion, as a reaction to Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivikism. 2. Buddhism - spread throughout India and into Sri Lanka before christ. Your map doesn't show it in south India at all, and in Sri Lanka only after about 1000 AD - Hinduism only reached Sri Lanka about 500 AD.
Thank you for taking the time to create these maps, they are beautiful. Especially for taking on religion, which judging by the comments, even gets contentious when done in Flash.
Great resource, but you are missing some major events in the history of Judaeo-Christianity as found in the Book of Mormon. See these pages for more info on Central American Christians as early as 2500 BC (http://internet.ocii.com/~cmeek/BoM_Geog21.htm#J_Dates), and another colony around 600 BC (http://internet.ocii.com/~cmeek/BoM_Geog21.htm#NnL_Dates).
For a free copy of the Book of Mormon, check out this site: http://www.mormon.org/freeoffers/1,17785,2071-1-1,00.html?src=tv
The map misses the Christianization of Russia ca. 1000AD. Russia thus had Christianity for centuries before missionaries went in the 1700s or so as the map suggests.
I only know bits of Christian history, but there is a lot here that is lacking:
- in Tamil/Southern India [Syriac Church - 1st Century onwards] - in Egypt [Coptic Church - 1st C till present] - in Ethiopia [Orthodox Church - 1st C till present] - in China [Nestorian Church - 3rd C till 13th C] - in Georgia/Armenia [Orthodox Church - 1st C till present] - in Ireland & Britain [Celtic Church - 4th C till 8th] - in Greenland/Newfoundland [Vikings - 8th C onwards]
Plus it'd be great to have Confucianism/Shinto/other Buddhist streams and Sikhs, Druzes, and so on. Apologies for being a pedant :)
Good presentation but there are a lot of mistakes like the christianism came to Americas from Spanish conquest first than missionary, please! correct the mistakes!
What about all the other “religions”? Your choice seems mainly linked to nowadays economic and political Powers. Some people which have totally been “genocided” and whose religion disappeared should be represented, in my opinion, even if their religion doesn't exist anymore. May be at least could it be a way to pay tribute to them! Why don’t you represent the rather more tolerant religions that pre-existed to the monotheism. Other religions that are nowadays economically crashed shouldn’t be let aside! It embodies a great deal of people! By the way, why do you show for example judaism (less than 20 millions of people...?) and not animism (90 millions of people...?)? --->>>Please!!! On your web site, could you give some explanations about what, according to you, is a religion? That would enable me to understand who deserves to be represented on you map and how you made this choice? Sorry for my poor english.
Easy to pick holes, nevertheless a very useful timeline map.
Kemet (monolatrous ancient Egypt) needs an airing. Tammuz/Mithra/Sol were all biggies in the melting pot of Paulianity. And Utah really ought to be a different colour...
Divergencies: From a Western standpoint The Reformation and Luther, also Sunni/Shiite and Northern/Southern Buddhism.
Be nice to see Eelam (the north of Sri Lanka), as a majority Hindu region.
I suggest each country at the end have a pie chart coloration showing proportions. For instance, in Sri Lanka, that would show the significant Catholic proportion (from the Portugese).
I noticed that the Indian subcontinent remained 'Hindu' while Buddhism expanded into China. This isn't exactly accurate since Buddhism flourished in India from the 6th centure BCE to 8th century CE.
I noticed that the Indian subcontinent remained 'Hindu' while Buddhism expanded into China. This isn't exactly accurate since Buddhism flourished in India from the 6th centure BCE to 8th century CE.
I thought it is an effective quick review of the battles amount the major religions of the world. Good work regardless of what some other people had commented.
This is not complete. Zoroastrianism, a religion practiced in ancient Persia, is the FIRST religion on record. Read "God is dead" by Friedrich Nietzsche for some insight!
I think, in a 100 years, the map would have had to include a separate category for the modern type of secularism which has already been spreading for over 100 years now, both within the christian parts of the world and within the muslim parts.
creative presentation and helps remind us the origin of major religions and how it has interconnected humanity. See the mystery behind religions establishing at different times all for the love of God for man and to bright light and faith into our lives. One humble suggestion would be to also include the Baha'i Faith as it is one of the major religions of today.
terrible. why are crusades labelled as "christianity v. islam" and the conquest by islam of the Balkans, for example, not defined "islam v. christianity"? where are the different types of christianity, buddhism, sialm? where is shintoism? where are animistic and other pagan cults? why is israel's establishment considered an expansion of judaism? there were more jews all over the middle east (in proportion to population) before the XIX century than now...
As a first approximation it looks OK. But the current pattern is much more complicated. The history and pattern of Christianity (orthodox) is wrong. The detailed map of religions in Russia (current) you can see at: http://www.interfax-religion.ru/map/ (but only Russian captions are shown there).
Zoroastrianism is ommitted. It was born in Iran, today the largest Zoroastrian community is in India.
Hinduism was heavily present in SE Asia going as far as Bali.
Additionally, the geographic expansion of Buddhism is erroneous (in stark contrast to the well-detailed expansion of Christianity): Buddhism was present in India and Afghanistan (remember the Bamiyan Buddhas?) alongside Hinduism for centuries, before expanding to China & Korea through the silk road and into SE Asia by ship. It expanded into Tibet and Mongolia about the same time as it died-out in India.
You have forgotten the expansion of Christianity to Latin America during 16th century by Spaniards and Portuguese. Seeing the map, it looks that the christianization of Latin America happened during 19th century!
Despite the harshness of some of the comments, this map does have utility for showing the place of origin and expansion of SOME of the world's major religions and where they are dominant (though not exclusive). Many errors have been noted (Zoroastrianism; Christianity in Russia and Ethiopia; Sikhism etc.). A few other points:
1. Buddha was not born; Siddhartha was.
2. Confucianism is not included (nor Daoism). Why not? Excluding them indicates an overly Western perspective. Ditto for Shinto.
3. A big drawback to the map is that it plays down the connections between certain religious traditions. For example, you would never know from this map that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have a shared geneology in Abraham; or that Buddhism and Jainism grew out of Vedic and Upanishadic Hinduism. I don't know how you would illustrate such points on a 90 sec. flash program, but I think they are worth noting somehow.
4. An unmentioned error thus far. I think you have the Christianization of Scandinavia a bit too early. Norway was Christianized shortly after St. Olaf in the 11th century.
5. Muhammad's birth is not as important as his revelations -- in his 30s.
6. The history of Christianity and its various sects and splits needs its own map.
A wonderful piece. I travel alot, as an architect and amateur historican. One area you need to attend to is Ethiopia - Originally an early Empire whose principal religion was Jewish, then became Christian. Via Ehtiopian lore - The Queen of Sheba travelled fromher ancient capitol at Axsum, to Jerusalem. There she `hooked' up with Solomon, departed. Back in Ethiopia, she gave birth to a son. Eventually the son returned to Jerusalem, met his father. Solomon gave him a choice of anything he wanted, as a remembrance of his father. The son took the Arc of teh Covenant, which is now in Axsum. Excuse my mispellings, and want of a name for Sheba & Salomon's son. Am writing this without reference, based on a trip three years ago, to spend ORthodox Christmas in Lalibela. PRefer to provide you with as much factual information, aside from the common Ethiopian lore. Ethiopia's Northern and Central highlands are dotted with early Jewish and Christian monuments. Also, what would be nice, would be segregating Eastern/Western & Protestant Christian portions of the Christian religion. One thing you might consider - I did this two years ago, with a group as we travelled from Kosovo, through Albania, Macedonia and eventually Northern Greece - I took a map of the Balkans and identified Phillip the Great's Empire, tehn overlaid it with Prince Michael of Serbia's, Shekanderberg's Albanian Area of influence, adn the extent of the Ottoman Empire. IN so doing, it is easy to see how so many contemporary countries lay claim, based on previous conquests, to areas such as Kosovo, and possibly why these areas are in fluc, tothis day.
Even without considering all the religions of pre-columbian America, pre-islamic Africa, etc, there are two historically major organized religions that are completely missing from the maps: a) mazdeism (zoroastrianism) b) manicheism. Besides, the spread of Judaism is massively truncated: no representation of it in pre-islamic Yemen, nor in Ethiopia, nor in the territory of the Khazar empire.
I don't know how else to say this, but these are the most wonderfully illustrated timeline presentations that I have ever seen... Marvelous! Brings a refreshing view of the history of humanity. (You certainly may quote me if you like). My name is Lance Stephens of Orlando, Florida.
Although we can't assume that every single aspect of these maps and their illustrations are 100% correct, these still are the most wonderful presentations that I have seen to date. Marvelous work! HakatRe
Awesome. But never forget that religions ARE governments! The children of Abraham are all killing each other because their 'god' gave them all different 'holy' books. What a joke religion is.....
I really think they did a poor job with this. They don't take into account periods of Paganism nor do they even seem to mention Orthodox Christianity. Also Judaism disappeared from the earth until the modern state of Israel? This is scaled down for retards.
