This map, created by Perrin Remounted for Visual Capitalist in 2023, shows the state of the world during the last glacial maximum, around 20,000 years ago.

This map falls within the Würm glaciation (or Wisconsin glaciation, as it is known in America), which occurred between 110,000 and 10,000 BC. During this period, the global temperature was between 4 °C and 5 °C below the 20th century average temperature.

Perrin Remonté's map shows the state of the planet at the height of this glaciation, when large amounts of ice accumulated at the poles and on the highest peaks. If today 11 % of the land mass is covered by ice (mainly Antarctica and Greenland), at that time up to 25 % of the surface was permanent ice. This resulted in a drop in sea level to between 100 and 120 metres below today's sea level.

The colours used on the map represent glaciers (in light blue), areas that are still above sea level today (in white) and regions that were above sea level at that time but are now under the sea (in grey).

The author also highlights other details:

• Beringia connected Asia and North America.
• Northern Europe, the part that was not covered by ice, was full of melt lakes that have now disappeared.
• Due to the lack of rainfall, the whole of Siberia was a cold desert but without permanent ice.
• Thanks to the melting ice, the Caspian Sea had a surface area that could have been twice its current size. According to other simulations, like this one, the Caspian Sea became connected to the Black Sea.
• The Sea of Japan became a lake.
• The Persian Gulf did not exist during this period, although it did contain a series of lakes.
• In Southeast Asia, there were two large regions that practically connected the Asian continent with Australia: Sundaland and Sahul.

In this another map you can check another similar representation from the same period.

Here you can read more about lands emerged during the last glacial peak.

Sources

• What did the world look like during the last ice age?