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A set of Interactive maps have revealed how the world's emissions have dramatically changed over the last 160 years.

The fascinating tools reveal how developed nations began to produce huge amounts of carbon dioxide after the Industrial Revolution.

And they also reveal how China is quickly becoming the world's biggest emitter.

Use the interactive map below to see emissions over the last 160 years 

The World Resources Institute in Washington DC has mapped the emission of carbon dioxide around the world from 1850 to 2011, shown above. The West dominated emissions for a century after the industrial revolution. But now Asia - especially China - has caught up and is usurping other developed nations

The maps were created by the World Resources Institute in Washington DC.

In the first map the carbon dioxide emissions of nations across the world from 1850 to 2011 are shown

And in a second, the per capita emissions of each nation across the same time period are detailed.

The WRI says the total carbon dioxide emissions for the world are nearly 46 billion tons.

The largest emitter is China at more than 10.26 billion tons, while the US comes in second at 6.135 billion tons.

The maps were created using the WRI's Cait 2.0 data, which compiles global emissions data.

This uses climate data from research centres, government agencies and international bodies to measure the emissions of six major greenhouse gases from 1990 to 2011.

Carbon dioxide emissions, meanwhile, stretch back to 1850 in 185 countries.

For more than 100 years since the industrial revolution emissions were dominated by the West, but over the last few decades Asia's emissions have rapidly caught up.

In 2005 China became the world's largest emitter while several Western countries including the US and UK stabilised their carbon emissions - albeit at a high level.

In the first map the carbon dioxide emissions for each nation are shown, while this second interactive map shows global emissions per capita

The largest emitter is China at more than 10.26 billion tons, while the US comes in second at 6.135 billion tons