There is plenty of knowledge about Zoroastrianism. It was the official religion of Persia before the Arab conquest. And people for many years didn't just convert to Islam. It took many centuries. So this map is incorrect in that it correlates the expansion of Islam with Islamic conquests, and omits Zoroastrianism altogether.
You left out Adam, Noah, Job... Abraham was the first Jew, but man had a relationship with God all the way back to the first man. The map should start at 4000 B.C.
Very well done video and very interesting, however for christianity you did not put the expansion of assyrian nestorian church. The Nestorian church was centered in Iraq, and they spread christianity all accross the silk route, from middle east to india, to china, to mongolia, and even japan. People do are not usually educated about that fact, it would be intersting if that was added in you video
Christianity 1,500 Million Animism 1,000 Million Taoism 1,000 Million Buddhism 1,000 Million Islam 1,000 million Hinduism 1,000 Million Otherism 100 Million
Krishna is misplaced. His teachings in Bhagavad Gita, the founding doctrine of Bhakti Vaishnavism are after the Buddha. Proto-Indian (Aryan, or Vedic) Religion is contemporary with Abraham and Proto-Judaism. Other axial age (500 BCE) Religions are missing Significantly, Confucianism, Zoroastrian and Judaic Revival. The list goes on. All traditional Religions are missing especially the Austronesian Religion (the was held by Austronesian peoples from Madagascar through Indonesia, Polynesia, Australia, Melanesia, Hawaii, Oceania, The Philippines, Easter Island, Taiwan, etcetera etcetera. (Arguably the most widespread pre-modern World Religion)
Amazing how Christianity is laying claim to everything else, and how Paganism isn't counted as religion, even though the Monolith Builders put up the best artifacts (natural, astrologic, and useful). All we get are churches and graves.
How many people actually believe what they say they believe? When you think about it, belief in supernatural (outside reality) should be considered insanity, but it is supposed to be better to believe there is a tiger hiding in the empty field of grass than to not believe in one that is really there...
"And God vanished in a puff of logic."-Douglas Adams
Excellent work, if it is missing a few wars. I'd love to see a current listing. Here is a start: Palestine – Jews versus Muslims Balkans – Orthodox Servians versus Catholic Croations, ; Orthodox Serbians versus Bosnian and Albanian Muslims Northern Ireland – Protestant Christians versus Catholic Christians Kashmir – Muslims versus Hindus Sudan – Muslims versus Christians and animists Nigeria – Muslims versus Christians Etheopia and Eritrea – Muslims versus Chrsitians Sri Lanka – Sinhalese Buddhists verus Tamil Hindus Indonesia – Muslims versus Timorese Christians Iran and Iraq – Shiite versus Sunni Muslims Caucasus – Orthodox Russian Christians versus Chechen Muslims; Muslim Azerbaijanis versus Catholic And Orthodox Armenian Christians
I liked your website: well-organized, clear and visually attractive, a fine site for the simple acquisition of information. do you have a forum or discussion board planned for a later stage?-Ron Price, Tasmania
Nice map, but you forgot some interestign details, like Ethiopia, that remained Christian while Islam expanded to its north, or Khazar, north of the Black Sea, the only non-Hebrew nation to adopt Judaism as its official religion, during the Middle Ages.
Well done! I've dreamed of this for decades. They can help my sermons.
If possible, please add a pause feature to the spread of religions.
Also, see if Christianity's spread to Russia can be corrected.
I think you're correct on Armenia, but check that out too, since they had the first Christian ruler.
I'm guessing you left out pockets of this and that (Christianity, Bahai, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, etc.) where they never became the religion of the rulers.
I love these maps. But, yes, I believe this one could be more varied. It would be neat to see religions that dominated and are now much smaller, liker Zoroastrians or even those which are no longer around like Manacheans, Egyptian, Greek and Norse gods etc. It would make for a more interesting map.
One...I'd like to see a scrolling year date, say at the top of the page, so that readers are not dependant upon guessing what year from the isobars at the bottom.
Two...If it's not there already, the reader should have the capability of stopping, slowing and reversing.
Three...I agree that Zoroastrianism should be added, as it was a "universal" religion that held sway over the Persian empire, during the time of Rome. Indeed, it, and its Ahurists (Ahura Mazda), formed an empire at least as strong as Imperial Rome...having taken a Roman emperor hostage and holding him for ransom during the course of the two empires repeated clashes.
Islam didn't come about until Muhammad was older and got messages from God which started the Quran. It didn't start at the birth of Muhammad... And other things that were mentioned below too
Understand that criteria of religion selection was the current majour groups considering world population, except by Judaism. If it is the case it is explained why Zoroastrianism and Sikhism have not been included. Appreciate to see new versions...
Understand that criteria for relegions selection is the major groups considering world population - except Judaism. This way it is explained why Zoroastrianism and Sikhism have not been included. Appreciate to see new version(s)
A good prototype. Lots of good suggestions in the comments too. Like the 'religions' that existed before the monotheistic ones. Animistic/pagan beliefs. Seems like you only consider these as real religions. The point about atheism in Communist contries also is a good one. The bredth of religions should be expanded. And why can't I see Australia??? I am a bit concerened that you have the entire country christianised. I don't know ANY christians and some that call themselves so on festive holidays or their census form. In 2001 census 67.9% of Australians say they're of some christian religion. But 27.2% state "no religion" or didn't adequately answer the question . The rest are Muslims, Jews and others. Also the Maccassan Muslim Indonesians visited Australia for trade for hundreds of years before any christian arrived (without bloodshed or a desire to conquer).. and what about Jedi Knights- he he.. just to perpetuate a myth;)
great stuff but seems to only pick the major religion and not the others exixting side by side--say muslims in Europe or China; or Judaeo Christians in China, Japan, Korea
I think you were mistaken as to when you coloured Ceylon "Buddhist." In fact Ceylon became potentially and in some ways actively Buddhist almost immediately after his death - hence the so-called "tooth" in Kandy, the now ancient cutting of the original Bo-tree etc.
Interesting however i would prefer a more in depth analysis, referring to the branches of the religions christianity : protestantism, orhodox, catholics. musulmans sounites syites etc. And the birth of figures such as Lao Che (taoism), Martin Louther etc. I must point out though that this is a interesting quick approach to the subject. The changes that occure in the last 2-3 centuries need a map of their own. A very good approach of the religions can be found in the Wikipedia.
So hilarious.... Islamic expansion is called 'conquest' while Christian expansion is called 'missions abroad'. Yeah... Europe 'missioned' the hell out of those Native Americans. Come on, most of the featured religious expansion is done through force.
This map has shown me that the Christian have done a lot of work to get were they are write know and the Islam should all die and not have it sped to our Country.
Wow. Excellent job, really interesting to see the ebb and flow of the major organized religions.Obviously it has to be a simplification to make a map like this at all (the south of Thailand is predominantly Muslim while the rest of the country is overwhelmingly a form of Buddhism.) Also, while the map is a useful illustration, I think it's difficult to label areas (especially countries in Asia) as exclusively one religion or another. While Buddhism has exerted tremendous influence in Japan and China, I think very few people there would identify themselves as Buddhists. In Japan (which I am more familiar with) Buddhism coexists with and is sometimes indistinguishable from Shinto, a local animistic tradition. To call Japan a Buddhist country is only half true. Then again, is the US a Christian nation? Food for thought.
The history of religion map animation is nice but it shows blank the western hemisphere, Pacific, etc. vast areas of the globe with indigenous religious beliefs that began thousands of years ago and, in fact, survive to continue today. The map should be modified to provide comprehensive accurate info for baseline conditions across the globe. This can easily be found from anthropological sources. In other words, I look at existing presentation and think "Nice format but biased, not objective."
I could not help but notice that you included the Philippines in the spread of Buddhism. Actually, the country was predominantly animist and Islam, until the Spaniards arrived and introduced Christianity. Buddhist influence was brought in by the Chinese I think much later. The depiction of the country's religions at present, though, is fairly accurate.
And what about the spread of Judaism? Can the movement of the diaspora be traced? I doubt that the religion just disappeared and then popped up again when Israel became a nation. What about the Jewish in Europe and America?
Great! Unfortunately, when religions overlapped pretty strongly there should be some stripes or blending of color. For example, at one point India becomes almost entirely Muslim... which is obviously not true, in fact if you are going to only show one maybe it should stay Hinduism because it was probably more prevalent. (Does having a Muslim ruler make the area a green zone..?)
