Skip to content
Age 6 of 6 1800 CE – 2026 CE

The modern era, 1800–2026

226 years · 1,809 records · 384 dated moments

Two centuries that need most of the zoom range.

Open the canvas here The atlas at 1914 CE

Industrialisation, the world wars, decolonisation and the states that came out of them. At the default zoom this band is a sliver; zoom in and it holds more dated events than the four thousand years before it, which is exactly the distortion a timeline is for showing.

The states the atlas drew most often

The polities the canvas draws first in this age, when it has room for only a few.

All 906 polities

South Asia

Tibet

Attested 1000 CE – 1960 CE

Europe

Ottoman Empire

1299 CE – 1922 CE

Americas

Canada

Founded 1815 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Americas

Mexico

Founded 1810 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Americas

Argentina

Founded 1816 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Americas

United States

Founded 1784 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Americas

Brazil

Founded 1822 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Americas

Colombia

Founded 1810 CE · attested to 2026 CE

Best-evidenced conflicts

Ranked the way the war lane ranks them: the ones the canvas draws first.

All 311 conflicts

Europe

World War I

1914 CE – 1918 CE

A global war with devastating military and civilian losses that contributed to the collapse of the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.

Europe

World War II

1939 CE – 1945 CE

The deadliest conflict in human history — 70 million dead across six continents in a war that ended with mushroom clouds and the birth of the nuclear age.

Americas

Hawaiian Unification Wars

1782 CE – 1810 CE

Kamehameha I used European weapons and advisors to unify the Hawaiian Islands into a single kingdom, culminating in the dramatic Battle of Nuʻuanu where defenders were driven off the Pali cliffs.

Europe

Napoleonic Wars

1803 CE – 1815 CE

Napoleon's wars reshaped every border in Europe — from Austerlitz to the burning of Moscow to the final stand at Waterloo, no conflict before the 20th century had such a sweeping impact.

Oceania

Musket Wars

1807 CE – 1845 CE

Māori iwi fought campaigns involving muskets, shifting alliances, and displacement. Firearms spread among competing iwi during the wars.

Americas

Argentine War of Independence

1810 CE – 1818 CE

Following the May Revolution of 1810, Argentine patriots fought Spanish royalists across the Río de la Plata, the Andes, and Upper Peru. José de San Martín's crossing of the Andes to liberate Chile was one of the greatest military feats in history.

South Asia

Naxalite–Maoist Insurgency

1967 CE – 2026 CE

The insurgency traces its roots to the 1967 Naxalbari uprising. Maoist armed groups have fought Indian security forces across several states.

Europe

Kurdish–Turkish Conflict

1984 CE – 2026 CE

The PKK began its armed insurgency against Turkey in 1984 and announced a decision to disarm and dissolve in May 2025.

Still standing, and who was alive

Landmarks standing during this age, and people who lived in it.

All 515 landmarks All 63 figures

Landmark · Americas

Grand Canyon

3000 BCE – still standing

Immense gorge carved by the Colorado River over millions of years

Landmark · Oceania

Great Barrier Reef

3000 BCE – still standing

World's largest coral reef system, visible from space

Landmark · Europe

Plitvice Lakes

3000 BCE – still standing

Cascading chain of sixteen turquoise lakes connected by waterfalls in the Croatian highlands

Landmark · Europe

Giant's Causeway

3000 BCE – still standing

40,000 interlocking basalt columns formed by ancient volcanic eruptions on the Northern Irish coast

Figure · Königsberg, Prussia

Immanuel Kant

1724 CE – 1804 CE

The quiet professor who never left his hometown yet overturned two thousand years of philosophy — and gave humanity a new account of knowledge, morality, and beauty.

Figure · America

John Adams

1735 CE – 1826 CE

The life of America’s most underappreciated founder — the farmer’s son who defended British soldiers in court, argued a continent into independence, and kept a young republic out of war.

Figure · America

Thomas Jefferson

1743 CE – 1826 CE

The man who wrote the words that launched a nation — author of the Declaration of Independence, architect of the Louisiana Purchase, founder of the University of Virginia, and the president who doubled the size of a republic while wrestling with slavery’s shadow.

Figure · United States

James Madison

1751 CE – 1836 CE

The quiet Virginian who designed the blueprint for American democracy — architect of the Constitution, author of the Bill of Rights, and the president who proved the republic could survive a war.

Dated moments

16 of 384, spread evenly across the age.

All 384 dated moments
1801 CE First Barbary War Africa 1820 CE Peruvian War of Independence Americas 1848 CE First Schleswig War Europe 1866 CE Austro-Prussian War Europe 1882 CE Anglo-Egyptian War Middle East 1903 CE Ilinden Uprising (Macedonia) Europe 1916 CE Basmachi Movement 1926 CE Northern Expedition (China) East Asia 1941 CE Attack on Pearl Harbor Americas 1948 CE Malayan Emergency East Asia 1963 CE Aden Emergency Middle East 1971 CE Darvaza Gas Crater Middle East 1982 CE Falklands War Americas 1993 CE Burundi Civil War Africa 2009 CE Boko Haram Insurgency Africa 2025 CE 2025 India–Pakistan Conflict South Asia
Image credits21 pictures from Wikimedia Commons