MAPS OF HISTORY · IB HISTORY
IB DIPLOMA HISTORY · NEW COURSE 2028 · OLD COURSE 2027
IB History: notes, maps and essay plans
These pages are for students of IB Diploma History. Each one takes a part of the course, whether a Paper 1 Focused Study, a Paper 2 theme, a Paper 3 region or a single atlas, and gathers what our twenty-one interactive atlases hold for it: the chapters to read, the concepts and evidence they support, practice questions with essay plans, and primary sources to practise on.
Each chapter link opens a free page. The atlas behind it tells the story on a map that changes with the date. Read why the Mexica built dikes across their lake, for example, or why Stalin turned on the peasants, and the map shows where and when these events happened.
Which course are you on?
Your exam date determines which IB History course you study. The old course, first examined in 2017, ends with the May and November 2027 sessions. The replacement is first examined in May 2028; those taking exams then or later study the new course. Much of the history is shared, but the courses organise it differently. Our notes are tagged for both: the new course’s papers below and the old course’s topics on the old-course page.
Paper 1 · Focused Studies
In Paper 1 you work with sources. Your class studies one of five Focused Studies, each pairing two case studies from different times and places. We have an atlas for each Focused Study: its linked maps cover both cases, every chapter has primary sources, and each set of source questions is built around an inquiry question.
| Focused Study | Our atlas |
|---|---|
| Climate and InnovationNORSE WORLD · AZTEC EMPIRE | Paired atlas: Climate and Innovation12 CHAPTERS · 46 SOURCES · 6 SOURCE SETS |
| Independence and IdentityHAITI · KENYA | Paired atlas: Two Roads to Independence: Haiti and Kenya12 CHAPTERS · 40 SOURCES · 5 SOURCE SETS |
| Political and Economic TransitionsMEIJI JAPAN · SOVIET UNION TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Paired atlas: Remaking the State: Meiji Japan and Post-Soviet Russia12 CHAPTERS · 42 SOURCES · 6 SOURCE SETS |
| Conflict and DisplacementEUROPE 1945–1960 · INDOCHINA 1975–1990 | Paired atlas: Uprooted: Refugees in Europe and Indochina12 CHAPTERS · 40 SOURCES · 5 SOURCE SETS |
| Protest and ChangeSECOND-WAVE FEMINISM · TUNISIA 2010–2015 | Paired atlas: Protest and Change12 CHAPTERS · 35 SOURCES · 5 SOURCE SETS |
Paper 2 · Thematic Studies
For Paper 2, you write essays on one of four Thematic Studies. Conflict and Innovation and Transformation draw examples from 750 onwards; Authoritarian Rule and Popular Movements draw them from 1750. Each theme has four organising questions. Since essays use examples from more than one region, the theme pages group chapters by question and region.
| Thematic Study | Atlases |
|---|---|
| ConflictFROM 750 · 20 CHAPTERS WITH IB NOTES | Uprooted, Two Roads to Independence, Remaking the State, Climate and Innovation, The Crusades, The Mongol Empire, The American Civil War, WWI, China in Revolution, The Road to War, WW2, The Cold War |
| Innovation and TransformationFROM 750 · 24 CHAPTERS WITH IB NOTES | The Industrial Revolution, Climate and Innovation, Remaking the State |
| Authoritarian RuleFROM 1750 · 34 CHAPTERS WITH IB NOTES | The People’s Republic under Mao, The Soviet Union under Stalin, Remaking the State, Protest and Change, Two Roads to Independence, The Russian Revolution |
| Popular MovementsFROM 1750 · 17 CHAPTERS WITH IB NOTES | Protest and Change, Two Roads to Independence, Remaking the State, The Age of Revolutions, Indian Independence & Partition, The Decolonization of Africa |
Paper 3 · Regional Studies
Higher Level students take Paper 3, studying one of four regions in depth. On each region page, you can find the sections tagged in our IB notes, numbered as in the provisional outline, along with other atlases set in that region.