Bahai fath expanded through out of whole world within past 164 years presently is second to christianity,main principle of Bahai fath are 1- unity of God.2-unity of all religions.3 unity of Mankind.Bahai faith has twin prophets,The Bab was herald ,and Bahaullah,Promis of all ages.for further informations contact www.bahaifaith.org. Thank you Ira
Does not show the expansion of Christianity into sub saharan africa and areas of Africa which later became Muslim. Instead only shows spread of Christianity in lower afric a during the age of coloniasm but areas of Africa have been Christian before Europe got Christianity. Same problem with Judaism where it doesnt show Judaism in Ethiopia during the age of Solomon. It also does not show Zoroasterinism the religion of the Persian empire which lasted well into the Muslim expansion and still survives in India to this day.
Excellent maps,one interesting omission however; Zoroastrianism predates both Christianity and Islam and has also been shown to have existed prior to or at least alongside Hinduism. Evidence of this can be seen in ancient writings and even in the nameplaces of the world, many of which are in present day Iran, India and Afghanistan.
simple and effective. it's good you limited youself to the five major living religions. the few followers of zoroaster left in india won't mind... ethiopia is the only main error, it's christian and has been for 2000 years.
First,You may find buddhism spreaded over china thousands years ago, but you cannot say it is the only religion in china. There were three famous violent anti-buddhism movements in chinese history.
And Taoism is a very important and traditional religion in china, even today, this native religion has wide influence.
WITHOUT ZOROASTER THIS MAP IS MEANINGLESS AND LEADS TO THE IDEA THAT MONOTHEISTIC SCRIPTURAL RELIGION IS DETERMINISTIC RATHER THAN ONE OF THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO SOCIETIES. ALL 'BAD' RELIGIONS ARE MONOTHEISTIC BECAUSE THEY CREATE A SOCIAL ORDER THAT PROMOTES LARGE SCALE WAR.
All of these religions descend from on man, Zoroaster, who invented the "technology" of divine scriptural commands from a single mythical god.
Secondly, orthodox chistianity is Byzantine, and very different from the Germanic christianity of western europe.
The map should include Greek rationalism as a religion (because it is a religion, and by example that's what caused the formation of anti-rationalism in China and most of the rest of the world for that matter) and should also include at least PIE paganism including greece, rome, norse religions, Shinto, Confuscianism (the cult of the nobility) and Taoism (the cult of the common people). Only in this way is it obvious that the religions of SUBMISSION are descendent from one person against the tolerance of polytheism.
i see white folks are still making the maps...u forgot a little thing called Africa...there are tribal religions that are still going and older....do more research next time
How about showing the old religions that were stomped out along the way? Currently it appears that the big religions were filling a void, which is definitely not the case.
This is a major tour de force. Of course it leaves out details. Any model and Map does. It's a necessary process in doing something like this. In fact, historical accounts in any form are simplifications.
I suggest you challenge the critics to draw the maps they think should be there. There is a great deal to be learned in trying to do something like this. You learn that in order to tell a coherent story, you have to simplify. This is true of writen history too. No matter how detailed, they must focus on some things and not others.
I love these animated maps you created. Though, regarding the religion map, you should have finished on a more nuanced picture, because the final picture gives an unaccurate, if not wrong, picture of religions throughout the world. For example, judaïsm is far from being limited to Israël ; there are christian communities in Asia ; Islam is the second biggest religion in France, etc. Moreover, you don't define "religion". What about animism? what about former religions in Africa, the Americas, etc... Otherwise it's very interesting. Thank you. Tony Simonneau,Paris, France
Excellent work. I posted it to my "link-bomb" page here where I post links to mapping, simulations, and mobile tech: http://re-configure.org/contact_list.htm
Main page which I am gradually redesigning is http://mobile-democracy.net
Eastern Africa (Ethopia, esp) was Christian far earlier than Western Europe was; their churches are carved out of stone cliffs and are centuries old, NOT a product of colonialism and missionaries.
The territory of actual Romania was not occupied but only submitted to Muslim Turks through treatises generally respected. Among the conditions was that no Muslim church, commerce and no Muslim settlement was allowed in this territory. Therefore in the past millennium the territory of actual Romania was always Christian
well...not completely wrong, but there are some big gaps.judaism was exported way before the fall of jerusalem. christianity was adopted in northern and eastern africa in the first four hundred years after jesus' death (eg. axumite kingdom)....just a few.
Do more research. I mean... I realize this is a simple little timeline and all, but... when dealing with sensitive material like this, you can't really afford to be skimpy / selective with the details.
You didnt include Zoroastrianism in your history of religions. It played a very important role in monotheistic history. Also, you didnt include either Taoism or Confucianism.
The map is grossly inaccurate. It ignores the pre=Christian beliefs of the Mediterranean world, Zoroastrianism and Confucianism entirely, shows China as Buddhist around 5 centuries to early, post-dates the Christianisation of the Slavic lands by a millennium, and appears to date the Christian conquest of the Americas to around 1700. Th extensive Hindu/Buddhist history of Southeast Asia vanishes entirely. Examples of mixed religious areas like China's Buddhist/Confucian/Daoist synthesis are ignored.
Divisions within religions (Catholic v Orthodox v Protestant, Mahayana v Hinayana, Sunni v Shi'a) are ignored. Possibly disclosing the mapmaker's underlying bias, the Muslim/Christian areas of contemporary Palestine are shown as Jewish. It's an imperialist's view of religious history and not even a very well-informed imperialist.
This seems a little oversimplified. Super cool to look at, but am I to believe that the entirety of South America was just devoid of any religion, and then became 100 percent Christian? I find this to be inaccurate in many ways.
The first holy Christian war was fought in Armenia in 450AD After that point no amount of occupation by a foreign country/religion has unsettled Christianity from the Caucus region.
missed out on all the violent conquests of christianity in Europe (the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic - forcibly converting huge numbers of Odin-worshipping pagans and sacking their temples/groves + massacring holdouts, the crusade against the 'heretical' Cathar Christians in southern France, the Latin crusades against the eastern mediterranean greeks/jews/muslims).
The mention of christian ethiopia also rates mentioning the muslim population in ethiopia that started in the 7th century, and the Jewish Yeminite kingdom of circa the 5th-6th century.
And the Americas thing wasn't exactly peaceful.
Zoroastrianism might not be big nowdays, but it was a major cultural force for millenia.
Russia is a bit simplified too - forgetting the Jewish kingdom in the Caucasus, the conversion of the Rus to Orthodox Christianity, conquest by pagan Golden Horde, conversion of said Mongols to Islam, defeat of Tatar khanates by Orthodox Muscovy (which included massive muslim populations after this up until the present), then the more 'recent' spread of Orthodoxy into eastern Russia and the spread by Russian Muslims of Islam into colonised but still largely 'pagan' parts of Central Asia.
And as someone else said in the comments.... orthodox Armenia? Add to that the bitter conflict between the branches of christianity in the mediterranean such as in egypt, syria etc circa 5-7th centuries.
Oh, and the Tibetan conquests from the pre-Buddhist Bon period.
And the whole European colonialism being peaceful bit (and spreading Christianity peacefully).... come on, that's seriously old-school in its view of history.
John, you're somewhat off about Jewish influence. Judaism was already established in many places in the East Mediterranean in the centuries before the Roman conquest of Palestine. After the diaspora the religion grew increasingly influential, with some sources estimating that a third of Cyprus population could have been Jewish and one eight of Egypt's. This was partly because some strands of Judaism accepting converts. The most famous strand would be Christianity, with early growth largely matching the locations of large Jewish congregations. Early Christianity can hardly be called a dominant religion in the Roman Empire but it's spread has nevertheless been shown on this map. Therefore leaving out what is an interesting but little known flowering of Judaism in antiquity is regrettable.
That said I find it somewhat amusing that an essentially minor religion like Judaism is included among vastly more influential beliefs. If we take the inclusive approach then a large religion like Shintoism should have been included.
So you claim that Jesus never existed? In that case let me state that there is NO evidence he never existed, either. And how do you explain the coming of Christianity in the Roman Empire, obviously it was not founded by some hidden guys who "invented" Jesus, and eventually overcoming it? Answer me that. Oh, I am an unchurched person.
999 Comments:
It's completely WRONG. they have forgotten Zoroaster.
Marvelous work!
It stimulates the imagination and provides a strong geographical context on the expansion.
I realize you can't show all the newer versions ... LDS, subsects of current major branches, scientology etc.
Regards Gary
The first time i see a mistake , no , a MISTAKE here :) All Russia , both European and Asian parts were orthodox Christians from X century or so.
sorry for poor english :)
What about ancient native south american religions?
What about Sikhism?
Also, FYI, Christianity traveled through persia and down to southwest india 52 AD and then of course missionaries brought catholicism to other parts of india.
Praise "god" and pass the ammunition!!!!
I love this! It reminds me of the game civilizaiton, but I also think about this kind of thing in my head too.
You should do this for other things like maybe linguistic groups or ethnic migrations, the spread of knowledge, ideas and technology or maybe the movement of trade goods across places.
What about the major religions that was all though the Mediterranean Sea, or are you only counting dominate major religions of today?
The map movie should be called "History of Delusion".
The Bahá'í Faith is missing from this map.
why does the map start blank?
