5 ms·

I made a history timeline to learn what events happened around the same time

55 points by Akranazon 1y ago

LargoLasskhyfv 1y ago
I like that. Though I just skimmed it. What is missing IMO is volcanism, and how the larger eruptions overlap, maybe with a few years delay, with larger wars and epidemics, caused by misharvests. Maybe I've missed that, by only skimming?
- Akranazon 1y ago
  The only eruption I have now is Mount Tambora in 1815. I looked at a couple others but wasn't sure how many to include. The effects tend to be regional.
  - bjourne 1y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa
zejn 1y ago
This is nice, I once did something similar for my SO to chart artworks on timeline by different geographic areas. Time was on x-axis, different geographic areas were different timelines vertically, and different art periods were colour coded. The hardest thing was mapping approximate date descriptions (think "1st half of 17th century") into years to draw on chart.
devdp430 1y ago
I like it very much. I could also include the philosophical advances in the timeline and also events that are happening. I'm thinking of building one for climate change.
blueblimp 1y ago
I enjoyed browsing through it. One comment: the "philosophy and art" row is missing anything after 1890.
preetsojitra 1y ago
It would be great to make one for all the innovations and discoveries be its technical, mathematical, etc etc. Also maybe creating some linkage or graph sort of thing for showing the discovery or invention which led or built foundation for another discovery in later years (umm not sure, might be too complex... just an idea)
- cyrillite 1y ago
  I’ve been thinking about building precisely that sort of tech tree for a while, then extending it forwards in time to see if we can guess at how to work backwards from hypothetical technologies to where we are or if we can see obvious gaps
  - preetsojitra 1y ago
    If you are interested, would love to collaborate!
    - Akranazon 1y ago
      I linked this in another comment, but someone built this - https://www.historicaltechtree.com/ https://www.historicaltechtree.com/
sebastianlay 1y ago
Cool visualization! I was wondering if you could find sources for war deaths before 1800. I would be interested to see how they compared to the later wars. Also, making the icons and the labels for the categories sticky (so that they are always on the left side) would make it more useful and less cluttered. Thanks for sharing it!
jimmydddd 1y ago
I always enjoy these types of timeline comparisons. In cases where the results are surprising, I think it highlights that we often learn history (and science) in specific silos. The idea even comes up in memes when, for example, we learn that Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Frank and Barbra Walters would all be the same age if alive today.
fdw 1y ago
Very nice, thanks for sharing! Is the source available somewhere? Do you want contributions? I've once built something similar for myself (still at https://github.com/fdw/timelines/ https://github.com/fdw/timelines/), but not half as polished as yours. I like yours better ;)
- Akranazon 1y ago
  The repository is open source, so you can contribute if you feel inclined. https://github.com/SeanHollen/1300-2000 https://github.com/SeanHollen/1300-2000 I like how your project has such a long time horizon, I'm glad you're showing it. Another project in a similar vein that might influence you is the historical tech tree. https://www.historicaltechtree.com/ https://www.historicaltechtree.com/ It has literally thousands of technologies all mapped together. I was curious so I calculated the most "influential" technologies: https://github.com/etiennefd/hhr-tech-tree/issues/12 https://github.com/etiennefd/hhr-tech-tree/issues/12
  - fdw 1y ago
    Thanks, that's also a very impressive visualization. Slightly too much and confusing, but amazing nonetheless. Thanks for sharing! I'll also have a look around your repo. And maybe I know feel inspired to put some more work into mine - thanks for the kind words.
SpectraLeper 1y ago
This is very cool! I wonder if you took inspiration from "The Timetables of History" (https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1756160M/The_timetables_of_history https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1756160M/The_timetables_of_h...)? That book has always been a favorite of mine to just meander through and find interesting parallelism, but incorporating Wikipedia links as you've done adds a new dimension.
bigthymer 1y ago
I love the design of your site
Akranazon 1y ago
I added a couple items based on the comments here.
JamesHist 1y ago
Wow, really nice. Idea: if the section headers could be kept floating in the far-left, then no need to repead as icons at intervals.

