User:Ty's Commons

Ty's Commons is dedicated to making available new and revised images in support of Wikimedia Commons users worldwide.

Local Scenes

Langlade, Gard (view from the Cavalier Windmill)
Aix-en-Provence - Tour de l'horloge (1510)

Maps of Europe

In support of fellow researchers, historians and others interested in Europe and the evolution of its countries over time, I've selected and digitally enhanced hundreds of detailed maps - covering most of Europe from the time of the Roman Empire to the 20th century.

While simple png and svg maps are fine for making basic points - such as a migration route or a border change - they typically lack detail. They sometimes also raise questions regarding accuracy because they've often been drawn by an unknown artist based on sources that may or not be clear.

Professional historians and cartographers (including some scholars who were both) have produced highly detailed maps that were also subject to review by their peers and others. Several of these are noted below:



Alternative names	Johann Gustav Ferdinand Droysen
Description	German historian of Modern Age and university teacher
Date of birth/death	10 April 1838	10 November 1908
Location of birth/death	Berlin	Halle (Saale)
Work location	Halle (Saale)
Authority file	: Q87644 VIAF: 51990955 ISNI: 0000000109012938 LCCN: n87141872 Open Library: OL165388A GND: 116227338 SUDOC: 136948294 BNF: 152921882 BIBSYS: 1011166 SBN: FERV024397 NLP: a0000001184944 J9U: 987007274170605171 Koninklijke: 068393113 WorldCat



Alternative names	Paul Vidal de la Blanche
Description	French geographer and cartographer
Date of birth/death	22 January 1845	5 April 1918
Location of birth/death	Pézenas	La Seyne-sur-Mer
Authority file	: Q311865 VIAF: 54155397 ISNI: 0000000120961413 LCCN: n89605412 NLA: 35561677 Open Library: OL370220A GND: 119210657 SUDOC: 027184099 BNF: 11928211d NDL: 00459743 BIBSYS: 90664237 NKC: uk2011644130 Léonore: [ LH//2700/17] SBN: MILV141396 BNE: XX871821 CiNii: DA00990536 NLP: a0000002103300 J9U: 987007278373105171 Koninklijke: 073210242 NLK: KAC201923095 WorldCat



Alternative names	William R. Shepherd; William Shepherd
Description	American cartographer and historian
Date of birth/death	12 June 1871	7 June 1934
Location of birth/death	Charleston	Berlin
Work location	New York City
Authority file	: Q8017647 VIAF: 100210280 ISNI: 0000000121033838 LCCN: n85234631 NLA: 35776491 Open Library: OL163043A GND: 131751212 SUDOC: 069830215 SBN: TSAV602281 BNE: XX1270648 NLP: a0000002883509 J9U: 987007275705205171 Koninklijke: 068161484 WorldCat

Maps from these and other cartographers have been selected to provide detailed information about the territories of Europe as they have evolved over its complex history.

The maps have been digitally enhanced to improve their readability, organised by region and country, and then arranged chronologically to facilitate finding a map for whatever particular area and time is of interest. Some compression has been applied to reduce file sizes (and smaller versions are available on each page) - but the goal has been to maintain sufficient detail that individual areas and locations can still be seen. If png and svg maps are like a book cover or advert, these are intended to be as close to the original books as possible.

The overall collection for Europe is regularly updated at the following Wikimedia Commons page:

🇪🇺 Ty's Commons Maps of Europe

The following sections provide detailed maps showing the regions and individual countries of Europe as they evolved:

Provinces of France (pre-revolution)

For some projects, such as genealogical databases like WikiTree, maps become a key resource for properly identifying place names that have changed over time. The French Revolution is a notorious case: a concerted effort was made to purposely dismantle and "reconfigure" all of the historic provinces into new départements - as a way of breaking with the past (i.e. the ancien regime). Maps such as these relate the original provinces of France to their new "départements":

Alsace
Angoumois
Anjou
Aunis
Auvergne
Béarn
Berry
Bourbonnais
Bourgogne
Bretagne
Champagne
Comtat Venaissin
Comté de Foix
Dauphiné
Flandre française
Franche-Comté
Gascogne
Guyenne
Île-de-France
Languedoc
Limousin
Lorraine
Lyonnais
Maine
Marche
Nivernais
Normandie
Orléanais
Perche
Picardie
Poitou
Provence
Roussillon
Saintonge
Touraine

History and Genealogy

As a contributor on Wikipedia, as well as WikiTree and other genealogical sites, I regularly produce images that relate to historic scenes, individuals and/or places of interest - a few examples of which are below:

Albert II de Namur
Albert III de Namur
Blazon de Montmorency
Les Croisés devant Béziers (1209)
Vue panoramique de Tours par Pierre-Antoine Demarchy 1787
Armoiries de Sicard de Carufel
Marie-Olive Sicard de Carufel
Joseph Casavant (1807-1874)
Samuel Casavant (1859-1929)

Note to fellow Wikimedians

The use of an approximate year (always noted as c. for "circa" because many historic situations were only approximate) helps to organise maps in chronological order - and makes it easier for those searching for a place and time of interest to find it. As should be clear, circa means about - and generally speaking the further back in time one goes, the more a date is an approximation.

The chronological naming standard also facilitates review within categories. For an average user or visitor, they may often have a general need or interest - such as seeing how Germany, Italy or another territory changed during the 1800s. Maps of these countries organised in chronological progression facilitates finding the ideal map or series of maps.

Regarding categorisation, relatively few users are specifically looking for an historic map by precise year, such as the Italian Peninsula in 1723 - or even less likely, a map of the Italian Peninsula as it was in the 18th century that was published in the 1920s. Recategorising broad-based maps into such narrow categories makes it harder for average users to find them. No one is likely to open multiple "drawers" in which maps have been essentially "put away." It's a bit like eliminating a department store that shoppers can browse by section - and instead simply providing a warehouse of closed drawers - great for warehouse personel but not ideal for shoppers or "the business." That being said, there are certainly times when categories become so over-populated that they become difficult to browse. Very often though, it is the subject matter that is the issue, for example, a map of Brussels being placed into a category that is Maps of Belgium.

Applying appropriate standards of categorisation, we generally do not place images into a category unless they depict all or a substantial part of the noted category. So maps of Brussels don't generally belong in the category maps of Belgium. However, a map of northern Europe at a historic time might well include Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and their neighbors. If a user is interested in seeing the territory of Belgium at a particular period, it's likely it may be represented in a map of the region. If a corresponding regional map removes Belgium as one of the categories noted, then again it's more difficult to be found by a user.

I appreciate that some situations may call for different approaches - particularly if an individual category becomes overly crowded. However, as a Wikimedian professional courtesy, please contact me before changing any file names or redirecting maps into different categories. Some presumably well-intentioned efforts in the past have been erroneous and led to the maps being more difficult for average users to find. I'll do my best to be responsive to any request.

Finally, if you have any particular map-makers or other resources that you think would make helpful additions, please let me know!

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