The Peace Atlas: what humanity has thought, built, broken, and repaired.
The International Day of Peace (established in 1981 through Resolution 36/67, then fixed to 21 September as a day of non-violence and cease-fire in 2001 through Resolution 55/282) is the doorway, not the destination. Inside: 12 people, 22 events, 17 ideas, 8 treaties, 28 timeline entries, 8 documents, and 24 teaching questions. Every entry is linked and sourced, with honest marking of what is fact, what is interpretation, and what is uncertain.
Peace Day 2026 Act Now for a Peaceful World — carry the work forward
Dated display. Please confirm the current theme at the UN observance page. Provisional display: confirm the current year's theme at un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace before citing.
Today in the atlas
Dag Hammarskjöld
Second UN Secretary-General (1953–1961); invented peacekeeping in practice during the Suez crisis; died in a 1961 plane crash on a Congo mission.
Partition and Independence of India (1947)
End of British rule alongside partition violence and mass displacement — independence and catastrophe together.
Civil Resistance
Unarmed collective action — strikes, boycotts, mass non-cooperation — that challenges power without arms.
Geneva Conventions (1949)
Four conventions protecting non-combatants and those hors de combat; cornerstone of international humanitarian law.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Thirty articles from dignity (Art. 1) through social/economic rights to duties of community (Art. 29).
The Peace of Westphalia was concluded in:
Answer with explanation in the quiz — it teaches even when you are wrong.
Start a chain of curiosity
International Day of Peace → 1981 resolution → earlier observances → 2001 cease-fire → peace movements → treaties → people → ideas → documents → quiz → timeline → AI explanation → another question.
eventPeace Day Fixed as 21 September — Day of Cease-fire (2001)personBertha von SuttnertreatyTreaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)ideaNon-violencedocumentUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Explore the timeline Search the atlas Play Timeline Challenge
How to read this atlas
Discover → Understand
What is this? What happened? Begin anywhere; every card links onward.
Context → Connection → Interpretation
Why did it happen? What is it connected to? How do historians disagree?
Evidence → Exploration
What are the sources? What should I investigate next? Leave with a new question.