55 points by Akranazon 1y ago

I like that. Though I just skimmed it. What is missing IMO is volcanism, and how the larger eruptions overlap, maybe with a few years delay, with larger wars and epidemics, caused by misharvests. Maybe I've missed that, by only skimming?

Akranazon 1y ago
The only eruption I have now is Mount Tambora in 1815. I looked at a couple others but wasn't sure how many to include. The effects tend to be regional.
- bjourne 1y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa

zejn 1y ago

This is nice, I once did something similar for my SO to chart artworks on timeline by different geographic areas. Time was on x-axis, different geographic areas were different timelines vertically, and different art periods were colour coded. The hardest thing was mapping approximate date descriptions (think "1st half of 17th century") into years to draw on chart.

devdp430 1y ago

I like it very much. I could also include the philosophical advances in the timeline and also events that are happening. I'm thinking of building one for climate change.

blueblimp 1y ago

I enjoyed browsing through it. One comment: the "philosophy and art" row is missing anything after 1890.

preetsojitra 1y ago

It would be great to make one for all the innovations and discoveries be its technical, mathematical, etc etc. Also maybe creating some linkage or graph sort of thing for showing the discovery or invention which led or built foundation for another discovery in later years (umm not sure, might be too complex... just an idea)

cyrillite 1y ago
I’ve been thinking about building precisely that sort of tech tree for a while, then extending it forwards in time to see if we can guess at how to work backwards from hypothetical technologies to where we are or if we can see obvious gaps
- preetsojitra 1y ago
  If you are interested, would love to collaborate!
  - Akranazon 1y ago
    I linked this in another comment, but someone built this - https://www.historicaltechtree.com/ https://www.historicaltechtree.com/

sebastianlay 1y ago

Cool visualization! I was wondering if you could find sources for war deaths before 1800. I would be interested to see how they compared to the later wars. Also, making the icons and the labels for the categories sticky (so that they are always on the left side) would make it more useful and less cluttered. Thanks for sharing it!

jimmydddd 1y ago

I always enjoy these types of timeline comparisons. In cases where the results are surprising, I think it highlights that we often learn history (and science) in specific silos. The idea even comes up in memes when, for example, we learn that Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Frank and Barbra Walters would all be the same age if alive today.

fdw 1y ago

Very nice, thanks for sharing! Is the source available somewhere? Do you want contributions? I've once built something similar for myself (still at https://github.com/fdw/timelines/ https://github.com/fdw/timelines/), but not half as polished as yours. I like yours better ;)

Akranazon 1y ago
The repository is open source, so you can contribute if you feel inclined. https://github.com/SeanHollen/1300-2000 https://github.com/SeanHollen/1300-2000 I like how your project has such a long time horizon, I'm glad you're showing it. Another project in a similar vein that might influence you is the historical tech tree. https://www.historicaltechtree.com/ https://www.historicaltechtree.com/ It has literally thousands of technologies all mapped together. I was curious so I calculated the most "influential" technologies: https://github.com/etiennefd/hhr-tech-tree/issues/12 https://github.com/etiennefd/hhr-tech-tree/issues/12
- fdw 1y ago
  Thanks, that's also a very impressive visualization. Slightly too much and confusing, but amazing nonetheless. Thanks for sharing! I'll also have a look around your repo. And maybe I know feel inspired to put some more work into mine - thanks for the kind words.

SpectraLeper 1y ago

This is very cool! I wonder if you took inspiration from "The Timetables of History" (https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1756160M/The_timetables_of_history https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1756160M/The_timetables_of_h...)? That book has always been a favorite of mine to just meander through and find interesting parallelism, but incorporating Wikipedia links as you've done adds a new dimension.

bigthymer 1y ago

I love the design of your site

Akranazon 1y ago

I added a couple items based on the comments here.

JamesHist 1y ago

Wow, really nice. Idea: if the section headers could be kept floating in the far-left, then no need to repead as icons at intervals.