2013: The Year in Political Geography Changes

By Evan Centanni

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 Although popular for maps of territorial control in conflict zones, PolGeoNow's original mission is tracking formal changes to the world's political geography. When new countries appear, borders change, and territorial disputes arise or are settled, you'll hear about it here. As 2013 draws to a close, here's our look back at the major events of the year:

"State of Palestine"

Country Name Changes
This year didn't see the creation of any new countries (unless you count the failed bid of the Bangsamoro Republik), but there were a few changes to country names. In October, the African island country of Cape Verde chose to change its official English name to "Cabo Verde", with the long form being "Republic of Cabo Verde". This brings it in line with the name in Portuguese, the country's official language. Meanwhile, in January, Libya established its full name as "State of Libya," after more than a year of going without an official long-form name. Since the 2011 revolution, the new government had been calling the country anything but Muammar Gaddafi's preferred "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya".

South Sudan Crisis: Rebel Control Map (Premium Content)

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After a sudden outbreak of political violence last week, the military of South Sudan has fragmented into two competing factions, with rebellious defectors capturing a large swath of the world's newest country. PolGeoNow now presents the first map of rebel control in South Sudan's ongoing crisis, an exclusive for premium subscribers and purchasers.

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• Exclusive, up-to-date map of rebel control by state and city in South Sudan's ongoing uprising
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Syria Civil War Map: December 2013 (#12)

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In addition to updates on the situation, our updated Syria control map now distinguishes the territory of extremist groups ISIS and Al-Nusra from that of Free Syrian Army or mixed rebel coalitions. (To see other maps in this series, view all Syria updates.)

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Area of fighting and territorial control in Syria's civil war, updated for December 2013. Map by Evan Centanni, starting from this blank map by German Wikipedia user NordNordWest. License: CC BY-SA

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Al-Nusra and the ISIS
In addition to updates on the situation since our previous Syria war map, this edition of the map also shows which cities are controlled primarily by religious extremist groups the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (also translated from Arabic as ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). While these groups share many of their goals with the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups fighting the Assad government, and in many cases still cooperate strategically with those groups, they are increasingly emerging as a separate bloc in the multi-sided conflict.

DR Congo War: The History of M23 Control (Map)

[Editor's note: This map article was published in late 2013, and was originally intended to be the first piece in PolGeoNow's conflict map subscription service. Subscriber coverage has since refocused on other conflicts, and we're now making this piece free for all readers.]

From 2012 to 2013, the M23 rebels became the Democratic Republic of the Congo's most powerful rebel group in recent history, establishing military control over a major city in country's east. You may have heard how M23 was defeated suddenly in late 2013, but do you know what territory they controlled while they were active? Learn more with this exclusive map of M23's territorial possessions over time, as well as a primer on the group's short history and ultimate defeat.

Map by Evan Centanni (all rights reserved).

Congo's War with M23

The Democratic Republic of the Congo - formerly known as Zaire - has been at war for decades. After serving as the stage for a regional conflict partly sparked by the Rwandan Genocide in the mid-1990s, as well as a follow-up war spanning officially from 1998 to 2003, the eastern DRC has become the stomping ground of dozens of rebel groups with often-shifting allegiances.

The March 23 Movement, better known as M23, only appeared in May of 2012. However, it quickly became the most prominent of the many rebel forces operating in the region, carving out its own area of territorial control and proving a match for the Congolese army. In late 2012 it captured Goma, a city of one million and the capital of Congo's North Kivu province. It was eventually crushed in a rapid military campaign by the army and a UN peacekeeper intervention brigade in November 2013.