The minimap appears on the top left corner of the screen. It is helpful in the way that you can see what is happening nearby just by looking at it. Your followers are shown with your tribe's colour, and the other tribes with their respective colours. You can differentiate the water from the land easily too. You can see a small white arrow, which is the direction finder (pointing the direction your camera is facing, in the minimap).

On the minimap you can also see the enemy followers when they are near your settlements.

Left-click on the minimap to zoom to point. Right-click to go to the World view.