I presume that the colors show only the dominant religion in a particular area. After the diaspora, Judaism existed in Europe and elsewhere, but did not dominate any region. The map for our present time would be better depicted as a mosaic. My guess is that it would show western Europe and the US as religiously divere.
Gives you a clear picture of religeon over time and puts things into contex
You might want to do a little more research into the history of Ethiopia.
It shows major gaps in knowledge of history.
A few glaring omissions
1. Conflict between Hinduism and Buddhism.
2. Why the British conquest of India is not shown as conquest by Christianity.
-VD
Not accurate.
I agree, to be more accurate the map needs to show the religion that gave birth to the three predominate monotheistic religions. Zoroastrian needs to be incorporated into this map.
Buddhism's spread is depicted incorrectly. The "Northern Transmissions" (Zen, Tantric, etc) Buddhism traveled as shown, but Theravada Buddhism spread only slightly later to Sri Lanka, and then outward into the rest of Southeast Asia from there.
Still, an interesting map. Thanks for your work.
Can we get some atheistic love on this map? Eventually it will dominate. Although, so many dumb people are procreating at a much higher rate, it is a pipe dream.
A great idea but you might want to include secular religions that have taken grip and forced the issues of war, such as revolutionary Marxism, Zen buddhist-endorsed nationalism, etc. These are "religions" in the orthodox sense of the term even moreso than many religions, since they require strict obedience to a code of dogma that itself requires war. Also portraying conflicts in pure parity such as "Muslim vs. Christian" is somewhat disingenuous to history since one religion mandates its followers to smite others while the other pretty much frowns on it.
People...it's a history of 5000 years in 90 seconds. Give them a break. In broad-strokes, I'd say "job well done".
It SAYS right in the comments that it is based on the major religions of TODAY, not ancient, dead religions.
~Dubya
It is impossible to sum up the history of religions in 90sec! There are a lot of mistakes. Zoroastrians have been forgotten, and all the non monoteistic religions...
Nice one douche - completely forgot about Sikhism (which is recognised as a major world religion) plus I think most folk would argue that the clash between Catholics and Protestants (both allegedly Christan) has shaped a number of conflicts in world history.
Apart from historical revisionism in a supposed history - well done
/sarcasm
How about Atheism as a conquering force during the years of Communism in Russia and China?
Ethiopia was the second official Christian kingdom, after Armenia, neither of which was noted. Russia was Orthodox from about the tenth century. Islam penetrated much further into the Horn of Africa, especially if you consider demographics, even today. Also, majority rules dismisses a ton of interesting areas that would be more of a mixture between green/blue etc. and leaves out minority religions completely. Misinformation is really great, though.
I personally would have to recommend to start the map with a base paganistic religion in most parts of the world... As long as humans looked skyward, they have worshipped the gods - long before the first organized, 'major' religion
a lot of important things left out
but it was still coOl
Nice, but misinformative. You did not mention the christian CONQUEST(not MISSIONARY) of The Americas and africa.
cool looking,but even if I agree it is impossible to track all religions, It really sucks when you assume there was nothing in america until christianity. Toltec based religions were here from maybe even before krishna. And that is only one mistake, albeit the biggest one IMO
Thanks you
it was very nice
As an Ethiopian Coptic Orthodox Christian, I am disappointed your graphic doesn't show the introduction of Christianity in Ethiopia around 300 AD. Also, because the Prophet Mohammad's relatives were given shelter by the king of Ethiopia, he forbade his followers from conducting jihad on the country, leaving it an island of Christianity in a sea of Islam for millenia.
I think it is absolutely amazing how, after Christianity was established, along comes Mohammed and says, "Allah said you guys don't have it quite right, He told me you forgot to add a few things to this love your brother religion. First, Christ is Jewish and we don't care for Jews, but they have some good ideas, like NO Pork, let's put that in our religion. Then, after looking at Christianity, he says, we gotta have some kind of holy season like Hanakuha and Christmas, let us do a Ramadon. And let's get it out of the desert into a city where there is alredy religious presence. Let us make it Jerusalem, that way, in the future, there will be lots of competition, benefits, etc. And this Jewish 10 rules like don't kill, that ain't gonna work. We need to scare the hell out of these folks who are already 600 hundred years ahead of us. Let's just force these people to become members...and if they don't, we will cause some problems, like a Jhad, and we will kill 'em if they don't think like us. Aint no room for freedom and equal, they will either join us or we will slice off their heads. Thats how it looks like one religion got started. Its a shame people aren't simply left alone to worship as they please. There would have been no 9/11 if these followers of Allah had minded their own business and demonstrated love for one another.
This religion map is pretty cool, but the creator(s) of the map left out several major conflicts--hundreds in fact--where Islam has come into violent conflict with other religions and cultures, ranging from Southeast Asia to the Mughal's attempted conquest of India, and the conquest and enslavement of many parts of Africa (after all, it was Arab Muslims who "invented" the slave-trade of black Africans, and who continue to butcher/force-convert Africans today).
Looks like they need to add a few things, and quit giving Islam, the most violent religion (by far) in the history of the world, a "pass."
95 percent of armed conflicts in the world today have Muslims on either one side, or both sides.
I have to say that the Christianity in South America didn't come from north as your map shows. It come from the coast with the colonization by Portugal and Spain mainly.
Cute, but a vast and misleading oversimplification. The title is deceptive. It's a territorial history of some religions. Where are the older pagan religions? What about various diasporas? The founding of Israel was not an expansion of Judaism, but a contraction, in that it represents an in-gathering of a disapora.
Great map, nice overview. I'd love to see additional cultural assimilation comments. Someone's already mentioned Zoroastrianism - it'd be interesting to see where Judaism got the concept of a soul and afterlife from, and how pagan festivals like Eostr (sp?) and Yule become assimilated. Also how the Eastern religions developed.
I believe that you forgot the land of Axum, which was ancient Ethiopia, which was, and still is largely Christian. Plus, Judaism was also in Axum as well, the Ethopian Jews.
fantastic work
Yeah, Reza, I noticed that, too.
Helpful broadbrush, especially to take people back and forward in time and major events..as many people are historically challenged. I think there is a lot more religious blending and diversity in most areas, past and especially present. Also with secularization worldwide, all religious colors are now 'paler' (ie. less dominant) with good/bad religious hot spots.
1. Hinduism was founded long before Krishna's birth.
2. Where the hell are classical greco-roman panthe?
3. What about shintoism and confucianism?
4. Russia was Christian since X century.
5. Why Christianity is shown as single faith without confessions? Same for Islam, actually.
Wonderful map! You should add the Baha'i-Religion too.
(Andreas from Germany)
All religions are simply belief systems that may be discarded or taken for up without harm or help to the seeker of personal Truth.
The play of light that is personal reality may be altered by a play of mind. What reality do you want to create?
Very good representation. I appriciate it.
Among the MANY errors in this presentation I noticed that apparently Russia wasn't Christian until somewhere in the 19-20th century. Lets not even get into all the religions not mentioned, nor whther one should base the spread of religion on the political rulers or the belief structure of the populace.
Really Amazing :)
inaccurate visualation. Mixed religions in US, all appearing as 'Christian', also Far East was shown as all Budhist, incorrect, there are Muslims and Christians as well. Also Europe has a mixed blend of religion but all shown as Christian not to forget US also have a ton of Jews, hello?
And finally, what about those who do not believe in any religion, god or anything at all? How about a imaginary map of Hell to show those?
Zoroasterianism was the first monotheistic religion that is the root of Christianity and other monotheistic religions in the world. The person or persons who worked on the History of Religion obviously have spent more time learning about graphics art and computers than religion! I am an atheist but if I ever take up a religion, it would be zoroasterianism!
this is awesome......hatsoff to its makers-- they very well approximated the dates and areas [which are often contentious] and gave a clearer picture;
this is awesome......hatsoff to its makers-- they very well approximated the dates and areas [which are often contentious] and gave a clearer picture;
this is awesome......hatsoff to its makers-- they very well approximated the dates and areas [which are often contentious] and gave a clearer picture;
this is awesome......hatsoff to its makers-- they very well approximated the dates and areas [which are often contentious] and gave a clearer picture;
We're all doomed.
For all the people pointing out the mistakes, please remember this is History of Religions in 90 seconds, you nerds.
Good work, I've also enjoyed your other maps as well. However, I've noticed an error in the spread of Buddhism. You've only depicted the northern spread of Buddhism after the birth of the Buddha. But there were also significant growth of Buddhism inside India as well. Also it shows Sri Lanka as a Hindu country, which it never was. In fact Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka as early as the 2nd century BCE (being one of the first Theravada Buddhist countries).
Are there display / map depictions of current ethnicity and religion concentrations?
Also are there current and historical depictions of estimated currency expenditures for various sects for religious expansion?
Any future predictions short of small bang?
Size of bang is only relative to mans self image.
