Visualizing empires decline on Vimeo

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3. Visualizing empires decline

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2 years ago

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1. Brownian motion with processing

by Pedro Miguel Cruz

2 years ago

This is mainly an experimentation with soft bodies using toxi's verlet springs.
The data refers to the evolution of the top 4 maritime empires of the XIX and XX centuries by extent. The visual emphasis is on their decline.

More on this project pmcruz.com

UPDATE – some minor fixes: no flickering and more robust simulation.

Credits

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THE HOOD arts and craft communit
2 days ago
Diego Martins
2 days ago
Giselle Porto Maia
6 days ago
JACQUES-ANDRE DUPONT
1 week ago
Dozier Hudson
1 week ago
Robert Toth
2 weeks ago
gdz pseudi
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Thomas_B
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aQuib
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elliselkins
2 weeks ago

Tags

dreampilot 2 years ago

I like the approach very much.
AntiVJ / Joanie 2 years ago

Brilliant visualisation !
minoumaguna 2 years ago

ojalá sigas haciendo videos como éste. es una idea genial!
salud!
Pedro Miguel Cruz 2 years ago

Thank you et gracias!
tschillin 2 years ago

It's a pity that you didn't include data before 1800, to visualize the rise of colonialism as well. But then you should've also included the Netherlands. Anyhow, nice animation.
Pedro Miguel Cruz 2 years ago

Yes, it would be very interesting. The problem is that counting the areas occupied by maritime empires prior to 1800 requires a rather vast research. The initial plan was to include also the Russian and Qing empires in the visualization. Anyway the whole thematic has a lot to go for (e.g. Mongolian, Roman). The Dutch empire would be a following natural choice if we wanna stick only to modern maritime empires.
Thank you!
tamimat 2 years ago

Really great. Thany.
Mark Ellison 2 years ago

It's funny when the Spanish empire poops out Cuba! Very nice animation, so cool.
George Cheng 2 years ago

Would be interesting to see the expansion of the United States from 1783 to 1959 in this form. The decline of the Ottoman empire would also be interesting to view.
Enmanuel Morales 2 years ago

i thought cuba, puerto rico, phillipines and guam were all thrown in the same bag? why cuba first? my wife is cuban and begs to differ...

btw, awesome representation.
Pedro Miguel Cruz 2 years ago

The chosen data for Cuba's split was 1868 because it's the date of the declaration of independence prior to the Ten Years War. In all selection of dates the main rule was to distinguish the urge of a colony to become independent and not their recognition as a nation.
Cuba had other conflicts after this first declaration of independence (as well as other countries) but the constraints adopted didn't allow to visualize this.
I'll be working in another type of visualization of the same type of data, though.

Thanks!
Enmanuel Morales 2 years ago

I think the criteria you base your data on should be the date each country recognizes as its date of independence, and not the urge for being free. That urge may have come about decades in advance, yet it could have been the mindset of a minority. Besides both Cuba AND Spain recognize 1898 as the official year of independence. It's what they teach in school, it's what's written in history books and it's in the museums. Wikipedia is widely regarded as an untrustworthy source of information and I wouldn't consider it.

don't get me wrong; the visualization is still very good.
Kirrily Robert 2 years ago

*nod* on this basis Australia should be 1901 and Canada 1867. I was extremely surprised not to see them until the 1930s-1940s... I have no idea what those dates are meant to represent, and neither rings a bell for me (an Australian who spent several years living in Canada).

Looking at Wikipedia I see you're using the Statute of Westminster (1931, adopted 1942 by Australia) but most Australians have never heard of that, and date the birth of the nation to Federation in 1901. I can't speak so authoritatively for Canada but I suspect they're in a similar situation.
improbable 2 years ago

Ditto for South Africa, the date should be 1910. I've no idea where the date in the 30s came from. 1968 is the other important date (republic) but by that measure Australia and Canada would still be part of the red blob.
Angel Minguez 2 years ago

Some dates are wrong, as Enmanuel said Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philipines were lost in the Spanish-USA war in 1898.
André Silva 2 years ago

very good*****
Kucu 2 years ago

Really good!
sanjuaneandopuntocom 2 years ago

Si no me equivoco, Cuba se independizó de España en 1898, junto con Filipinas, Puerto Rico y Guam.
Frederico Malaca 2 years ago

boa , foi feito em que aplicação?
gaia grande 2 years ago

great! i love it. Simple, clear and for those who knows the historical events....full of emotions
Sebastian A. Salazar 2 years ago

