An animated map that shows how religion spread across the world in the past 5000 years

[trotsky]

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/buzz/an-animated-map-that-shows-how-religion-spread-across-the-world-in-the-past-5000-years-1021051.html

How interesting that one's views about universal truths are so influenced by the physical location in which one is born and raised!

[Lordquinton]

1. Well, that was simplified

How were those religions spread? With a sword, mainly. Also what was with the jewish islands in the carrabian at the and? And the buddist state in russia?

[Igel]

2. The Caribbean has a lot of islands.

The area surrounding land was given a blue tint. Pile up all the blue tints and you get Jewish, apparently.

Buddhism is tan-brown. So's desert. That bit of Russia is pretty much uninhabited.


Some religions spread by the sword.

Some went where the culture went: That's a lot of how Hinduism spread, mostly. Perhaps with population movements, as well.

Buddhism mostly spread by cultural diffusion, less violence.

Xianity was mixed: first spread by missionaries, in yet other cases it spread after conquest, then again by missionaries, but also as population's moved and took their culture with them.

Islam mostly spread by the sword, which makes India a bit misleading--there was a hefty Muslim population as a result of conquest and centuries not just of Muslim domination of the subcontinent but also real privileges for being Muslim. That last bit made it not a veneer religion, like Xianity was in India, but made it spread in society more--it gave us the mess in SE Europe with Albanians and Bosnians, but also the ethnic cleansing and partition of colonial India. It's too bad that Africa's hidden for the "Age of Discovery," and SE Asia, as well, hiding Islam's spread there. Islam came late to parts of Africa, partly because you don't convert your inventory to make it non-inventory, partly because Islam had other irons in the fire.

[Lordquinton]

3. Kinda poor design there

Some confusing colors, and hiding pats of the globe at key points.

I don't know much of the founding of hindu and buddism, but e other three all were born in blood. And I'd count missionarys as spreading by the sword, look at the California mossions, or in Africa. Heck, there aren't any western religions left, were all wiped out by christanity.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain in the 15th century.

Some relocated the Caribbean.

The isolated patch of Buddhism in Russia is the Kalmyks. They migrated to the region from northwestern China in the early 17th century.

[Lordquinton]

6. That's interesting

Little bits of history never hear about. There is a little splash of blue in russia where the khazar jews settled for a while.

It leaves out too much, like the map starting out blank, there were religions already in place that were wiped out.

[trotsky]

7. I agree that's a major omission.

Lots of religions that were displaced/wiped out.

[Lordquinton]

10. Like all non-eastern religions

I'd never really thought about it that way before, christianity is lumped in a western, and islam eastern, while judism is just left out, but they are all from the middle east.

[Act_of_Reparation]

8. Totally agree.

And it also fails to account to situations in which regions were ruled by religious minorities, like the Mughal period in India. The Subcontinent is still dealing with fallout from that age.

[Lordquinton]

9. This kinda map i can see from an acedemic point of view

But this isn't presented like that, this is all shine and polish with super fancy graphics that totally obscure history.

[msongs]

5. relligious terrorism piling up corpses everywhere it spreads. nice vid tho nt