Another Hitchiker locked in this galaxie.
Anyone really out there named Hegemonious Farse?
The worship of Elohim is pretty important. You probably should have added that in there, since it is the beginning of Judeo-Christian, and by relation Islam. Obviously, it would be tough to give a date, but it is somewhere between 4000-5000bc.
If you can record the birth of Krishna on a real date, then surely you could attempt to place Adam and the God his descendants worshiped.
I think this method of analysing the broader aspects of religious expansion , however it would be more appropriate to have a more detailed version showing a larger array of religions. but in the same style, as it conveys the message well.
I just hosted a bunch of Russians from Kamchatcka, Siberia and Lake Baikal -- not one was Christian, nor from a Christian tradition. All said their religions were more "localized" than Christianity, one described religion of Kamchatka as "indigenous" and more "animist" than anything else. The folks from Lake Baikal and Siberia seemed to have shamans and extensive rituals involving horses and large feasts-- no priests/churches/bibles could be pinned to these people. None celebrated xmas, none were Islamic/Jewish or Orthodox. Are you sure all of Russia is xtian and not a great hodge podge of many religions? Did I happen to host 25 unusual Russians?
katie
Very nice. What happened to Lao Tzu and Taoism?
What a fabulous site. Thank you for presenting such complicated ideas in such a beautiful way. I know things have been simplified, but it was necessary in order to make the show.
How about other maps? Would love to see a set on political/ethnic control of the Balkans and Caucasus.
Interestng
Is this the "Missionary Position"?
One religion is missing! What about Zoarastrianism?
Zoroasterianism was the first monotheistic religion.
Please check the following sites about Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism:
http://www.duke.edu/~jds17/zoroast.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster
Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion of Persia. It was
founded about 3500 years ago by the prophet Zarathushtra. Arising
out of the polytheistic traditions of ancient India and Iran, he was
one of the first monotheists in human history. Zarathushtra preached
that there was one God, whom he called Ahura Mazda. Ahura
means "Lord," and Mazda means "Wise," so Zoroastrians call God
the "Wise Lord." Zarathushtra has been known in the West as
Zoroaster, from the Greek transliteration of his name; in Persia and
India he is known as Zarthosht.
No one knows exactly when Zarathushtra lived. Zoroastrian
tradition places him at around 600 B.C.E., but this date is thought
by modern scholars to be far too late. The modern estimate of
Zarathushtra's date is anywhere from 1500 to 1000 B.C.E.
Regards,
Roya
Which "CHRISTian" tradition are you referring to? There are over 2,000 substantially different(in at least one doctrine, belief, process, liturgical practice, etc) religous traditions in the USA and over 5,000 internationally which claim to be CHRISTIAN?
As your first commentator said, you have forgotten Zoraster.
The major problem is that your diagram shows each growth as if it occured in a vacumn. Obviously you can't include every religion, especially now that many are forgotten but there are several major ommissions.
Apart from the example mentioned, you could include Shintoism and perhaps together animism and paganism. That would show that Africa, far from becoming Christian/islam is actually a 3 way split. Similarly Buddism might have spread where you show but it has never been the sole religion in many areas "claimed" for it.
Arguably Confucionism is a religion. Sikhism is omitted.
Islam is shown as extending over most of India whereas in fact the map shows political control. Conversion in fact in all areas lapsed far behind the political control - Lebanon was Christian until this century as was Instanbul and the area surrounding it and Izmir. It's debatable how many Spanish converted or lived as dhimmis within Granada. The same points could be made about Christian conversion in the European colonies.
I also am disturbed by the only "clashes" occur at the meeting of Islam and Christianity. Given the claimed deaths of up to 10 million Indians during the Mogul conquest, I think you might possibly add at least one more.
The Muslim domination over the Levant, North Africa, modern Turkey, Southern Russia, Armenia and the Balkans was hardly a peaceful. I think one or two Muslims might have picnic'd near Vienna once or twice as well, holidayed in Greece, Rhodes and Malta too!
Good work, but some errors though. I think you should spend some time adding how the globe was there before 3000BC too.
Lot of historical proofs available for Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism) to be present everywhere in the world before.
The number of people following a religion doesn't matter, what matters is the how much research has been done in one religion, how much truth has been found out, how many great men have been, how many have realized the ultimate truth by following the religion. These are very important, and a TRUELY religious person will look at these numbers rather than number of people claiming to be following a religion.
I couldn't help thinking:"Could all the "Gods" in history be pissed that we forsook them for our "New True God???
I download Flash_player_osx_ub.dmg but got the message "1008:5,-5000 Access Denied Error" when I tried to install it.
1. Hinduism - the Vedic religion didn't reach India until about 2000 BC. Hinduism grew out of the Vedic religion, as a reaction to Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivikism.
2. Buddhism - spread throughout India and into Sri Lanka before christ. Your map doesn't show it in south India at all, and in Sri Lanka only after about 1000 AD - Hinduism only reached Sri Lanka about 500 AD.
Be great if someone could post the approximate dates of the various conflicts noted.
It may be over simplified, but it is interesting as a general overview.
Thank you for taking the time to create these maps, they are beautiful. Especially for taking on religion, which judging by the comments, even gets contentious when done in Flash.
I don't think so. And to other commentators, there isn't enough info on zoroastrism to seriously consider it.
kako so se razširjale vere
Great resource, but you are missing some major events in the history of Judaeo-Christianity as found in the Book of Mormon. See these pages for more info on Central American Christians as early as 2500 BC (http://internet.ocii.com/~cmeek/BoM_Geog21.htm#J_Dates), and another colony around 600 BC (http://internet.ocii.com/~cmeek/BoM_Geog21.htm#NnL_Dates).
For a free copy of the Book of Mormon, check out this site: http://www.mormon.org/freeoffers/1,17785,2071-1-1,00.html?src=tv
Thanks for your work.
-Jerry Aulenbach
Edmonton, AB, Canada.
You better start another map on the muslims.Its the way to scare the American people on whats coming.Nothing else seems to work.
Good luck
Ummm...hello? Zoroastrianism? First religion in the world? Basis for all duality in subsequent religions? Shame on your so-called historians.
The map misses the Christianization of Russia ca. 1000AD. Russia thus had Christianity for centuries before missionaries went in the 1700s or so as the map suggests.
I only know bits of Christian history, but there is a lot here that is lacking:
- in Tamil/Southern India [Syriac Church - 1st Century onwards]
- in Egypt [Coptic Church - 1st C till present]
- in Ethiopia [Orthodox Church - 1st C till present]
- in China [Nestorian Church - 3rd C till 13th C]
- in Georgia/Armenia [Orthodox Church - 1st C till present]
- in Ireland & Britain [Celtic Church - 4th C till 8th]
- in Greenland/Newfoundland [Vikings - 8th C onwards]
Plus it'd be great to have Confucianism/Shinto/other Buddhist streams and Sikhs, Druzes, and so on. Apologies for being a pedant :)
It's a GREAT map!
x David x
Good presentation but there are a lot of mistakes like the christianism came to Americas from Spanish conquest first than missionary, please! correct the mistakes!
interesting but off on its facts. We are in the Jewish year 5767. According to the website, Judaism started only 4,000 years agonot 5700 yrs ago.
What about all the other “religions”?
Your choice seems mainly linked to nowadays economic and political Powers.
Some people which have totally been “genocided” and whose religion disappeared should be represented, in my opinion, even if their religion doesn't exist anymore. May be at least could it be a way to pay tribute to them!
Why don’t you represent the rather more tolerant religions that pre-existed to the monotheism. Other religions that are nowadays economically crashed shouldn’t be let aside! It embodies a great deal of people! By the way, why do you show for example judaism (less than 20 millions of people...?) and not animism (90 millions of people...?)?
--->>>Please!!! On your web site, could you give some explanations about what, according to you, is a religion? That would enable me to understand who deserves to be represented on you map and how you made this choice?
Sorry for my poor english.
Easy to pick holes, nevertheless a very useful timeline map.
Kemet (monolatrous ancient Egypt) needs an airing. Tammuz/Mithra/Sol were all biggies in the melting pot of Paulianity. And Utah really ought to be a different colour...
Divergencies: From a Western standpoint The Reformation and Luther, also Sunni/Shiite and Northern/Southern Buddhism.
Be nice to see Eelam (the north of Sri Lanka), as a majority Hindu region.
I suggest each country at the end have a pie chart coloration showing proportions. For instance, in Sri Lanka, that would show the significant Catholic proportion (from the Portugese).
I noticed that the Indian subcontinent remained 'Hindu' while Buddhism expanded into China. This isn't exactly accurate since Buddhism flourished in India from the 6th centure BCE to 8th century CE.
I noticed that the Indian subcontinent remained 'Hindu' while Buddhism expanded into China. This isn't exactly accurate since Buddhism flourished in India from the 6th centure BCE to 8th century CE.
