Physical History
The Colossus Model of World History
By Mark Ciotola
First published on May 17, 2019. Last updated on January 19, 2021.
Colossus is a computer-based simulator that generates models of world history. It utilizes a grid of dynasty-producing regions and interconnections between neighbors. This model focuses on the “old world” of Asia, Europe and Africa before World War I.
![ovals representing regions connected by lines](https://www.course.cafe/digital-quantitative-physical-history/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/06/old_grid-960x668.png)
History grid (PHP/SVG)
A newer version coded in the D3 Javascript library, with a button for each century:
![grid with buttons for centuries](https://www.course.cafe/digital-quantitative-physical-history/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/06/new_grid-960x796.png)
History grid (D3)
The Colossus simulator itself is written in the Ruby programming language, and results are exported as a CSV file. Sample output is below. Each row is a time period indicated by a year. The left bank of columns represent power. The right bank of columns represent power differenced between regions. This is an exploratory simulation. It has many deficiencies.
![](https://www.course.cafe/digital-quantitative-physical-history/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/06/Colossus_output_2-960x413.png)
Colossus simulation output
An early example of graphical representation of output. It is not very meaningful.
![](https://www.course.cafe/digital-quantitative-physical-history/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/06/Colossus_Diff_First_Output-960x557.png)
Early graphical representation of Colossus results
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