About
About STR History
A study companion for IB History students and a home for the history department online.
Why a globe?
History happens in places, and the map of the world has changed constantly. Students often learn the Munich Agreement, the Mukden Incident and the partition of Africa as separate stories. Seeing them on a globe, with the borders of the time, makes the connections visible: which empires bordered each other, how far armies travelled, and why a crisis in one region mattered to powers on the other side of the world.
How to use the notes
- Highlighted quotations are sources you should be able to recognise and use. Click one to see who said it and why it matters.
- Underlined key terms open a card with a definition and their significance — the point a strong exam answer makes.
- Historians' debate sections summarise interpretations you can use in Paper 2 and 3 essays.
- Test yourself questions at the end of each topic hide their answers until you ask.
The notes support your class, not replace it. Your teacher's course outline and the current IB History guide are the final word on what you need to know.
Where the maps come from
Historical borders come from the open historical-basemaps project by André Ourednik and contributors (GPL-3.0). We simplify the shapes so they load quickly and correct some names that were out of place for their year. Borders before 1800 are especially approximate; the globe draws approximate borders dashed. Base land shapes are from Natural Earth (public domain), and the globe is rendered with MapLibre GL.
Contributing
Teachers and student volunteers can add topics, key terms and department news. Every topic, term, teacher profile
and news post is a single text file, so changes are easy to review and rarely clash. The
source repository explains how — start with AGENTS.md. The site updates
automatically a minute or two after a change is merged.