What fools these mortals be! Russia had its Orthodoxal religion in 10th century from bisantians, not from the Europe.
I thought it is an effective quick review of the battles amount the major religions of the world.
Good work regardless of what some other people had commented.
Hinduism was not the first religion...it was Judaism. Someone has their facts wrong. I'm not Jewish...but everyone knows Judaism came first
This is not complete. Zoroastrianism, a religion practiced in ancient Persia, is the FIRST religion on record. Read "God is dead" by Friedrich Nietzsche for some insight!
I think, in a 100 years, the map would have had to include a separate category for the modern type of secularism which has already been spreading for over 100 years now, both within the christian parts of the world and within the muslim parts.
creative presentation and helps remind us the origin of major religions and how it has interconnected humanity. See the mystery behind religions establishing at different times all for the love of God for man and to bright light and faith into our lives. One humble suggestion would be to also include the Baha'i Faith as it is one of the major religions of today.
Thanks for the Map of the diseases of religion and irrational thinking
terrible. why are crusades labelled as "christianity v. islam" and the conquest by islam of the Balkans, for example, not defined "islam v. christianity"? where are the different types of christianity, buddhism, sialm? where is shintoism? where are animistic and other pagan cults? why is israel's establishment considered an expansion of judaism? there were more jews all over the middle east (in proportion to population) before the XIX century than now...
terrible, though the idea is nice....
This was absolutely marvelous!
As soon as I understand how to add a link to my blog, I'll add your both shared sites.
Regz,
T.
kool stuff. ps- the Armenian Kingdom (301 AD) was the first chiristian state, before the Roman Empire.
As a first approximation it looks OK. But the current pattern is much more complicated.
The history and pattern of Christianity (orthodox) is wrong.
The detailed map of religions in Russia (current) you can see at:
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/map/
(but only Russian captions are shown there).
Zoroastrianism is ommitted. It was born in Iran, today the largest Zoroastrian community is in India.
Hinduism was heavily present in SE Asia going as far as Bali.
Additionally, the geographic expansion of Buddhism is erroneous (in stark contrast to the well-detailed expansion of Christianity): Buddhism was present in India and Afghanistan (remember the Bamiyan Buddhas?) alongside Hinduism for centuries, before expanding to China & Korea through the silk road and into SE Asia by ship. It expanded into Tibet and Mongolia about the same time as it died-out in India.
You have forgotten the expansion of Christianity to Latin America during 16th century by Spaniards and Portuguese. Seeing the map, it looks that the christianization of Latin America happened during 19th century!
Despite the harshness of some of the comments, this map does have utility for showing the place of origin and expansion of SOME of the world's major religions and where they are dominant (though not exclusive). Many errors have been noted (Zoroastrianism; Christianity in Russia and Ethiopia; Sikhism etc.). A few other points:
1. Buddha was not born; Siddhartha was.
2. Confucianism is not included (nor Daoism). Why not? Excluding them indicates an overly Western perspective. Ditto for Shinto.
3. A big drawback to the map is that it plays down the connections between certain religious traditions. For example, you would never know from this map that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have a shared geneology in Abraham; or that Buddhism and Jainism grew out of Vedic and Upanishadic Hinduism. I don't know how you would illustrate such points on a 90 sec. flash program, but I think they are worth noting somehow.
4. An unmentioned error thus far. I think you have the Christianization of Scandinavia a bit too early. Norway was Christianized shortly after St. Olaf in the 11th century.
5. Muhammad's birth is not as important as his revelations -- in his 30s.
6. The history of Christianity and its various sects and splits needs its own map.
simply put....wrong and too general
A wonderful piece. I travel alot, as an architect and amateur historican. One area you need to attend to is
Ethiopia - Originally an early Empire whose principal religion was Jewish, then became Christian. Via Ehtiopian lore - The Queen of Sheba travelled fromher ancient capitol at Axsum, to Jerusalem. There she `hooked' up with Solomon, departed. Back in Ethiopia, she gave birth to a son. Eventually the son returned to Jerusalem, met his father. Solomon gave him a choice of anything he wanted, as a remembrance of his father. The son took the Arc of teh Covenant, which is now in Axsum. Excuse my mispellings, and want of a name for Sheba & Salomon's son. Am writing this without reference, based on a trip three years ago, to spend ORthodox Christmas in Lalibela. PRefer to provide you with as much factual information, aside from the common Ethiopian lore. Ethiopia's Northern and Central highlands are dotted with early Jewish and Christian monuments.
Also, what would be nice, would be segregating Eastern/Western & Protestant Christian portions of the Christian religion.
One thing you might consider - I did this two years ago, with a group as we travelled from Kosovo, through Albania, Macedonia and eventually Northern Greece - I took a map of the Balkans and identified Phillip the Great's Empire, tehn overlaid it with Prince Michael of Serbia's, Shekanderberg's Albanian Area of influence, adn the extent of the Ottoman Empire. IN so doing, it is easy to see how so many contemporary countries lay claim, based on previous conquests, to areas such as Kosovo, and possibly why these areas are in fluc, tothis day.
Thanks for your time...
ken
Even without considering all the religions of pre-columbian America, pre-islamic Africa, etc, there are two historically major organized religions that are completely missing from the maps:
a) mazdeism (zoroastrianism)
b) manicheism.
Besides, the spread of Judaism is massively truncated: no representation of it in pre-islamic Yemen, nor in Ethiopia, nor in the territory of the Khazar empire.
I don't know how else to say this, but these are the most wonderfully illustrated timeline presentations that I have ever seen... Marvelous! Brings a refreshing view of the history of humanity. (You certainly may quote me if you like). My name is Lance Stephens of Orlando, Florida.
Although we can't assume that every single aspect of these maps and their illustrations are 100% correct, these still are the most wonderful presentations that I have seen to date. Marvelous work! HakatRe
Great effort. Pls try to put Sam Huntington's work, Clash of Civilizations, on one of your maps.
Awesome. But never forget that religions ARE governments! The children of Abraham are all killing each other because their 'god' gave them all different 'holy' books. What a joke religion is.....
I really think they did a poor job with this. They don't take into account periods of Paganism nor do they even seem to mention Orthodox Christianity. Also Judaism disappeared from the earth until the modern state of Israel? This is scaled down for retards.
Pretty good. Missed the purple spots in NY and LA though. And the two outposts of Islam in Lower Manhattan.
Brilliant in its simplicity. Simple in its brilliance. Its almost religion.
There is plenty of knowledge about Zoroastrianism. It was the official religion of Persia before the Arab conquest. And people for many years didn't just convert to Islam. It took many centuries. So this map is incorrect in that it correlates the expansion of Islam with Islamic conquests, and omits Zoroastrianism altogether.
You left out Adam, Noah, Job...
Abraham was the first Jew, but man had a relationship with God all the way back to the first man. The map should start at 4000 B.C.
Very well done video and very interesting, however for christianity you did not put the expansion of assyrian nestorian church. The Nestorian church was centered in Iraq, and they spread christianity all accross the silk route, from middle east to india, to china, to mongolia, and even japan. People do are not usually educated about that fact, it would be intersting if that was added in you video
Our new estimates are as follows:
Christianity 1,500 Million
Animism 1,000 Million
Taoism 1,000 Million
Buddhism 1,000 Million
Islam 1,000 million
Hinduism 1,000 Million
Otherism 100 Million
Very nice diagrams and maps.
Krishna is misplaced. His teachings in Bhagavad Gita, the founding doctrine of Bhakti Vaishnavism are after the Buddha. Proto-Indian (Aryan, or Vedic) Religion is contemporary with Abraham and Proto-Judaism. Other axial age (500 BCE) Religions are missing Significantly, Confucianism, Zoroastrian and Judaic Revival. The list goes on. All traditional Religions are missing especially the Austronesian Religion (the was held by Austronesian peoples from Madagascar through Indonesia, Polynesia, Australia, Melanesia, Hawaii, Oceania, The Philippines, Easter Island, Taiwan, etcetera etcetera. (Arguably the most widespread pre-modern World Religion)
Amazing how Christianity is laying claim to everything else, and how Paganism isn't counted as religion, even though the Monolith Builders put up the best artifacts (natural, astrologic, and useful). All we get are churches and graves.
How many people actually believe what they say they believe? When you think about it, belief in supernatural (outside reality) should be considered insanity, but it is supposed to be better to believe there is a tiger hiding in the empty field of grass than to not believe in one that is really there...
