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Anthony’s NotesA personal field guide
From the notebook

Gulf2000 Map Collection

Dr. Michael Izady

Source and permitted use

Selected maps from Dr. Michael Izady’s Atlas of the Islamic World and Vicinity, hosted by Columbia University’s Gulf/2000 project. Original catalogue.

The catalogue permits personal use with attribution to Dr. Izady as author and Gulf/2000 as host. Copyright remains with the author. Public reposting, publication, and commercial use require the author’s permission. Saved images preserve their original legends, commentary, source lists, and watermarks.

How to read the maps

  • Historical reconstruction: a circa-1900 map was made later to depict that period; it is not necessarily an atlas printed in 1900.
  • Control and sovereignty: distinguish formal sovereignty, occupation, protectorate arrangements, and direct colonial administration. Egypt in 1900 was British-occupied and nominally Ottoman; its formal British protectorate began in 1914.
  • Dates: read the date of the geography separately from the image’s publication or revision date. A 2010, 2014, or mid-2024 map is not current to 2026.
  • Demographic estimates: settlement colors, estimates, and group boundaries represent the author’s synthesis. They are not a unified census, exact borders between homogeneous populations, or maps of political allegiance.
  • Classification: ethnicity, language, religion, and nationality are different dimensions. Izady’s religious categories, particularly some groupings of Alawites, Yazidis, and other traditions, are interpretive rather than a universal theological consensus.
  • Causation: comparing two maps does not itself establish responsibility for displacement, demonstrate genocide, or explain a conflict. Keep the source’s commentary separate from independently established findings.
  • Predictions and proposals: hypothetical federal arrangements and future “crescent” maps were not selected as maps of actual political conditions.

Where the selected maps belong

Saved originals