One fascinating way to explore history is by examining how much the world’s borders have shifted over time. These videos offer a reconstruction that vividly illustrates the rise and fall of European kingdoms, states, and empires across years, decades, and centuries.
The first, by Katarina Peter, looks at Europe from the year 1000 to 2000
The YouTuber MrOwnerandPwner created this map of Europe going back to the year 3900 BC – it tracks changes during the Middle Ages by increments of 50 and then 25 years.
EmperorTigerstar offers this video showing the year-by-year changes in Europe.
One of the leading creators of maps on YouTube, OllieBye, has this video focusing on Western Europe. We include it here because of the extra detail it provides to political borders.
This map from Cottereau is a little different – as it shows the rulers of European countries, for every year since 400 BC.
Here is another animated map from Cottereau, this one noting the populations of the European states over time.
Finally, Meow506 has created this video showing the linguistic divisions of Europe, including during the Middle Ages.