The Vault is Slate’s history blog. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @slatevault, and find us on Tumblr. Find out more about what this space is all about here. This 1854 map of world religion ...

Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are five of the biggest religions in the world. Over the last few thousand years, these religious groups have shaped the course of history and had ...

Click on “Projecting the World’s Faith” below to begin a slideshow of each graphic in full size. Religion News Service graphics by Tiffany McCallen (RNS) Muslims will overtake Christians by the end of ...

The five largest religions — Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism — represent about 77% of the world population. Their spread throughout parts of Asia and Europe, and gradually down to ...

Muslims will overtake Christians by the end of this century. India, now mostly Hindu, will become the world’s largest Muslim country. The numbers of people with no religious identity will soar in the ...

For centuries we have used maps to delineate borders that have been defined by politics. But it may be time to chuck many of our notions about how humanity organizes itself. Across the world a ...

It's a problem that has plagued cartographers for centuries: How do you accurately represent a round world on a flat map? The most common world map used today, designed almost 450 years ago, is highly ...

Russell McLendon is a science writer with expertise in the natural environment, humans, and wildlife. He holds degrees in journalism and environmental anthropology. Like all planets, Earth isn't flat.