neato

Schweet!

Split up into several images: http://imgur.com/gallery/6N2qN

You know, the world has changed A LOT since 1931.

John B. Sparks, creator of Histomap, deserves a prize for this visualization.

Why don't I ever get a prize like that? I really love that graphic--do you think I can just say "Here." on Day One, go for coffee and give a test in June? It pretty much says it all... 

The more I look at Histomap, the more I think "I NEED DIS".

Preferably in large poster format, suitable for wall hanging.

Rebecca Onion explains the Histomap:

The 5-foot-long Histomap was sold for $1 and folded into a green cover, which featured endorsements from historians and reviewers.

...

The chart emphasizes domination, using color to show how the power of various “peoples” (a quasi-racial understanding of the nature of human groups, quite popular at the time) evolved throughout history.

It’s unclear what the width of the colored streams is meant to indicate. In other words, if the Y axis of the chart clearly represents time, what does the X axis represent? Did Sparks see history as a zero-sum game, in which peoples and nations would vie for shares of finite resources? Given the timing of his enterprise—he made this chart between two world wars and at the beginning of a major depression—this might well have been his thinking.

Sparks followed up on the success of this Histomap by publishing at least two more: the Histomap of religion (which I’ve been unable to find online) and the Histomap of evolution.

Perhaps the X axis represents percentage of worldwide population?

China is way to small then (compared to USA) so I doubt it.  I imagine the X axis represents world sway/power/influence in his mind.