"And God vanished in a puff of logic."-Douglas Adams
Excellent work, if it is missing a few wars. I'd love to see a current listing. Here is a start:
Palestine – Jews versus Muslims
Balkans – Orthodox Servians versus Catholic Croations, ; Orthodox Serbians versus Bosnian and Albanian Muslims
Northern Ireland – Protestant Christians versus Catholic Christians
Kashmir – Muslims versus Hindus
Sudan – Muslims versus Christians and animists
Nigeria – Muslims versus Christians
Etheopia and Eritrea – Muslims versus Chrsitians
Sri Lanka – Sinhalese Buddhists verus Tamil Hindus
Indonesia – Muslims versus Timorese Christians
Iran and Iraq – Shiite versus Sunni Muslims
Caucasus – Orthodox Russian Christians versus Chechen Muslims; Muslim Azerbaijanis versus Catholic And Orthodox Armenian Christians
I liked your website: well-organized, clear and visually attractive, a fine site for the simple acquisition of information. do you have a forum or discussion board planned for a later stage?-Ron Price, Tasmania
Entertaining! But inaccurate. China, for example, is largely atheist.
Very enlightening!
Even if it is not complete, i liked it!
Nice map, but you forgot some interestign details, like Ethiopia, that remained Christian while Islam expanded to its north, or Khazar, north of the Black Sea, the only non-Hebrew nation to adopt Judaism as its official religion, during the Middle Ages.
Well done! I've dreamed of this for decades. They can help my sermons.
If possible, please add a pause feature to the spread of religions.
Also, see if Christianity's spread to Russia can be corrected.
I think you're correct on Armenia, but check that out too, since they had the first Christian ruler.
I'm guessing you left out pockets of this and that (Christianity, Bahai, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, etc.) where they never became the religion of the rulers.
I love these maps. But, yes, I believe this one could be more varied. It would be neat to see religions that dominated and are now much smaller, liker Zoroastrians or even those which are no longer around like Manacheans, Egyptian, Greek and Norse gods etc. It would make for a more interesting map.
One...I'd like to see a scrolling year date, say at the top of the page, so that readers are not dependant upon guessing what year from the isobars at the bottom.
Two...If it's not there already, the reader should have the capability of stopping, slowing and reversing.
Three...I agree that Zoroastrianism should be added, as it was a "universal" religion that held sway over the Persian empire, during the time of Rome. Indeed, it, and its Ahurists (Ahura Mazda), formed an empire at least as strong as Imperial Rome...having taken a Roman emperor hostage and holding him for ransom during the course of the two empires repeated clashes.
I don't see this as being very accurate...
First off, they have forgotten a major religion that arose toward the end of the last century. Atheism!
Which if you include it you'd essentially see Russia go from christian to atheist. Much of Europe and North America as well.
Furthermore, there are large population groups in Europe that are Muslim. Not depicted. (ie: the Yugoslavian war).
So I find it somewhat inaccurate...
- Saj
Greek never believed in Islam!!!!
Islam didn't come about until Muhammad was older and got messages from God which started the Quran. It didn't start at the birth of Muhammad... And other things that were mentioned below too
Good job, very intersting!
Understand that criteria of religion selection was the current majour groups considering world population, except by Judaism. If it is the case it is explained why Zoroastrianism and Sikhism have not been included.
Appreciate to see new versions...
Very good job!
Understand that criteria for relegions selection is the major groups considering world population - except Judaism. This way it is explained why Zoroastrianism and Sikhism have not been included.
Appreciate to see new version(s)
Helped me attain a fresher (not to mention more skeptical) perspective on organized religion. Thanks.
A good prototype.
Lots of good suggestions in the comments too. Like the 'religions' that existed before the monotheistic ones. Animistic/pagan beliefs. Seems like you only consider these as real religions.
The point about atheism in Communist contries also is a good one.
The bredth of religions should be expanded.
And why can't I see Australia??? I am a bit concerened that you have the entire country christianised. I don't know ANY christians and some that call themselves so on festive holidays or their census form. In 2001 census 67.9% of Australians say they're of some christian religion. But 27.2% state "no religion" or didn't adequately answer the question . The rest are Muslims, Jews and others.
Also the Maccassan Muslim Indonesians visited Australia for trade for hundreds of years before any christian arrived (without bloodshed or a desire to conquer).. and what about Jedi Knights- he he.. just to perpetuate a myth;)
great stuff
but seems to only pick the major religion and not the others exixting side by side--say muslims in Europe or China; or Judaeo Christians in China, Japan, Korea
I think you were mistaken as to when you coloured Ceylon "Buddhist." In fact Ceylon became potentially and in some ways actively Buddhist almost immediately after his death - hence the so-called "tooth" in Kandy, the now ancient cutting of the original Bo-tree etc.
GREAT!
amazing animation!
Interesting however i would prefer a more in depth analysis, referring to the branches of the religions christianity : protestantism, orhodox, catholics. musulmans sounites syites etc. And the birth of figures such as Lao Che (taoism), Martin Louther etc. I must point out though that this is a interesting quick approach to the subject. The changes that occure in the last 2-3 centuries need a map of their own. A very good approach of the religions can be found in the Wikipedia.
So hilarious....
Islamic expansion is called 'conquest' while Christian expansion is called 'missions abroad'. Yeah... Europe 'missioned' the hell out of those Native Americans.
Come on, most of the featured religious expansion is done through force.
Considering Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic religion in the world, you would think it would be on there.
This is so helpful!!
Perfect for AP test!
This map has shown me that the Christian have done a lot of work to get were they are write know and the Islam should all die and not have it sped to our Country.
i guess these maps fell in big faults of statistics..
I guess it is wrong in case of religions expansion in the world.
what about Greek polytheism? It is still alive in some areas of Greece.
Steve
Just about the most interesting piece of info I've come across on the Internet. Nice work.
wonderful thank you for your work
Wow. Excellent job, really interesting to see the ebb and flow of the major organized religions.Obviously it has to be a simplification to make a map like this at all (the south of Thailand is predominantly Muslim while the rest of the country is overwhelmingly a form of Buddhism.)
Also, while the map is a useful illustration, I think it's difficult to label areas (especially countries in Asia) as exclusively one religion or another. While Buddhism has exerted tremendous influence in Japan and China, I think very few people there would identify themselves as Buddhists. In Japan (which I am more familiar with) Buddhism coexists with and is sometimes indistinguishable from Shinto, a local animistic tradition. To call Japan a Buddhist country is only half true. Then again, is the US a Christian nation? Food for thought.
What about the Spanish inquisition?
The history of religion map animation is nice but it shows blank the western hemisphere, Pacific, etc. vast areas of the globe with indigenous religious beliefs that began thousands of years ago and, in fact, survive to continue today. The map should be modified to provide comprehensive accurate info for baseline conditions across the globe. This can easily be found from anthropological sources. In other words, I look at existing presentation and think "Nice format but biased, not objective."
I could not help but notice that you included the Philippines in the spread of Buddhism. Actually, the country was predominantly animist and Islam, until the Spaniards arrived and introduced Christianity. Buddhist influence was brought in by the Chinese I think much later. The depiction of the country's religions at present, though, is fairly accurate.
And what about the spread of Judaism? Can the movement of the diaspora be traced? I doubt that the religion just disappeared and then popped up again when Israel became a nation. What about the Jewish in Europe and America?
It's interesting that there doesn't seem to be very much in the way of areas switching religions.
Other than the relatively small growth of Judaism and Hinduism towards the end.
Great! Unfortunately, when religions overlapped pretty strongly there should be some stripes or blending of color. For example, at one point India becomes almost entirely Muslim... which is obviously not true, in fact if you are going to only show one maybe it should stay Hinduism because it was probably more prevalent. (Does having a Muslim ruler make the area a green zone..?)
interesting how you report
"birth of krishna"
"birth of buddha"
"birth of mohamed"
then
"death of JESUS"
actually...
krishna-dead
buddha-dead
mohamed-dead
JESUS is alive.
1844 Birth of Bahai Faith in IRAN.
Bahai fath expanded through out of whole world within past 164 years presently is second to christianity,main principle of Bahai fath are 1- unity of God.2-unity of all religions.3 unity of Mankind.Bahai faith has twin prophets,The Bab was herald ,and Bahaullah,Promis of all ages.for further informations contact www.bahaifaith.org. Thank you
Ira
Does not show the expansion of Christianity into sub saharan africa and areas of Africa which later became Muslim. Instead only shows spread of Christianity in lower afric a during the age of coloniasm but areas of Africa have been Christian before Europe got Christianity. Same problem with Judaism where it doesnt show Judaism in Ethiopia during the age of Solomon. It also does not show Zoroasterinism the religion of the Persian empire which lasted well into the Muslim expansion and still survives in India to this day.
As earlier mentioned:
We miss Zoroaster,
the Babi Faith and Bahái Faith.
Link to the two previous
http://www.bahai.org/
We are all branches of the same tree
and flowers of the same garden.
"Baha'u'llah"
Excellent maps,one interesting omission however; Zoroastrianism predates both Christianity and Islam and has also been shown to have existed prior to or at least alongside Hinduism. Evidence of this can be seen in ancient writings and even in the nameplaces of the world, many of which are in present day Iran, India and Afghanistan.
Awesome work! I'm adding you to my Best of Web site (www.davesbestofweb.com). This is really amazing stuff!
simple and effective. it's good you limited youself to the five major living religions. the few followers of zoroaster left in india won't mind... ethiopia is the only main error, it's christian and has been for 2000 years.
best regards.
