Our political world map showcases 1550 CE, highlighting the immediate impacts of the Columbian Exchange and the rise of transatlantic empires.
This map features:
- New Spain and the Portuguese maritime empire
- The "Gunpowder Empires" (Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal)
- Increasing centralization of state power in parts of East, Central, and West Africa
How to Use This Map
Students can use the map to investigate how states across the world—large and small—pursued consolidation, expansion, and empire in search of wealth and power, and to consider how these developments reshaped global connections.
1550 CE political map, by OER Project, CC BY 4.0.