Great visuals, but I was eagerly awaiting the might of the American Empire, which never came (never mind that it's never been officially called an empire, but to omit it's prominence in the XX Century just felt odd).
Edu Mas 2 years ago

Brilliant.
sumidero11 2 years ago

spain lost cuba in 1898 por dios por mucho q se declarara la independencia historicamente es en q898 Mas se perdio en cuba, madre de dios si no esp or la ayuda de estados unidos jajaja patetico por mucho q tu digas q sea esa fecha la historia q se estudia en españa y en cuba la fecha oficial es 1898 cuando el ultimo español abandono la isla.
Juanma Diaz 2 years ago

Eso de que el ultimo español abandonó la isla en el 98 es relativo. Unos decidieron quedarse y abrazar su nueva ciudadanía y otros se fueron a Europa a seguir con la que tenian .
Jose Luis Rodriguez Martinez 2 years ago

La idea es muy buena y original, pero las fechas no concuerdan muy bien y ademas no creo que los tamaños en los distintos años de los imperios se correspondan con su poder. ¿en funcion de que estan hechos los tamaños? ¿del tamaño del territorio? Un saludo a todos
johnnysmoke 2 years ago

I agree with Sebastian. Omitting the US skews the graphic. Why was it not included? I was waiting to see the WWII years. I'd love to see this model run on financial empires. Centers of wealth for the last 2k years.
Zlatko Unger 2 years ago

This is great. Would be better with trippy music in the background.
Joseph P Young 2 years ago

Yo! No sound on this video.
zsutti 2 years ago

I miss the music but the visualisation is great! I would show this in history lessons for sure :)
Bálint Kiss 2 years ago

I like it! Good idea!
Cesar Escobar 2 years ago

Excelente idea! Muy visual y el concepto se capta fácil.
Calin Lausanne 2 years ago

hey! where are the Ottomans and Russians ?
Ka Lolo 2 years ago

It doesn't show the loss of Haiti and Louisiana by the French Empire respectively in 1803 and 1804. These were not small losses. Haiti was the richest french colony at the end of the 18th century while Louisiana was huge in term of geographical size.
karim ferrero 2 years ago

I like it ;)
teledisk 2 years ago

Extraordinary... great work, thanks
vanhoteen 2 years ago

impresionante
Pedro Gonçalves 2 years ago

Very cool presentation. I really liked it, but I think it could be improved by making the transition faster in the years when "nothing happens" and slower in the explosion moments (there are moments when it's hard to keep up with all the territories being ejected, and it's easy to miss some).
Aziz Carrell 2 years ago

Very nice visualization!!! I'm wondering why the colonization of Africa on your video occurred so late ~1924-1970. By 1914 most African Kingdoms besides Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Liberia were under European colonial rule.
smashcutcreative 2 years ago

It's wonderful but some constructive suggestions: It would be useful with more context. This could be used in classrooms with the correct narration or text describing key moments. Also fast forwarding years where there is little activity would help. Perhaps change the years ticking to a time line thermometer.
The Duke & the Duck 2 years ago

I agree with a lot of what smashcutcreative says above. I love it, it's fun to watch, but it could be more informative. Also, it's amazing how quickly the French empire disintegrated.
Jelena Milojkovic 2 years ago

Very originally! It looks like budding yeasts.
Ed Macovaz 2 years ago

Nice. One point though - I have no idea what happened to make Australia pop out of the British Empire in 1940, it federated in 1901.
Brian Maloney 2 years ago

Since this video refers to military power, both Australia and Canada were granted their own control of foreign policy and defense (mostly) by the Statute of Westminster in 1931. That probably explains the difference between 1867/1901 and this video.

When both Canada and Australia were formed, their defence policy was still ruled from London.
improbable 2 years ago

This was fun to watch, but some thoughts... I presume the areas are land areas, but wouldn't population make much more sense? The independence of (say) India and Australia were events of vastly different magnitudes.

I guess there is an unbounded amount more one could do with this, as others have said it would be interesting to see the USA grow, and the Ottoman & Austrian empires decay, and the USSR too...

