Build comprehensive family trees, preserve oral traditions, and discover distant cousins through our AI-powered ancestral mapping platform. From verified records to cherished stories passed down through generations.
Everything you need to build, preserve, and share your family history
Dynamic family tree builder with drag-and-drop interface. Add names, dates, locations, photos, and storiesāeven unverified claims and oral traditions.
Advanced matching engine suggests potential relatives based on shared names, dates, places, and story fragments from other users' entries.
Search by surname, location, generation, tribe/clan, or anecdotal tags. Supports phonetic matching for variant spellings.
Interactive world map showing family clusters and migration patterns. Hover over regions to view ancestral stories by location.
Preserve oral traditions, family claims, and hearsay alongside verified facts. Each story is timestamped and attributed to its contributor.
Choose what to keep public, private, or share with "family only." Full control over your data and privacy settings.
Explore how our platform works with real examples
See how families are discovering each other across continents
"Babu always told us about his cousin who moved to Tanga, Tanzania around the 1930s. His name might've been Omari. We never knew what happened to that side of the family."
"My grandfather Omari always said he came from Kisii in the 1930s. He married my grandmother here in Tanga. I've been searching for his family for years."
8 months later: Our AI matching engine connected Grace and Amina based on shared location patterns and name similarities. Today, they share photos, stories, and plan to meet in person to reconnect their families after 90 years.
From basic family trees to professional genealogy tools
Preserving cultures, clans, and family histories beyond borders. Especially vital for African diasporas, communities fractured by war, migration, or colonization.
Community-driven platform that outlives any single contributor
Bridging generations and preserving oral knowledge
Ensuring children can retrace their ancestry
Ancestry Timeline
Key milestones in global family history and migration, from ancient times to today.
Featured Community Stories
Inspiring stories from our global community, preserving family memories across generations.
"My grandfather's stories inspired me to trace our roots back to the 1800s. Now, my children know where they come from."
"We discovered cousins in California we never knew existed. Our family is now truly global!"
"Preserving my family's oral traditions online has brought us closer, even across continents."
Abrahamic Lineages & World Diasporas
A scrollable, branching timeline of Abraham's descendants, their migrations, and global impact.
The Roman Empire: Reach, Displacement, and Legacy
How Rome shaped Europe, North Africa, and the Middle Eastāpeoples, cities, and migrations.
Migration & Connection:
Timeline:
Persian & Macedonian Empires: Connections and Migrations
From Persia to Alexander the Great: migrations, mingling, and the Hellenistic world.
Migration & Connection:
Timeline:
World History Maps & Diasporas
Explore how ancient kingdoms, slave routes, and great diasporas shaped today's world.
See how the borders of Egypt, Kush, Israel, and Mesopotamia evolved into modern nations.
Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Saharan, and Indian Ocean slave routes connected continents and changed societies forever.
Jewish, African, and Asian diasporas have shaped cultures and identities across the globe.
Traditional African Trade Routes & Migrations
Explore the great migrations and trade routes that shaped Africa's peoples and cultures.
The Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from West/Central Africa to the south and east, spreading language, agriculture, and ironworking.
Cushitic peoples of the Horn of Africa traded with Egypt, Arabia, and India, shaping the region's culture and economy.
Khoisan hunter-gatherers and Congo rainforest peoples represent some of Africa's oldest lineages and unique migration patterns.
Gold, salt, and other goods crossed the Sahara, connecting West Africa to North Africa and the Mediterranean world.
Swahili city-states traded with Arabia, Persia, India, and China, blending African and Asian cultures.
Nilotic peoples migrated along the Nile and into the Great Lakes region, shaping East Africa's history and diversity.
Hi-Cousin is a global, open-source platform dedicated to helping people everywhere discover, connect, and preserve their family history. We believe that every story matters, and that by sharing our roots, we build bridges across generations, cultures, and continents.
Why do we do this? Our world is more connected than ever, yet many family stories, traditions, and lineages are at risk of being lost. Hi-Cousin empowers you to record, verify, and share your ancestryāwhether it's through oral tradition, documents, or DNA. By making this platform open and collaborative, we ensure that everyone, regardless of background, can contribute to the world's shared heritage.
Why is it important? Family history is more than names and datesāit's the foundation of identity, belonging, and understanding. By preserving your family's journey, you help future generations know where they come from, celebrate diversity, and foster empathy. Our tools make it easy to connect with distant relatives, discover migration patterns, and honor the stories that shaped us all.
Why does it involve you? Hi-Cousin is built for everyone. Whether you're a genealogist, a student, or just curious about your roots, your participation enriches the platform. You can add your family tree, contribute stories, verify information, or help others connect the dots. Every contributionābig or smallāhelps preserve our collective memory.
Open Source & Community-Driven
Hi-Cousin is fully open source. Anyone can view, use, and contribute to the codebase. We welcome developers, designers, historians, and storytellers from all backgrounds. Together, we can build a platform that's transparent, trustworthy, and always improving. Contribute on GitHub.
Privacy & Trust
Your privacy matters. You control what information is public, private, or shared with family only. We are committed to protecting your data and will never sell your information. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service (coming soon).
Join us! Hi-Cousin is more than an appāit's a movement to preserve the world's family stories. Start your journey today, invite your relatives, and help us build a living archive for all humanity.
Hi-Cousin uses advanced, multi-layered encryption to keep your data private and secure. Here's how it works:
Result: Without all servers working together, your data cannot be decrypted. This protects you even if one server is compromised.
š Simple Encryption Example (Try it Yourself!)
// Your name: RAMAH // Key: 1 (each letter moves 1 step forward) // Encrypt (displace each letter by +1): R ā S A ā B M ā N A ā B H ā I // What is stored: SBNBI // Decrypt (move each letter back by -1): S ā R B ā A N ā M B ā A I ā H
How it works: If you enter RAMAH and the key is 1, each letter is shifted forward by 1 in the alphabet. The stored value is SBNBI. To decrypt, the system shifts each letter back by 1 using the same key, revealing your real name only when authorized.