Good job, if without several mistakes.
First,You may find buddhism spreaded over china thousands years ago, but you cannot say it is the only religion in china. There were three famous violent anti-buddhism movements in chinese history.
And Taoism is a very important and traditional religion in china, even today, this native religion has wide influence.
To be honest, china is an atheistic country.
WITHOUT ZOROASTER THIS MAP IS MEANINGLESS AND LEADS TO THE IDEA THAT MONOTHEISTIC SCRIPTURAL RELIGION IS DETERMINISTIC RATHER THAN ONE OF THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO SOCIETIES. ALL 'BAD' RELIGIONS ARE MONOTHEISTIC BECAUSE THEY CREATE A SOCIAL ORDER THAT PROMOTES LARGE SCALE WAR.
All of these religions descend from on man, Zoroaster, who invented the "technology" of divine scriptural commands from a single mythical god.
Secondly, orthodox chistianity is Byzantine, and very different from the Germanic christianity of western europe.
The map should include Greek rationalism as a religion (because it is a religion, and by example that's what caused the formation of anti-rationalism in China and most of the rest of the world for that matter) and should also include at least PIE paganism including greece, rome, norse religions, Shinto, Confuscianism (the cult of the nobility) and Taoism (the cult of the common people). Only in this way is it obvious that the religions of SUBMISSION are descendent from one person against the tolerance of polytheism.
esta pagina esta jara
i see white folks are still making the maps...u forgot a little thing called Africa...there are tribal religions that are still going and older....do more research next time
I am in agreement with reza, they completely left out Zoroastrianism, which predated the Jewish faith,
Why wasn't the Birth of Jesus acknowledged in this video?
why judaism is considered one of the biggest, religions? its just a few million followers. :)
it was a great clip for someone like me who is totally unaware of when religion spread and from where
How about showing the old religions that were stomped out along the way? Currently it appears that the big religions were filling a void, which is definitely not the case.
Gross mistakes with Russia. Russia was baptized in 988.
Simplistic.
This would be great with narration. Thanks!
This is a major tour de force. Of course it leaves out details. Any model and Map does. It's a necessary process in doing something like this. In fact, historical accounts in any form are simplifications.
I suggest you challenge the critics to draw the maps they think should be there. There is a great deal to be learned in trying to do something like this. You learn that in order to tell a coherent story, you have to simplify. This is true of writen history too. No matter how detailed, they must focus on some things and not others.
In fact its true that many things are missing but its well done after all for the 5 religions ;) ( ethiopia is christian btw)
Great Schism? Byzantine Empire? Constantinople? Russia adopting orthodox christianity circa X cnt AD. Zoroastrians in Persia?
I love these animated maps you created.
Though, regarding the religion map, you should have finished on a more nuanced picture, because the final picture gives an unaccurate, if not wrong, picture of religions throughout the world. For example, judaïsm is far from being limited to Israël ; there are christian communities in Asia ; Islam is the second biggest religion in France, etc.
Moreover, you don't define "religion". What about animism? what about former religions in Africa, the Americas, etc...
Otherwise it's very interesting.
Thank you.
Tony Simonneau,Paris, France
Thank you!! Thank you THANKS !!!
Why did you leave out all the other religions?
Hi,
Seriously wanted to know what happened to the Zoroastrian age?
The first monotheistic religion of the world!
Oomrigar
Mumbai
Seriously what happened to the Zoroastrian age? The first monotheistic religion in the world!
OOMRIGAR
MUMBAI
Is it possible to give Buddhism a bit more attention. At a certain period is dominated India. Hinduism returned and 'won', but there was a struggle.
As I posted at the Imperialism section:
Excellent work. I posted it to my "link-bomb" page here where I post links to mapping, simulations, and mobile tech:
http://re-configure.org/contact_list.htm
Main page which I am gradually redesigning is http://mobile-democracy.net
JZ
Eastern Africa (Ethopia, esp) was Christian far earlier than Western Europe was; their churches are carved out of stone cliffs and are centuries old, NOT a product of colonialism and missionaries.
How is it that Islam was the biggest religion for so long but Christianity is the biggest religion today?
The territory of actual Romania was not occupied but only submitted to Muslim Turks through treatises generally respected. Among the conditions was that no Muslim church, commerce and no Muslim settlement was allowed in this territory. Therefore in the past millennium the territory of actual Romania was always Christian
well...not completely wrong, but there are some big gaps.judaism was exported way before the fall of jerusalem. christianity was adopted in northern and eastern africa in the first four hundred years after jesus' death (eg. axumite kingdom)....just a few.
WAY off.
Do more research. I mean... I realize this is a simple little timeline and all, but... when dealing with sensitive material like this, you can't really afford to be skimpy / selective with the details.
You didnt include Zoroastrianism in your history of religions. It played a very important role in monotheistic history. Also, you didnt include either Taoism or Confucianism.
Nice map... people should not look at the map in detail but just at the idea.. maybe they make a version 2.0 :)
The map is grossly inaccurate. It ignores the pre=Christian beliefs of the Mediterranean world, Zoroastrianism and Confucianism entirely, shows China as Buddhist around 5 centuries to early, post-dates the Christianisation of the Slavic lands by a millennium, and appears to date the Christian conquest of the Americas to around 1700. Th extensive Hindu/Buddhist history of Southeast Asia vanishes entirely. Examples of mixed religious areas like China's Buddhist/Confucian/Daoist synthesis are ignored.
Divisions within religions (Catholic v Orthodox v Protestant, Mahayana v Hinayana, Sunni v Shi'a) are ignored. Possibly disclosing the mapmaker's underlying bias, the Muslim/Christian areas of contemporary Palestine are shown as Jewish. It's an imperialist's view of religious history and not even a very well-informed imperialist.
This seems a little oversimplified. Super cool to look at, but am I to believe that the entirety of South America was just devoid of any religion, and then became 100 percent Christian? I find this to be inaccurate in many ways.
The first holy Christian war was fought in Armenia in 450AD After that point no amount of occupation by a foreign country/religion has unsettled Christianity from the Caucus region.
Thanks!
Great Job, I enjoyed a lot!
interesting, but simplistic.
missed out on all the violent conquests of christianity in Europe (the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic - forcibly converting huge numbers of Odin-worshipping pagans and sacking their temples/groves + massacring holdouts, the crusade against the 'heretical' Cathar Christians in southern France, the Latin crusades against the eastern mediterranean greeks/jews/muslims).
The mention of christian ethiopia also rates mentioning the muslim population in ethiopia that started in the 7th century, and the Jewish Yeminite kingdom of circa the 5th-6th century.
And the Americas thing wasn't exactly peaceful.
Zoroastrianism might not be big nowdays, but it was a major cultural force for millenia.
Russia is a bit simplified too - forgetting the Jewish kingdom in the Caucasus, the conversion of the Rus to Orthodox Christianity, conquest by pagan Golden Horde, conversion of said Mongols to Islam, defeat of Tatar khanates by Orthodox Muscovy (which included massive muslim populations after this up until the present), then the more 'recent' spread of Orthodoxy into eastern Russia and the spread by Russian Muslims of Islam into colonised but still largely 'pagan' parts of Central Asia.
And as someone else said in the comments.... orthodox Armenia? Add to that the bitter conflict between the branches of christianity in the mediterranean such as in egypt, syria etc circa 5-7th centuries.
Oh, and the Tibetan conquests from the pre-Buddhist Bon period.
And the whole European colonialism being peaceful bit (and spreading Christianity peacefully).... come on, that's seriously old-school in its view of history.
cheers,
Ibrahim Underwood
Christianity is a major, if not the predominant religion in South Korea today.
Things were better when the world was grey. :)
John, you're somewhat off about Jewish influence. Judaism was already established in many places in the East Mediterranean in the centuries before the Roman conquest of Palestine. After the diaspora the religion grew increasingly influential, with some sources estimating that a third of Cyprus population could have been Jewish and one eight of Egypt's. This was partly because some strands of Judaism accepting converts. The most famous strand would be Christianity, with early growth largely matching the locations of large Jewish congregations. Early Christianity can hardly be called a dominant religion in the Roman Empire but it's spread has nevertheless been shown on this map. Therefore leaving out what is an interesting but little known flowering of Judaism in antiquity is regrettable.
That said I find it somewhat amusing that an essentially minor religion like Judaism is included among vastly more influential beliefs. If we take the inclusive approach then a large religion like Shintoism should have been included.
So you claim that Jesus never existed? In that case let me state that there is NO evidence he never existed, either. And how do you explain the coming of Christianity in the Roman Empire, obviously it was not founded by some hidden guys who "invented" Jesus, and eventually overcoming it? Answer me that. Oh, I am an unchurched person.
i liked it. it was a good attempt to show the religions on a world map.
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