This map, created by Celia Hernando for El Orden Mundial, shows Kurdistan.

Kurdistan is the name given to the territory occupied by the Kurdish ethnic group, commonly considered the largest people without a recognised state. The map, in yellow, shows all the regions of the Middle East that are mainly populated by Kurds, stretching across Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

On several occasions throughout history, the creation of a Kurdish state has been proposed, although none of these proposals have ever come to fruition. The map shows the extent that this state would have had according to the proposals of 1919 (pink), the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 (dotted pink) and 1945 (blue).

Currently, there is an autonomous Kurdish region within Iraq (in the north-east) and another region under effective Kurdish control in Syria (in the north-east).

Sources

• The map of Kurdistan: the claim of the world's largest stateless people