At Intriguing History we believe that historical data is best served up in a dynamic and graphical way.

• Now whether you believe that is best represented as a map or a graph, table or GEDCOM, is, in this world of computer enabled technology, of course,  entirely up to you but our ancestors also thought that a graphical depiction of data was the way to go and so they drew maps.

As time moved on, the emergence of graphs and tables, see the work of Florence Nightingale and John Snow, began to gain credence, they were a powerful way to get the message across.

When you look at historical events it’s fascinating to observe how authors and journalists used drawings and then caricature and cartoon to evangelise the message.

Data in it’s raw form can be pretty dry but display it in a graphical way, now that’s a different matter……

Back to maps.

A site that also gets maps in a big way is Map History, which describes itself as the gateway to map history. There is so much here it makes you realise the enormity of the subject but if it helps there is a breakdown on maps and family history.

Maps in a nutshell enable you to plot disparate pieces of information which may then coalesce into a whole.

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In isolation that letter in the drawer or object or photo in an album, may have no meaning but when brought together with other data and mapped have huge significance