Blog
Stories, updates, and insights from the Moving Polygons team. Explore how maps bring change to life.
How the Asian Hornet Spread Across Europe, 2004–2026: An Animated Map
An animated map of the spread of the yellow-legged or Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) across Europe: every area is coloured by the year the hornet was first recorded there, from a single introduction in south-west France around 2004 to most of western Europe by 2026, built from GBIF records, the UK government's confirmed sightings and published first records.
Read more →The Dance of the Dragons on One Map: Every Dragon, Army and Battle of the Targaryen Civil War
An animated tapestry map of the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war of Fire & Blood: the Greens of Aegon II against the Blacks of Rhaenyra, with every dragon flying its missions, every army on the march and the realm changing colour from Viserys's death in 129 AC to Aegon III's coronation in 131 AC.
Read more →Middle-earth from The Hobbit to the Grey Havens: Every Journey and Battle on One Map
An animated ink map of Middle-earth that follows every company, rider and army of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, from Thorin's company leaving Bag End in TA 2941 to the Ring-bearers sailing West from the Grey Havens in 3021, after the dates of Tolkien's own Tale of Years.
Read more →The Mongol Empire, 1206–1368: From the Onon to Four Khanates on One Animated Map
An animated map of the Mongol Empire from Temüjin's rivals on the steppe around 1200 to the fall of the Yuan in 1368: every major conquest, the campaigns behind them, the tributary states around them and the four khanates the empire broke into.
Read more →How the Netherlands Rose from the Sea: 2,500 Years of Floods and Land Reclamation on One Map
An animated map of how the Netherlands lost land to the sea and won it back, from the peat bogs of 500 BC through the medieval storm floods that made the Zuiderzee, the windmill drainages of the Golden Age and the Zuiderzee Works to the Delta Works and Maasvlakte 2.
Read more →The Scramble for Africa, 1870–1914: Claims, Conquest and the African States on One Map
An animated map of the partition of Africa from 1870 to 1914 that separates paper claims from real control, and shows the African states (Sokoto, Ethiopia, Asante, the Mahdist Sudan, Samori's empire and many more) until the moment they were conquered.
Read more →The Sengoku Period, 1560–1615: How Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and Ieyasu Unified Japan, on One Map
An animated map of the last fifty-five years of Japan's Warring States period: how Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu turned a patchwork of rival daimyō into one realm, with the armies of the great campaigns moving across an embroidered map of the old provinces.
Read more →Tapestry: History Maps Embroidered on Linen, After House of the Dragon
Tapestry is a new map style that turns an animated history map into embroidery on a linen cloth, inspired by the opening titles of House of the Dragon. Territories are raised thread, every change of hands is unpicked and stitched anew, and armies slide over the cloth as appliqué pieces.
Read more →The Wars of the Roses, 1455–1487: Every March, Landing and Battle on One Map
An animated map of the Wars of the Roses told through the moving armies: every march, landing, flight and battle between York, Lancaster and Tudor from 1455 to 1487, day by day where the chronicles allow it, on an embroidered linen map.
Read more →Brabant Through Time: From Caesar's Belgae to Five Provinces in Two Countries (57 BC – 2026)
An animated map that follows Brabant from the tribes Caesar met in 57 BC through the medieval duchy, Burgundian, Habsburg and Spanish rule, the split of 1648 and the French period, to today's five provinces in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Read more →Friesland Through the Ages: Two Thousand Years on the Frisian Coast
From Drusus's fleet in 12 BC to the municipal mergers of 2019, this animated map follows Friesland and the Frisian coast through Roman alliance, a Frisian kingdom, Viking rule, the lordless 'Frisian Freedom', the Guelders wars and the modern province, with the sea and lakes of each era drawn in.
Read more →Gelre and Gelderland: How a County Named After Geldern Became a Dutch Province (AD 100 – 2026)
An animated map that follows Gelderland from the Roman Rhine frontier through the County and Duchy of Guelders, the wars of Charles of Egmond and Maarten van Rossum, the Revolt and the partition of Upper Guelders, to the province of today, while the town it is named after ended up in Germany.
Read more →Sea Ice at Its Extremes: Arctic and Antarctic Ice in Every Year of the Satellite Record (1979–2026)
An animated map of both polar ice caps at their yearly extremes from 1979 to 2026: the Arctic's summer ice shrinking from about 7 to 4.5 million km², and Antarctic sea ice holding steady for decades before dropping to record lows in 2023.
Read more →The 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo, Mapped by Health Zone
An animated map of the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: each health zone is coloured by the month of its first confirmed case, from three zones in Ituri in May to 65 zones in seven provinces by mid-October, with exported cases in Uganda and Kenya.
Read more →The Making of the United States, 1492–2025: Native Nations and Colonial Powers
Five centuries of North America in one animation: from a continent held by Native nations, through the Spanish, French, Dutch, Swedish, English and Russian footholds, to the United States, Canada and Mexico of today, with Native land drawn from the treaty cessions mapped by Charles Royce.
Read more →The Holy Roman Empire and Its Lands: A Thousand Years of German Borders (962–1990)
An animated map of the Holy Roman Empire's territories and every land that ever formally belonged to it, from the coronation of Otto I in 962 to the end of the Empire in 1806 and on through German unification, two world wars and reunification in 1990.
