Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1fdij5t/historical_regions_of_europe_beta_version/

Seems to be quite a few litigious points, especially

  • Lombardy / Tuscany
  • Slovakia
  • Galicia in Poland
  • Scotland
  • Etc.

I’ll follow up on this thread and post the updated version if the author updates it

Additional input from the author

Here is the explanations comment

The main reference maps are here.

This map is based on geographical/historical/cultural regions division of Europe. The base canvas that has been used is Europe-Detailed from MapChart and it sucks because every country is overstretched with some parts like Germany and the Balkans being highly deformed. The overstretched Scandinavia was so unworkable I replaced it with HOI4 MapChart (it was already too late when I discovered MapChart has Paradox Interactive maps). If I make a final version, I will probably use HOI4 provinces as my base canvas because they provide enough fragmentations and countries are not that much deformed.

Since this map is intended to be used for studying History, I tried to focus on historical regions (which are often cultural regions too). When I couldn’t use historical regions because it was too complex or because of a lack of data, I resorted to geographical regions.

So, now here are some details about the regions I chose to display :

  • Sweden is not finished. Here is the map I planned to use as my reference for Sweden.
  • I am still struggling to understand if the borders of the federations composing current North Caucasia are historical borders or if they were imposed by Moscow after some forced ethnic migrations. So I chose the easy way and displayed the geographical regions.
  • Germany’s regionalism is hell because of the HRE. So I assumed that people who are interested in the HRE should rather use more specific maps instead of mine. The regions displayed on my map come from a mix between dialect maps and political entities that have been around for a long time. Brandenburg and Upper Saxony are overstretching on their western part because I didn’t know what to do with Sachsen-Anhalt.
  • Russia is largely blank because of the lack of data. From what I understood, people in Russia use either big cities or uezds to refer to a specific location. Using uezds would be the most accurate solution but I am not familiar enough with russian geography to work with such a fragmented Russia so for the time being, I decided to display current oblasts that approximately correspond to either one of the main principalities of the Kievan Rus.
  • The Balkans map is mostly based on geographical regions. I am still unsure for Alföld. Gorica is not displayed because it is too small. Baranya is not displayed because the Croatian-Hungarian-Serbian border is already too complex. The coastal region of Toskëria should be Myzeqe but I decided to not display it for now because it was rather small.
  • For Switzerland (whose key has been rendered unreadable by the compression) I kept the current county division

If you want to make an improved map or a variation map, feel free to use this unfinished map.

Note : If you have some remarks, I think it would be better to write them on a separate comment and not reply to this one to avoid creating an unending thread of replies.

Note 2 : Feel free to provide more detailed maps of specific regions of Europe, it may save some time for people struggling to find what they want.

  • Skua
    2•8 days ago

    For Scotland, if we are to approximately match the time period and granularity represented in England:

    • Northumbria probably extends up towards that big river estuary (the Forth) on the east coast.
    • The big triangular part of the east north of that is Picts (probably not unified depending on your specific year, at least not in any sense beyond paying tribute). We don’t know a huge amount about these guys, but they’re a Celtic people who probably spoke a language somewhat related to Welsh. They’re also probably the descendants of the people the Romans mostly saw north of Hadrian’s wall.
    • Dàl Riata in the west coast, probably not extending as far north as the big island in the northwest (called Lewis & Harris, despite being one island) or as far south as the peninsula in the southwest but possibly including part of northwest Ireland and the Isle of Man depending on the year. These are the Gaels that moved to Scotland from Ireland, and it’s from them that we get the name “Scotland”. What went on to become the Scotland we know today was formed when a king of Dàl Riata managed to make himself king of the Picts too.
    • Alt Clut or Strathclyde in that peninsula in the southwest. These guys were Cumbrians, close cousins to the Welsh, and would eventually be conquered by Scotland after being subject to a lot of Norse raiding.
    • This leaves the north, including Lewis & Harris and the islands in the northeast. These were probably mostly Pictish up until they became the main power base of various Norse kingdoms, and the Norse influence held long enough that the culture shifted away from the emerging Scottish culture. Whether or not they are counted as Norse or Pictish depends on the year you pick. I’d probably lean towards Pictish if we’re matching the borders in England, which look to be during the Mercian supremacy a little before the Norse got a real foothold on Britain, but if you want to show the historical regions that influenced area as it is today you’d go with Norse. Scotland would gradually push the Norse out over centuries, eventually acquiring the northernmost islands (Shetland) as collateral when the king of Denmark and Norway failed to pay a promised dowry in the 14th century.