Map of Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916
A map showing the Russian-French-English secret agreement that carved up the Middle East into future areas of interest.
The maps presented below are only a few that could be used in learning and teaching about Israel and the Middle East.
CIE wishes to thank Aliza Cramer Elias and her team at the Institute for Curriculum Services for allowing CIE to promote the use of the maps that they produced, found here in English and in Spanish.
Diplomacy and war reflect the changing contours of states and borders along the evolution of Israel and the modern Middle East. We wish to thank the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs for allowing us to use some of their published maps. Others were made for CIE use.
Max Fisher has assembled 40 maps of the Middle East from ancient times to the present, each with a brief introduction. This is a first-rate collection with almost no noticeable bias and with a devotion to accuracy.
In addition, Michael Izady’s collection, the Gulf2000 project, focuses on eight countries of the Persian/Arabian Gulf. Izady also lists other map collections, including the Library of Congress, rich in historical items.
The University of Texas also has a fine collection of Middle East maps, most of them drawn from the public-domain collection created by the CIA.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provides contemporary and historical maps of Israel and its neighborhood.
For Spanish-language maps, please click here.
For Hebrew-language maps, please click here.
Map of Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916
Great Britain and France secretly negotiated the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916. The two European powers agreed, according to their respective spheres of influence, to divide the Middle East territories previously administered by the Ottoman Empire.
Map of the Levant’s Political Boundaries After World War I
The British and French zones of influence, or mandates, in the eastern Mediterranean region were ratified by the San Remo Agreement in 1920 and approved by the League of Nations in 1922.
Map of San Remo Agreement, 1920
The European agreement that identified the states of the Middle East, 1920.
Map of the Separation of Transjordan, 1921
As shown in this map, the British in 1921 separated a new emirate, Transjordan, from what officially became the Mandate for Palestine the next year. The British officially maintained political and military control of both areas until withdrawing in 1948.
Map of Palestine and Transjordan, 1922
When Britain controlled Palestine, she lopped off 80% of it and assigned it to the Hashemite family leader, Emir Abdullah. It became today’s Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Map of Palestine’s Administrative Boundaries, 1937
Stein, Kenneth W. The Land Question in Palestine, 1917-1939. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1984 and 2003. Copyright, Ken Stein and the Center for Israel Education, 2024.
Map of Peel (Partition) Report for Arab and Jewish States, 1937
A map shows the partition of Palestine proposed by the Peel Commission in 1937.
