Map of the Middle East, 1977–1978

On 1 July of every year from 1977 to 1978, IntMap’s historical map draws the same 26 names within the Middle East. The borders come from CShapes 2.0 (day by day), then Cliopatria, Seshat Global History Databank (by year) — each drawn only where the records before it are silent.

Names on the map

As the map labels them, largest first by the area of the outline drawn inside this view. Areas are of the drawn outline, rounded, and approximate.

NameDrawn area in view (km²)
Saudi Arabia1,960,000
Imperial State of Iran1,620,000
Sudan (incl. South Sudan)1,410,000
Egypt938,000
Turkey781,000
Soviet Union586,000
Iraq436,000
Oman310,000
South Yemen288,000
Ethiopia (incl. Eritrea)284,000
Syria187,000
North Yemen137,000
Afghanistan121,000
Jordan89,300
Israel88,900
United Arab Emirates70,900
Pakistan38,900
Greece18,400
Kuwait17,000
Qatar11,200
Lebanon10,300
Cyprus9,300
Bulgaria8,360
Djibouti7,300
Bahrain690
Libya441

Open the map on 1 July of

1977 1978

What changed since 1972–1976

Now drawn

Djibouti

No longer drawn

French Somaliland (France)

The same date elsewhere

World map · 1977–1978 Map of Europe · 1976–1978 Map of Africa · 1977–1978 Map of South Asia · 1977–1978 Map of East Asia · 1977–1988 Map of Southeast Asia · 1977–1983 Map of Central Asia · 1972–1978 Map of North America · 1974–1991 Map of Central America and the Caribbean · 1976–1978 Map of South America · 1976–1986 Map of Oceania · 1977–1978

Source and method

Borders and names: CShapes 2.0 (Schvitz et al. 2022, icr.ethz.ch/data/cshapes) · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 + Cliopatria v0.2.1 (Seshat Global History Databank, github.com/Seshat-Global-History-Databank/cliopatria) · CC BY 4.0 · adapted by IntMap: simplified, BC years made astronomical, and the ground OpenHistoricalMap (1689–1885, and from 1886 where CShapes is silent) and CShapes (1886–2019) state removed on their own dates.

Listed: every name whose outline IntMap draws inside 25°E–63°E, 12°N–42°N on this date, with the name the map writes on it. The list is worked out when the site is built, from the same records and the same code the map uses, so it says what the map shows — not more. Names are the source’s own, translated where the source or IntMap’s name table has a translation.

All data sources →

Share this page

X Bluesky Threads Facebook LINE Reddit

Each link opens that service in a new tab with the address of this page filled in. Nothing is sent until you post it there yourself.