Read more →South America from the Wars of Independence to Today, 1808–2026
In 1808 South America belonged to two crowns. This animated map follows the wars of independence and two centuries of republics, wars, treaties and frontier conquests that produced the twelve states of today.
Read more →Spanish and Portuguese America, 1492–1826: From Conquest to Independence
From Columbus's landfall in 1492 to the surrender of the last Spanish garrisons at Callao and Chiloé in 1826, this animated map shows how Spain and Portugal conquered Middle and South America and how their empires broke up into new states.
Read more →The British Empire, 1600–1997: Four Centuries of Rule Overseas on One Map
An animated world map of the British Empire from the first colony on the James River to the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, coloured by the kind of rule: company, colony, dominion, protectorate, mandate or occupation, and finally independence within the Commonwealth.
Read more →England on the Continent: How English Kings Won and Lost Half of France (1066–1558)
An animated map of the French lands of England's kings, from the Norman conquest of 1066 through the Angevin empire and the Hundred Years' War to the loss of Calais in 1558, with Wales and Ireland alongside.
Read more →The Making of England: From Rival Kingdoms to the Norman Conquest (600–1071)
An animated map of England's unification: the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the 7th century, the Great Heathen Army and the Danelaw, the reconquest by Alfred's family, the Danish kings Sweyn and Cnut, and the Norman conquest up to the fall of Ely in 1071.
Read more →COVID-19 From Wuhan to the World: The Pandemic and Its Variants on One Map (2019–2023)
An animated world map of the COVID-19 pandemic in two parts: how confirmed cases spread from a pneumonia cluster in Wuhan to every country in 2020, and how Alpha, Delta and the Omicron lineages took turns as the dominant variant until the WHO ended the emergency in May 2023.
Read more →Russia's War on Ukraine, 2014–2026: Who Holds What on the Map
An animated map of territorial control in Russia's war on Ukraine, from the annexation of Crimea in 2014 through the full-scale invasion of 2022 to the front line in October 2026, with strikes shown as small dots.
Read more →Europe 1815–1914: How Nationalism Redrew the Map Between Vienna and Sarajevo
A century of nationalism in one animated map: from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to Sarajevo in 1914, Italy and Germany unite, new nation states replace Ottoman rule in the Balkans, and the Austrian Empire becomes Austria-Hungary.
Read more →World War II in Europe, 1939–1945: Who Held What, Month by Month
From the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 to the Potsdam Agreement in August 1945, this animated map shows who controlled which territory in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in 58 snapshots.
Read more →The Great War, 1914–1919: Every Front and the Fall of Four Empires
From the shots in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 to the end of 1919, this animated map shows who held which land in Europe and the Middle East, front by front, in 34 keyframes.
Read more →Particle View: A New Way to Watch History Unfold
Moving Polygons now offers a Particle View mode that replaces solid polygon fills with animated swarms of colored dots. Watch borders dissolve, empires expand, and territories shift — one particle at a time.
Read more →The Ottoman Empire: Six Centuries of Conquest, Rule, and Decline
From a small beylik in northwest Anatolia to a three-continent empire — and back to a single point in Istanbul. This animated map traces the full 624-year arc of the Ottoman Empire.
Read more →Rome: From Republic to the Fall of Constantinople (509 BC – 1453 AD)
Nearly two millennia of Roman civilization in one animated map — from the birth of the Republic in 509 BC, through the Empire's peak under Trajan, the East-West split, and the final fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD.
Read more →The Community Library: Country Polygons and Reusable Maps
Moving Polygons now has a Community Library with ready-to-use country polygons and published maps. Copy any timeline into your own map and start building from what others have already created.
Read more →New: Export as GIF & Embed Maps on Your Website
Two new features make it easier than ever to share your animated maps: export any published map as a GIF, or embed it as a fully interactive widget on your own website.
Read more →Welcome to Moving Polygons
Why we started Moving Polygons — a passion for maps, history, and showing the full picture of how territories change over time.
Read more →The Swedish Empire: From Gustav Vasa to Modern Sweden
Trace the Swedish Empire from Gustav Vasa's break with the Kalmar Union in 1523 through its Baltic zenith and the treaties that shaped Scandinavia.
Read more →AI-Generated Maps: From a Topic to a Full Animated Timeline
What if you could describe a historical period and get a complete animated map in return? We're exploring AI-powered map generation — here's where things stand and how you can try it today.
Read more →From Burgundy to the Dutch Republic: Three Centuries of Transformation
Five overlapping timelines trace the Low Countries from Philip the Bold's Burgundian state (1363) through the Dutch Revolt to the Peace of Münster (1648).
Read more →The Black Death: Mapping the Deadliest Pandemic in History
Trace the devastating spread of the Black Death from Crimea across all of Europe in just seven years — a pandemic that killed an estimated 25–50 million people.
Read more →Brazil: From Colony to Empire (1500–1828)
Follow Brazil's transformation from a Portuguese claim on the coast to a continent-spanning empire, through Dutch invasion, independence under Pedro I, and the war that created Uruguay.
Read more →The Hanseatic League: Five Centuries of Trade and Power
From the rebuilding of Lübeck in 1159 to the last Hanseatic Diet in 1669: trace the rise and decline of medieval Europe's most powerful trade confederation.
Read more →