This is a blog about peoples, communities and maps – making easily accessible and free of charge a variety of basic maps of interest to genealogists, family historians, social historians, ethnographers and other researchers.

Initially, the blog reproduced text and maps from the late bluebirdresearch.com site, with new articles and maps thereafter appearing as time permits.

The focus is primarily on minorities in Eastern Europe and the Near East – areas within the former Austro-Hungarian and especially Ottoman and Russian Empires in which I have a particular interest.

You are free to re-use the bluebirdmaps Google Maps but, if you link to them or wish to embed them on your site, kindly cite and acknowledge the source.

I recognise that this is a niche blog which will be caviar to the general and accordingly  thank each and every reader for their interest. Commenting has been turned off in an endeavour to stem the flow of spam but, if you are a bona fide human being, you are welcome to get in touch through the Contact page of this blog.

Any errors on maps or in blog articles are the blogger’s own. Please report any such errors that you find via the Contact page and they will be rectified as soon as practicable.