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.
Every chapter link opens a page you can read for free. Behind each page is an atlas that tells its period on a map which changes with the date, so the argument and the geography arrive together: you read why the Mexica built dikes across their lake, or why Stalin turned on the peasants, and the map shows where and when it happened.
Which course are you on?
The IB is replacing its History course. The new course is examined for the first time in May 2028, so anyone whose exams fall in May 2028 or later studies it. Students whose exams fall in May or November 2027 sit the old course, first examined in 2017, which ends with those sessions. The two courses share much of their history but organise it differently, so 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
Paper 1 is the source paper. Each class studies one of five Focused Studies, and each Focused Study pairs two case studies from different times and places. Our five Paper 1 atlases follow that design: one atlas per Focused Study, with both case studies on linked maps, primary sources in every chapter and sets of source questions 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
Paper 2 is an essay paper on one of four Thematic Studies. Conflict and Innovation and Transformation draw on examples from 750 onwards, Authoritarian Rule and Popular Movements from 1750. Each theme is organised around four questions, and essays draw their examples from more than one region, so each theme page lists chapters by question and by 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
Paper 3 is for Higher Level students only, who study one of four regions in depth. Each region page lists the sections our IB notes are tagged for, by their number in the provisional outline, and the other atlases set in the 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
Every student also writes a historical investigation, the Internal Assessment, on a question they choose with their teacher. The eight atlases with IB notes list 56 starting points between them: an inquiry question, the concept it tests, the kinds of sources to use, where those sources are held, and one caution. You will find them on each atlas’s page 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
The atlases written for the new course carry IB notes in every chapter. Their pages list each chapter’s evidence, the practice questions and the primary sources.
The Norse and the Aztecs
Coal, cotton, steam and the making of the modern world
A slave revolution and a colony’s Emergency, side by side
Two transitions from an old order, side by side
Power, terror and the remaking of a country
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 were written before the IB layer. Their IB notes are in preparation, and each page gathers the study notes every chapter already carries, with essay questions argued.
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
The 1930s, step by step toward global war
From the Rhineland to Hiroshima
Two superpowers, one divided planet
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 — every chapter. Try chapters 1–2 of any 2 other atlases (3 with a free account). Every page in this section, every chapter page, the discussion questions and the quick quizzes are free to read without opening an atlas. The Exam Sprint opens the rest. Every atlas, every map quiz and every printable guide for 8 weeks. £19 once.
OPEN THE INTERACTIVE ATLAS — WW2 IS FREE →WW2 is free — every chapter. Try chapters 1–2 of any 2 other atlases (3 with a free account). 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
A short welcome series, then a letter when a new atlas opens — and a printable atlas study guide of your choice is yours now, free.
NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME