About the atlas

The Tartary Atlas gathers what the historical record says about Tartary: what the sources describe, where, when, and how each author came to know what they wrote. It covers 422 written sources and maps in more than a dozen languages, from Old Turkic inscriptions and Mongol-era travel accounts to nineteenth-century atlases.

Tartary, printed as Tartaria on Latin maps, has lately become the subject of popular claims about a lost Tartarian Empire. The atlas is built so anyone can test a claim against the sources themselves.

Who made it

The atlas is a research project by Chance Garton, host of the InnerVerse Podcast, where the research behind it is discussed. It was built with AI research assistance, and everything links back to its source so the work can be checked.

Where to begin

• In their words: 2,029 passages on cities, buildings, daily life, the name and strange tales, each with its quote and its page.
• Witnesses: who wrote each source, how they knew, and what to watch out for.
• Map room: 89 old maps you can open and look into.
• Wander the map: click a place, read what was written about it.
• The vault: the many Tartarys, who counted as a Tartar, who copied whom, and the full lists.
• How it was made: every label and limit, spelled out.

Spot a mistake?

The atlas takes corrections and new sources in public. Send one in.

The lettering and the ornaments

The name at the top of every page is cut from one of the maps, and a different map lends its lettering on each visit. The small drawings between sections are cut from the maps too. Only the ink is kept, so each piece takes the colour of the page. Nothing here was drawn for the atlas.