Choosing dates is going to be hard, perhaps there should be several levels, to distinguish (say) the USA's complete independence from Canada's (queen & commonwealth).
Kyle Flood 2 years ago

Where is Ireland gaining independence in the early 20th century?
b gottlieb 2 years ago

Very Euro-centric model and thus not very informative. The approach could be very valuable if it were more comprehensive. Missing empires: Ottoman (Khan), German, Russian, Chinese (Qing), Korean (Yi), Japanese, Indian (Mughal), US (c'mon, since 1945, who's the big kid on the block?). good page to get you started... friesian.com/sangoku.htm
Lisa Wines 2 years ago

Very very cool. Thanks for doing this.
Cindy Schuster 2 years ago

I like this very much, though I agree with Emmanuel Morales that the dates should reflect actual independence; it's confusing to mix (and put a date on) desire for independence and actually achieving it. Also, it would be nice to see what colonies are still left inside the bubbles at present.
Grendel 2 years ago

I like this. But the history of colonialism is missing one of its major players: The USA.

What about the way that the US took a chunk of Mexico in the early part of the 19th Century, Puerto Rico, The Philippines, Alaska, Hawaii among others????
Jessen Felix 2 years ago

Hi, this is a great visualization. I want to know what the size of the bubble refer to? Is it the size of the landmass occupied or population? Did I miss something here?
axl dl 2 years ago

Very nice but the first French Empire is completely ignored. The loss of Haiti, Louisiana and Napoleonic Europe should really be included in the early 19th C.
Trikalina Nea 2 years ago

Good start, needs some improvements, but it's a start.
tadeu 2 years ago

fantástico!
Patricio Brito 2 years ago

Muito bom! Parabéns.

Estou a frequentar o Mestrado de Multimédia na FEUP, e tem faltado convicção para escolher tema de tese. Como sou designer acho que faria sentido investigar numa área de programação gráfica (processing, nodebox, etc...) Mas, acho que chegar a um trabalho coeso como este teu video não deve ser fácil!? Pois não?

Deves ter bastante conhecimento em programação!...
lostinspace 2 years ago

brilliant!
Rana Sinha 2 years ago

Brilliant. A novel approach to visualize history.
Adrian 2 years ago

Outstanding visualization and feedback from viewers. Will be looking for more of your work -- there are so many ways to use this idea!
Fucklite Inc. 2 years ago

Excellent !
Bradley L. Garrett 2 years ago

It is beautiful - a wonderful way to present data, but as many people have pointed out seems to be lacking some crucial data. Where is Japan, where is the US?

Why the focus on maritime military empires?
David Sabadell 2 years ago

I've found this visualization an amazing idea!!
Luismadrid 2 years ago

I love this video!! now is on my channel Inpiración de Luismadrid
cheers
Jose 2 years ago

Muy bueno, visual y facil de entender, esto debería ser el futuro de la educación.
Richard Jefferies 2 years ago

Would love to see a version of this which includes the United States.
Paul Besley 2 years ago

Absolutely superb. I hope you dont mind if I use this on my blog with a credit to your great skills.
Lanternativa 1 year ago

Excelent!
Lauren Eldekvist 1 year ago

Fantastic idea and execution!
lifosandro 1 year ago

muuuuuuuy bueno!
empargallego 1 year ago

Extraordinari!
Sam Ellens 1 year ago

I would give it a like if you'd used the correct data. It's quite pretty - but it's wrong.
Cine Povero 3 months ago

Viva Pedro Miguel!
A tua visualização é muito interessante!
Todavia é bom recordar que a Holanda, a Bélgica, a Alemanha, a Itália e (até episodicamente) os E.U.A. e o Japão tiverem também impérios coloniais, ou, pelo menos, anexações coloniais no período que vai do 3º quartel do séc. XIX a 1945. Já a Espanha deixou de ser império após a guerra hispano-americana de 1898 (com a independência das Filipinas, de Cuba - só então - e de Puerto Rico). Após 1825 a Espanha deixou de fazer parte dos 4 maiores impérios ultramarinos. E a Holanda devia ter sido incluída nesse "top". O Canadá (1867), a Austrália (1900), a Nova Zelândia (1907) e a África do Sul (1910) só adquirem a (quase total) independência em 1931, pelo Estatuto de Westminster. E, após a transferência de soberania de Macau para a R.P.C., não é mais possível falar de império português...