oh how the mighty have fallen

I found this recap of the world's empires incredibly fascinating.
What an incredible overview of the nagging tooth of time
and how small each empire is in the context of history...




"NEVER FOREVER ..." IS A QUANTITATIVE VISUALISATION OF THE TRANSIENT NATURE OF EMPIRE. THE VISUALISATION GRAPHS ALL KNOWN EMPIRES, COLONIES AND TERRITORIAL OCCUPATIONS FROM 2334 BCE TO THE PRESENT DAY. EACH EMPIRE OCCUPIES A SLICE OF THE PIE GRAPH WITH A KNOWN START (+) AND END (×) DATE. EACH SLICE IS ASSIGNED A TRANSPARENCY VALUE OF 10% ALLOWING FOR CONCURRENT EMPIRES TO BE VISUALISED – THE MORE EMPIRES THAT OCCUPY THE SAME PERIOD OF TIME IN HISTORY, THE WHITER THE GRAPH. AS HISTORY PROGRESSES, HUMANKIND’S COMPETITION FOR WEALTH, RESOURCES AND THE RELENTLESS DRIVE TOWARD CONQUEST AND OCCUPATION CAN BE CLEARLY SEEN IN THE GRAPH.

THE DATA SHOWS AN ACCELERATING TREND TOWARD GREATER AND GREATER CONQUEST OF TERRITORY AND GREATER AND GREATER COMPETITION AMONGST IMPERIAL POWERS. THE GRAPH STARTS RELATIVELY LIGHT (TOP RIGHT PORTION OF GRAPH) AS EARLY CULTURES MAINTAIN TERRITORY THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED INDIGENOUS. WITH TIME, CULTURES ENCROACH UPON ONE ANOTHER AS SHOWN IN THE HEAVY WHITE AREAS TO THE LEFT OF THE GRAPH (REPRESENTING 900 CE TO 1900CE). THE WAVELIKE VARIATION IN IMPERIAL OCCUPATION REVEALS CYCLICAL PATTERNS OF CONFLICT IN HISTORY DUE MOST LIKELY TO THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURAL, ETHIC AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY WHERE THE SEPARATION OF SELF AND OTHER PROVIDES THE NASCENT CONDITIONS WITHIN WHICH CONQUEST IS MORALLY JUSTIFIED. DESPITE THIS, EVEN THE LONGEST LASTING EMPIRE, THE 2000+ YEAR CHINESE IMPERIAL ERA, CAME TO AN END – AS ALL PAST EMPIRES HAVE AND PREDICTABLY, EXTANT EMPIRES WILL. THE LAST 100 YEARS (LEFT OF CENTRE TOP) REVEALS A PRECIPITOUS DECLINE IN EMPIRE WITH ONLY FOUR REMAINING OCCUPYING POWERS : THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, MOROCCO AND TURKEY.























via {luxury of protest}