interactivethings / historical-world-atlas Goto Github PK

These files look very helpful for a project I'm working on, but when I try to upload them to MapBox, it complains that they lack a .prj file (projection).

The results do appear to be incorrectly projected e.g. some country boundaries are shown into the ocean, others inland from the shore.

I'm a geospatial newbie, so any help or hints appreciated. I'm specifically working on the 1914.zip file.

There are some* errors in the 1880 map from ThinkQuest.

At a glance: there are two overlapping copies of Alaska, one controlled by the Russian Empire, and one by the United States of America.

Mexico's post-Gadsden-purchase northern border is correct for 1854 onwards, but it still includes 1821 Mexican Empire territories, minus Belize, which should be labelled "British Honduras", and Panama, which has its modern borders, but should actually be part of the United States of Colombia. (Colombia itself should likewise be relabelled "United States of Colombia" and have slightly different southern and eastern borders.)

And finally, Canada mistakenly includes Newfoundland and Labrador. Newfoundland wasn't part of Canada until 1949. The border between Quebec and Labrador wasn't formalized until 1927, so part of the Labrador coast should be carved out as well. Both what we today refer to as "Newfoundland" and "Labrador" should be labelled "Newfoundland Colony" as well.

But that's just mainland North and Central America. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the rest of the world, though I have a hunch that Africa is extremely incorrect. Perhaps someone else can advise?

• Perhaps more than "some"! 😄