Nono Umasy – Founder of HistoryMaps: “Learning History involves remembering dates, places, people, and events (the who, what, where and when of something). And remembering things for the sake of remembering is not very fun, atleast not for me. I thought there must be an easier and better way to learn and retain what I’ve learned…and make the whole damn thing fun! That was the challenge. So, I started by creating a simple website with a timeline of events. Then I thought, “Why don’t I include some maps?” and “Wouldn’t it be cool if the maps were interactive?”. When you show a map or a timeline, you know where things fit, both in time and place. Visual learning is intuitive, retentive and engaging. That was the key! But there was one other element missing: the stories had to be engaging. “What if I add images?” just like in those picture books I read as a kid. After that, inspirations from childhood (museum visits, movies, the beauty of printed books, etc.) flooded in and fed me ideas. Much of these ideas became experiments and after a few hundred code pushes later, we have the site as it is now. I’ve been traveling the world for more than 20 years. Books have fed this wanderlust. I wanted to see what I’ve been reading. A few years ago, the travel had gone stale (like coffee that’s lost it’s action). I’ve seen much of the world and most of it is the same. After the initial surprise and enjoyment, the excitement fades into a “dull routine of existence”. I ran out of things to do and places to see. But now, I’ve combined two things I love, History and travel. What started out as a project to learn History has given my travels new life. Because of this, I am inspired to create something cool and amazing. The site is in a constant state of flux. New features are tested. New forms of content are tried. Content is continually added and improved. I want HistoryMaps to be the best brand about History…I also love puzzles and secret things. A lot of the features on the site are hidden.”