A Thousand Years of Ancestral Connections in One Interactive Chart

When it comes to royal and aristocratic families throughout Europe, you might be surprised to learn that many of these families (even those that are ruling countries hundreds of miles apart) share numerous common ancestors. This amazing interactive visualization from Nadieh Bremer lets you navigate through these outrageously interconnected family trees. She has done the painstakingly delicate work of laying out all of these ancestral connections in a way that allows you to connect familial relationships over a one thousand year period.

Click below to see the interactive visualization

This incredible interactive chart begins at the start of the 11th century and consists of thousands of colored dots, that each represent a person, that can be clicked on to reveal connections to others who came both before and after them. At the top of the chart is ten of the current monarchs and leaders of royal families in Europe. Each and every one of them can be tied back to ancestors that they have in common.

In the days before much was known about incest, royal families would marry off young men and women to cousins, aunts, uncles, and even siblings. Queen Elizabeth II is even related to her late husband, Prince Philip; they’re 3rd cousins! There are many different reasons why royals married within their own clan. These included increasing territory and power, creating stronger family ties, and so on. What they didn’t know then is that inbreeding can lead to some serious genetic disorders. Hydrocephaly and Habsburg jaw were just two of the common disorders that can be attributed to inbreeding. Ferdinand I of Austria had both. Blood disorders like hemophilia also wreaked havoc in royal families, and has even led to the end of empires.