All About South Ossetia's 2017 Name Change

South Ossetia (purple) and Abkhazia (green) within the claimed borders of Georgia. Click to enlarge. Map by ChrisO based on UN map of Georgia (public domain; source).

Adding "State of Alania"

At PolGeoNow we promise to inform our readers any time one of the world's countries changes its name, even if it's just a modification to the country's official long name, or a switch in the name's preferred English translation.

But there was one name change we missed out on reporting last year - depending on what you consider a "country".

In April 2017, people in the disputed Republic of South Ossetia voted to change the self-declared country's full name to "The Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania". The name change referendum reportedly passed with about 80% of valid votes in favor, though many countries strongly condemned the whole process, seeing it as part of an ongoing Russia-led attempt to steal the region away from Georgia (the country, not the US state).

Map: Which Countries Recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2018?

This is our new, completely redesigned map of which countries consider disputed South Ossetia and Abkhazia to be independent from Georgia. From now on, PolGeoNow will report on any changes to Abkhazian or South Ossetian recognition with updates to this map.

Click to enlarge. By Evan Centanni, modified from public domain blank world map.
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Syrian Civil War Map & Timeline: IS Loses Western Enclave - December 2018

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Base map by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com, with territorial control by Evan Centanni and Djordje Djukic.
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Timeline by Djordje Djukic

Syria: Where Things Stand Now

In the month and a half since our previous Syria control map report, the main territorial changes have been losses by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIL). The Assad government has eliminated the last pocket of IS control in western Syria, in the south's Al Safa area, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have recaptured the town of Hajin in the east, while also driving IS once again off of the Syria-Iraq border.

Yemen Control Map & Report: Battle of Hodeida Begins - December 2018 (Subscription)

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Timeline by Djordje Djukic. Map by Evan Centanni, Djordje Djukic, and onestopmap.com


After the pro-Hadi coalition's months of stop-and-go movement towards the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida, the battle has finally moved into the city itself. Meanwhile, fighting has also continued along the Saudi border.

See all this and more on the newest update to PolGeoNow's Yemen territorial control map, which includes a timeline of changes and important events since our previous Yemen map report in September.

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Exclusive report includes:

• Up-to-date map of current territorial control in Yemen, color-coded for the pro-Hadi coalition, Houthi forces, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS/ISIL)
• Detailed indication of town-by-town control, including provincial boundaries, all major cities, and many smaller ones
• Markers for recent areas of fighting, including Hodeida, Malahith, Baqim, and more
• Timeline of changes to the situation since September 12, 2018, with links to sources

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Afghanistan: Map of Taliban Control in April 2014

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Welcome to PolGeoNow's brand new series of Afghanistan control maps! In the coming months, we'll publish more maps spanning the gap between 2014 and 2018, leading into routine updates of the current situation. To secure your access to all future installments, sign up now for our professional conflict map subscription service!

Basemap by Koen Adams of onestopmap.com, with territorial control by Evan Centanni.
This map has been slightly revised. You can see the original here. Contact us for permission to use this map.

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Article by Evan Centanni

Afghanistan: Who Controlled What in 2014?

The date is April 5, 2014. It's been more than 12 years since a US-led invasion helped overthrow the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a religious hardline government that ruled most of the mountainous country from 1996 to 2001. Its successor, the NATO-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is voting today on a replacement for President Hamid Karzai, who has led the country ever since the Taliban government's fall in 2001.