| Region | Atlases |
|---|---|
| Africa and the Middle EastSTUDY NOTES | The Crusades, The Decolonization of Africa |
| The AmericasSECTIONS 11.4, 11.11 | The Industrial Revolution, The Age of Revolutions, The American Civil War, The Cold War, Protest and Change |
| Asia and OceaniaSECTIONS 12.6, 12.11, 12.12 | The Mongol Empire, The Industrial Revolution, Indian Independence & Partition, China in Revolution, The Road to War, WW2, The Cold War, Uprooted, The People’s Republic under Mao |
| EuropeSECTIONS 13.5, 13.7, 13.8, 13.11 | The Industrial Revolution, The Age of Revolutions, The Russian Revolution, WWI, The Soviet Union under Stalin, The Road to War, WW2, The Cold War |
Internal Assessment
For the Internal Assessment, every student writes a historical investigation on a question chosen with their teacher. The eight atlases with IB notes offer 56 starting points between them. Each gives an inquiry question, the concept it tests, kinds of sources and where they are held, and one caution. Find them on the atlas pages below; the investigation itself must be your own work.
How to use these pages
- Find your paper. Your teacher will tell you which Focused Study and which Thematic Study your class takes, and, at Higher Level, which region; open those pages from the tables above.
- Read the chapters each page lists. Every chapter page carries the full argument, the causes, the turning point and the consequences, and a discussion question with our answer, all free to read.
- Open the atlas when you want the map. Each chapter opens on a map that moves with the date. In the eight atlases with IB notes, the IB notes switch in the header adds evidence, primary sources and a practice question with a model essay plan to every chapter.
- Practise before you read our answers. Plan the practice questions yourself before you look at our outlines, try the source questions on the Paper 1 pages, and take an atlas’s map quiz to check that you know where things happened.
- Revise from one document. Before the exam, print the atlas’s study guide, which gathers every chapter’s notes in one place.
IB notes by atlas
Every chapter in the atlases written for the new course has IB notes. The pages below bring together each chapter’s evidence, practice questions and primary sources.
The Norse and the Aztecs
How factories and steam changed work and cities
A slave revolution and a colony’s Emergency, side by side
How Japan and Russia changed their systems
How Stalin ruled the Soviet Union
Second-wave feminism and the Tunisian revolution
Two refugee crises, forty years apart
Land reform, the Great Leap, the Cultural Revolution
More atlases on the course
These atlases predate the IB layer, and their IB notes are in preparation. For now, each page collects the study notes already in every chapter, along with argued essay questions.
Two centuries of war for the Holy Land
Genghis Khan and the largest land empire in history
From the American Revolution to the barricades of 1848
From the Mexican War to Reconstruction
From the Great Reforms to the Soviet Union
From the rising of 1857 to Nehru’s republic
From Bismarck’s blocs to the map of 1923
From the last emperor to the People’s Republic
How the 1930s led to the Second World War
From the Rhineland to Hiroshima
The United States, the Soviet Union and their rivalry
Fifty new nations in fifty years
The old course (2027 exams)
The IB notes also tag every chapter that serves an old-course topic. The old-course page lists them topic by topic:
- Prescribed subject 4: Rights and protest · 2 CHAPTERS
- World history topic 7: Origins, development and impact of industrialization (1750–2005) · 12 CHAPTERS
- World history topic 8: Independence movements (1800–2000) · 5 CHAPTERS
- World history topic 10: Authoritarian states (20th century) · 16 CHAPTERS
- World history topic 11: Causes and effects of 20th-century wars · 3 CHAPTERS
- World history topic 12: The Cold War: superpower tensions and rivalries (20th century) · 5 CHAPTERS
- Higher Level · History of Asia and Oceania, section 15 · 5 CHAPTERS
What is free
WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Every page in this section, every chapter page, the discussion questions and the quick quizzes are free to read without opening an atlas. Starter opens every atlas, every map quiz and every printable guide for $9 a month. It renews monthly, and you can cancel any time.
OPEN THE INTERACTIVE ATLAS — WW2 IS FREE →WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. No sign-up.
Maps of History is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the International Baccalaureate Organization. IB course names describe alignment only; paper, theme and section names follow the new course outline and may change when the final guide is published.
THE DISPATCH
Get a printable atlas study guide of your choice free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul
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