Mapping the International System, 1886-2019: The CShapes 2.0 Dataset
Author | Kristian Skrede Gleditsch,Luc Girardin,Seraina Rüegger,Guy Schvitz,Lars-Erik Cederman,Nils B. Weidmann |
Published date | 01 January 2022 |
Date | 01 January 2022 |
DOI | 10.1177/00220027211013563 |
Subject Matter | Data Set Features |
2022, Vol. 66(1) 144 –161
Mapping the International
System, 1886-2019: The
CShapes 2.0 Dataset
Guy Schvitz
1
, Luc Girardin
1
, Seraina Ru
¨egger
1
,
Nils B. Weidmann
2
, Lars-Erik Cederman
1
,
and Kristian Skrede Gleditsch
3,4
Abstract
This article introduces CShapes 2.0, a GIS dataset that maps the borders of states
and dependent territories from 1886 through 2019. Our dataset builds on the
previous CShapes dataset and improves it in two ways. First, it extends temporal
coverage from 1946 back to the year 1886, which followed the Berlin Conference on
the partition of Africa. Second, the new dataset is no longer limited to independent
states, but also maps the borders of colonies and other dependencies, thereby
providing near complete global coverage of political units throughout recent history.
This article explains the coding procedure, provides a preview of the dataset and
presents three illustrative applications.
Keywords
GIS, borders, territorial change, geography, spatial data
In recent years, political science research has increasingly relie d on Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) as a tool to generate, visualize and analyze spatial data
(Gleditsch and Weidmann 2012; Branch 2016). To a large degree, this development
1
Center for Comparative and International Studies, ETH Zu¨rich, Switzerland
2
Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Germany
3
Department of Government, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom
4
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Oslo, Norway
Corresponding Author:
Nils B. Weidmann, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Konstanz
78464, Germany. Email: nils.weidmann@uni-konstanz.de
Journal of Conflict Resolution
ªThe Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/00220027211013563
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Data Set Feature
Schvitz et al. 145
has been made possible by the growing availability of geocoded data on political
units, actors and events. Contributing to these recent data collection efforts, this
article introduces CShapes 2.0, a GIS dataset that maps country borders and capitals
from 1886 through 2019. Our dataset builds on the previous CShapes dataset by
Weidmann, Kuse, and Gleditsch (2010), which covers independent states from 1946
onward. Compared to the origina l CShapes dataset, version 2.0 off ers two new
features: First, it extends temporal coverage by tracing international borders all the
way back to 1886, the year that followed the Berlin conference on the partition of
Africa. Second, the new dataset is no longer limited to independent states, but also
maps the borders of colonies and other dependent territories, thus providing near
complete global coverage throughout recent history.
In this article, we compare the key featu res of CShapes 2.0 wi th those of other
datasets, and describe the main coding decisions and the overall coding process.
We also present a number of illustrative applications, using the dataset to examine
historical trends in state size, derive population estimates within colonial empires
and create a measure of historical border stability to examine its impact on inter-
state conflict.
Existing Spatial Datasets on Political Borders
Prior to the first release of the CShapes dataset in 2010, most GIS datasets only
provided one-time snapshots of country borders, without accounting for border
changes over time. Two prominent examples are the Natural Earth Natural Earth
(2018) and the GADM boundary datasets (Global Administrative Areas 2012),
which map current political borders across the globe.
1
Beyond these “static” data
sources, there have also been a few efforts to map historical borders within certain
world regions. Most notably, the Euratlas (Nuessli 2010) and the Centennia dataset
(Reed 2008) trace political borders in Europe back to 0 AD and 1000 AD, respec-
tively. However, to the best of our knowledge, CShapes to date remains the only
available GIS dataset that maps historical borders across the globe.
Despite this key advantage, the original version of CShapes has some limitations.
First, its coverage only extends from 1946 to the present. Second, it covers only
independent states and excludes colonies and other dependencies, thus not account-
ing for large parts of the world during the colonial period. This makes the previous
version unsuitable for studies that aim for broader global and historical coverage or
for research on colonial rule and related topics. CShapes 2.0 addresses these two
limitations by backdating borders to 1886, and by mapping colonial dependencies
throughout this entire period. Figure 1 illustrates these improvements by comparing
a map of Africa in 1946 based on the old and new version of the dataset: Whereas the
previous version only contains four polygons for Africa in 1946, CShapes 2.0 covers
all fifty-four states and dependencies on the continent.
Table 1 summarizes the main differences between CShapes 2.0 and other widely
used GIS datasets. Aside from being the only dataset that maps historical borders on
2Journal of Conflict Resolution XX(X)
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