Atlas of the Celtic World

by John Haywood, Barry Cunliffe (Foreword)

After a chapter on Celtic identity, both academic and popular, Haywood (history, U of Lancaster) provides lush maps and illustrations documenting the continental Celts to the decline of Celtic Brittany, and Atlantic Celts to the Highland clearances, and modern Celtic people and languages. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Maps, Archaeology, Reference, Language, Irish Literature

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strength of this book is its beautiful illustrations and detailed maps. The earlier European history was the most interesting to me but it’s a stretch to continue a Celtic history into the Irish Plantations, the Jacobite Rebellion and the Highland Clearances, especially when there’s doubt as to the existence of an identifiable, homogenous Celtic culture as such. Its age goes against it as research, into the Picts in particular, has moved on quite a bit in the intervening 20 or so years since its publication. It’s a very nice coffee table book though and a handy reference due to its maps. It was a very thoughtful gift (Xmas 2022) so I’m pleased to have it on my bookshelves. [We don’t have a coffee table!]

[Overbooked ✎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I’m a visual person so maps and graphs help me understand and learn better, this book is exactly what I was looking for. After the general introduction on Celtic identity, the topic is organised by geographical areas (Continental Celts, Atlantic Celts, Modern Celts) and time periods.

Haywood uses simple and clear exposition; the information is comprehensive but not overwhelming. The book presents interesting facts and important dates are included (with a fantastic chronology list at the beginning), useful labelling of places, battle sites and migration routes, beautiful pictures of artefacts, plans and reconstruction of buildings are also welcome additions. A few chapters are dedicated to brief overviews of Wales, Scotland and Ireland distinct history.

Both theories on the Celt origins (based on archaeological finds and linguistics) are explained. Overall, I found the author to be balanced in his views, where controversies are present they are discussed and the reasoning behind the author conclusions made sense. Highly recommended.

Favorite quote:

By the 18th century the days of Celtic independence were all but over, and any concept of Celtic identity had long since ceased to exist. Today, millions of people all over the world consider themselves to be Celtic and millions of others are rediscovering Celtic roots. This remarkable revival of the Celtic identity is one of the most fascinating developments of modern times: its causes are intimately linked to major developments in European cultural and political life, such as Romanticism and nationalism.

[Quinn]

Pretty solid foundation, but sometimes a little (over)simplified where it needn't have been. Formed the basis of my introduction to Celtic studies course and it's probably the first textbook I've ever actually finished reading. Liked the maps.

[AngryGlitterWitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and aesthetically pleasing intro to Celtic cultured beyond the standard "Boudicca did fighting, everyone lived in a mud hut" history we got taught at school. Agree with the reviewer who criticised the lack of in-text citations though. A good springboard for further reading I think.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the maps and pictures.

[Kayleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

another book form my study.
I love this one.

It has the complete history of the celts and alot of pictures and maps.

[Alexander Rolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally-- A book with pictures!

[Yasmin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it's no easy thing to give a fair appraisal to a book that didn't do an in-text citations. Fair in the sense that because the author was not fair how can one justify in entirely a non-biased approach to the review? As it is this author used some very problematic language, an example being: "For most of the time, the Celts have played the role of noble savage to our well-ordered civilization". I'm not sure where "our well order civilization" comes into it nor do I know where the idea of "noble savage" for Celts comes from either. That language comes horrendously in to use in North America for Indigenous peoples. Then again, towards the end of the book the author says there is not enough research on druids to say who exactly they were as in "nothing was really known about real Druidic ceremonies" but only after making a fair number of claims earlier in the book. He does not give credence as to why so-called authority figures, i.e. Cesar and other Greeks and Romans, should be adhered to in terms of the Celts. It's one thing to claim there was no real migration to Britain and Ireland and then mention the bagpipes as traditional when he said that bagpipes were found in Eastern lands. I did find useful information in that the kilt is an invention by Walter Scott circa 1820s and that Thomas Rawlinson, an English ironmaster, came up with pleated kilt, philibeg, around 1727, for his employees. Thus, kilts are not traditional clothing of the Scotts nor were they used for anything other than decoration. The other so-called traditional garment, the trews, were in fact 18th century dress for the aristocrats. And that is why is burial graves a person no kilts have been discovered. To have called this book an atlas is misleading by the fact the book is only 139 pages of written disinformation with many pretty pictures and some maps. It should be remembered that the legacy of the Celts does need reexamining in order to avoid the legacy to follow to white supremacists who have attempted to do a claim on Norse mythology. The Celts like the Norse are not some kind of pure white race perpetuating a so-called white culture. The Celts were a hodgepodge of other cultures mixed together and applied to their particular environment. There still remains debate about the Celts assimilating another people and cultures when they came to England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The remainder of the Celts today are a mix of Anglo-Saxons, Norman, Roman and other immigrants. This should be recognised as the idea of the Celts, because there is no one pat answer as to whom or what the Celts were of the past. It was also a pity that the author did not mention that the potato famine in Ireland was more of a result of a starvation policy as it was a blight because potatoes are not native to Europe.

[Carlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

With brief details regarding historic events and archaeological finds relevant to each map, this beautiful book from 2001 provides an excellent overview of the conjectured beginnings, piecemeal expansion and decline of the “Celts” (however that historical label may be interpreted).
After an introductory essay about Celtic identity, there are two main sect on Continental Celts and Atlantic Celts.
The clear maps with useful explanations describe Continental Celtic developments in a broadly chronological order, including the original Celtic expansion with the movement of tribes, the defeat and absorption of Continental Celts by Roman military forces and the invasion of Germanic tribes, and final kingdom of Brittany until it is absorbed into France.
The second section on Atlantic Celts dwells for only a couple of maps on pre-Roman Celtic Britain, and mainly illustrates the gradual withdrawal of Britons from Anglo-Saxon England, followed by the anglicisation of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. For me these maps were most useful for clarifying how gradual this process was, how the Picts died out and Irish Gaelic became the language of the Scottish Highlands, and the English “plantations” in Ireland. Although all of this history is a lot more familiar to me, the use of maps makes these processes much easier to understand. In particular the assimilation of the Picts and the Highland clearances.
The final section relates to the modern (post seventeenth century) creation of a Celtic identity, arising from initial attempts to understand archaeological ruins and cultural ideas such as romanticism. This is fascinating as looking at cultural developments from self identification, rather than historical basis.

I bought this book after visiting the excellent exhibition on the Celts at the British Museum in 2015, and this has provided a useful refresher for the issues raised in that exhibition.

[Snicketts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great overview of a huge topic. With a couple of pages on each area with illustrations and maps, it is easy to follow and engaging. It also leaves obvious space for the evolution of the theories and new discoveries in its conclusions. I felt Ireland was a little underrepresented but as it is a few years since it was published perhaps new editions might touch more on the cattle economy and recent work done there. Ditto the Orkneys. This is a dynamic field of study at the moment and theories are evolving as more puzzle pieces are becoming available, but regardless, this book is a solid basis from which to begin a study of the origins and legacy of the Celts.

[Anthony Zappia · Rating 4 out of 5]

You wouldn’t normally think of an historical atlas as something you would read, but this atlas certainly can be read. There’s plenty of information and descriptions to go along with the maps, so it becomes quite easy to read the text and then use the associated maps to follow what happened. In fact it’s probably a great way to read or study history. If you’re a visual person you will get a lot out of this book.

[Serena Salmoiraghi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an amazing idea to correlate the historical facts with maps giving a glimpse of the territory on which they happened. I also appreciated the fact that the book is not confined to the Iron Age but also goes through Middle Age and modernity. The only thing I'm disappointed about is the fact that there are some relevant mistakes in the ancient part, so my evaluation is not five stars

[Daniel G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of highly informative maps, many photographs, and interesting text make this a fun and enjoyable book. I recently completed a Great Courses series of lectures presented by professor Jennifer Paxton entitled The Celtic World. They go together quite well.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting, but it's a bit repetitive at times. I feel like it would have made more sense, if structured differently.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done. I have always loved maps and the integral information they impart.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love maps and this particular atlas answered all the questions I had about this subject. Well researched.

[Renske Bakkenes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book!.
The maps and the layout was interesting. Just learned alot from this book!

[Rudi Opperman · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone interested in the origin of the Celts, where they lived, their culture, language and lots of other information, read this book.

[Loomboom · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesomesauce celts yeah

[Seine Seine · Rating 3 out of 5]

it helps to map out the general Conings and goings of the Celts, but some info is outdated

[Guadalupe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! I enjoyed reading it, would love to get a copy someday. It's got maps and beautiful illustrations and photos to accompany the chronology.

[Haley Tenney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good source of information about both early and late Celtic history as well as on the modern day implications that this history has created. The maps are quite useful for the visualization and connection of this subject to other peoples and their history.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative book of the Celts. A nice array of colour photos and maps to demonstrate the movements of the Celts throughout history. Though some details are a bit far fetched.

[Dwer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like celtic lore, history and maps, try this

[Maya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please check out my review at Celtic Scholar

[Steve Gorka · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good maps make a huge amount of information almost digestible. Interesting reminder that much today's Celtic identity was shaped in the 19th century.