This code maps African states' monthly contributions to UN Peacekeeping operations, using data from http://www.providingforpeacekeeping.org/contributions/. Darker colors mean more contributions. The script generates a .gif of about 5Mb size.

TCCs_Africa.R

library(rworldmap)
library(classInt)
library(Cairo)
library(RColorBrewer)

# note that the 'animation' package requires ImageMagick to convert .png
# to GIF: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/binary-releases.php
library(animation)

################
# Prepare data #
################

pkoTCC <- read.table("./data/Data.TCC.csv", header=TRUE, sep=",")
pkoTCC$date <- as.POSIXct(pkoTCC$date)

# subset African countries from all TCCs & restrict to 1990 to Dec 2012
pkoAfricaTotal <- pkoTCC[pkoTCC$tcc.continent=="Africa" & pkoTCC$date <= as.POSIXct("2012-12-31"), ]

# create intervals for contributions
classInt <- classIntervals(pkoAfricaTotal$total.sum,
                           n=7, 
                           style = "fisher")
catMethod = classInt[["brks"]]

# generate color palette
mypal <- brewer.pal(7, "Blues")

#######################
# Create animated GIF #
#######################

mapDevice()

saveGIF({
  
  # loop subsets African states' monthly troop contributions  
  # between 1/1991 and 12/2012 and plots this using rworldmap
  
  for(year in 1991:2012) {
    for(month in 1:12) {
      
      # add zero to every month
      if (month < 10) {
        pkoAfricaSubset <- pkoAfricaTotal[grep(paste(year, "-", "0", month, sep=""),
                                               pkoAfricaTotal$date), ]
      }
      else {
        pkoAfricaSubset <- pkoAfricaTotal[grep(paste(year, "-", month, sep=""), 
                                               pkoAfricaTotal$date), ]
      }
      
      # prepare map data
      sPDF <- joinCountryData2Map(pkoAfricaSubset,
                                  joinCode="ISO3",
                                  nameJoinColumn="tcc.iso3.alpha")
      
      # plot map data
      mapCountryData(sPDF, 
                     nameColumnToPlot="total.sum", 
                     catMethod = catMethod,
                     colourPalette = mypal, 
                     xlim=c(-20, 60), ylim=c(-40, 40),
                     mapTitle = paste("Uniformed Peacekeeping Contributions by African States", 
                                      month, 
                                      "/", 
                                      year))
                                      
      # uncomment this to add country names to map
      # country_names <- sPDF[!is.na(sPDF$total.sum), ]
      # text(country_names$LON, country_names$LAT, country_names$ADMIN, cex=0.6)                                
                                      
      ani.pause() # required by animation package
    }
  } 

# additional options for saveGIF()
},      movie.name = "TCC.gif",
        outdir = paste(getwd(), "/output/", sep=""),
        interval = 0.3, 
        ani.height=600,
        ani.width=600,
        ani.dev="CairoPNG",
        title = "Providing for Peacekeeping in Africa",
        description = "Contributions by African States to UN Peacekeeping operations from 1991 to 2012. Includes both military and police contributions. Darker colors indicate greater troop contributions.",
        clean=TRUE)

dev.off()