4000 years of world history
Since beginning homeschool about 11 years ago history has become one of my favorite subjects. When I saw The Histomap I knew it would be the perfect addition to my homeschool classroom.
Children and students of all ages respond to visuals in their learning environments. It’s common to walk into any school house decorated with color. Colors and shapes liven the learning atmosphere.
Your homeschool or office is no different. If you are looking to add a new dimension to your homeschool please continue to read about this colorful educational history poster.
This blog post will cover:
- What is The Histomap?
- How to use The Histomap?
- Where to get The Histomap World History poster.
This educational history poster is a reproduction of an antique map. It charts 4000 years of world history on one poster.
Originally created by John B Sparks it has been preserved beautifully in a 6 foot poster originally published by Rand McNally in 1931.
John B Sparks was a historian, chemical engineer and bacteriologist. He was born in England but immigrated to the United States.
Some fun facts about John B Sparks is that he was the director of Nestle’s Milk Products Inc in the 1940s before his death in 1949. This company was located in New York City. Nestle USA headquarters is currently located in Whiteplains, NY.
Sparks set out to create an approachable means of learning history. Who would not be intrigued by seeing wonky colorful lines of domination and rule over the course of 4000 years?
Contemporary states and nations mentioned can be seen near the bottom of the timeline poster. The Histomap allows a viewpoint of history as a zero sum game. A game where one person’s gain is equivalent to another person’s loss.
With the right homeschool instruction, the Histomap opens a new discussion about history and a new thought about current world history.
The Histomap measures 76″L x 16″W. It is an invaluable research tool and conversation piece. It allows students and teachers alike to trace the time periods of 2000 BC throughout history to 1900.
What is covered on The Histomap?
Distinguished by color paths it is easy to reference states, nations and empires relevant throughout history. Ethnic groups are defined at the top of the map in those color paths as Aegans, Egyptians, Hittites, Amorites, Iranians, Indians, Huns and Chinese.
Those groups are broken down into peoples of the region, also located at the top of the map including; Mediterranean people, Alpine people, Semetic people, Alpine and Proto-nordic people and Mongolian people.
At first glance these will be the first markers you see but as you travel down the 6 foot poster you will notice the history of other peoples we are aware of in present time to come into the map.
The color paths are not straight lines. You will notice they narrow and widen as you continue to move down the poster. These wonky chunks of color represent the presence or influence of that ethnic group at the time.
It might interesting to add the discussion of John B Sparks to some lessons. I wonder myself if Sparks was at all interested in cartography, maps at all or just in creating purely visual representations or timelines of events.
In the next part we will discuss ways in which you can use a Histomap in your homeschool to plan and guide your lessons.
Without a map who would attempt to study Geography?
John b. sparks
How to use a Histomap
4000 years of word history all in one visual is a great place to start planning your homeschool history lessons. Teachers and homeschooling parents can use this throughout their entire teaching journey.
Depending on the unit study you have created for your homeschooled students it may be a great idea to use this map specifically to focus on empires.
One of my favorite parts of this educational history poster is the huge chunks of pink that represent the Roman Empire.
I can easily see myself skipping around in my homeschool lessons to focus my history curriculum on some of the massive conquests and reigns of empires from the past.
I also like working from the bottom up. Tracing back the American history to see where it started and if there was some influence from other cultures. The path of American history is so short in comparison to the rest of the history paths traced on the map.
The visual representation of each group of peoples really allows your homeschool student to put parts of civilization into perspective.
Another tip would be to use The Histomap to accompany your homeschool lesson on world geography.
Some have argued about the efficacy of this colorful world history diagram. It’s important to note that even in history textbooks a good part of ancient history has to be guessed, assumed and hypothesized based on the findings.
History is going to have some blind spots. Part of the learning process can be to discuss these gaps or spots to see if a better more current hypothesis might be feasible.
The best thing about this homeschool resource is that it allows you to go from World History 101 through to university.
Now that you have a decent game plan of how to use this homeschool decor let’s find out where to get one. It might also be interesting to note that there are two additional histomaps that are available.
The full collection of 3 pieces are all available to be shipped to your home or office.
Where to get useful homeschool decor
Purchase The Histomap poster on Amazon.
Posters are the perfect way to add interest and color to your homeschool. This poster is attractive to the eye and can fit just about anywhere. Even behind a door to be less obtrusive in a busy homeschool.
Gift Giving
This Histomap is a nice change of gift for the history buff. Getting books or figurines is expected. This unique gift is something that is lesser known.
There are also histomaps for religion and science. As mentioned there are a total of 3 in the Sparks collection. The Histomap of Evolution and The Histomap of Religion
The Histomap of Evolution
This poster tells the tale of humanity for then thousand million years. Also available to purchase on Amazon this poster gives amazing details. Just as colorful as the world history version and just as well thought out it will also be a good addition to your homeschool classroom.
The Histomap of Religion
The third version of this map The Histomap of Religion is titled as; The Story of Man’s Search for Spiritual Unity. This is an incredible spectacle for not only a classroom but also a in a church, university theology classroom or graduate gift.
Purchasing all 3 as a set gives you an expansive view of world history and world events.
They certainly make planning homeschool lessons easier.
Read more about how to set up and organize your homeschool on the blog. You may also want to check out how to set up your homeschool in North Carolina.
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