Hannibal's Wake
- Thread starter leopard9
- Start date
Oh never mind . I didn’t see the last page and it seemed that people were commenting for no reason.
This is something that will take more definition in later posts, I will devote at least a couple of pictures to this. Here's a rundown of major players.Might not quite be from sea to shining sea but it'll do. Ansongo rules! Which nations exist in Europe and the Middle East right now? If was a good writer I'd definitely explore an ISOT Ansongo to OTL late 400s, unfortunately I'm not...
1. Roman Republic: Long since having recovered from its disastrous defeat against Carthage in the 2nd Punic War, Rome has full control over the Italian Peninsula, has established colonies north of the Alps, and has almost fully colonized the Balkan coastline. The Greeks have been reduced to vassal state status and Roman influence is quickly growing in the Iberian Peninsula and general Mediterranean Sea as a premiere trading and military power. They worship the traditional Roman Pantheon, but the influence of the Two God Path has resulted in a bit more focus on solely Jupiter and Juno as the prime male and female deities than IOTL. Uses the Latin script.
2. The Punic Isles: After the Germanic Invasions of the Atlas Mountains in the 4th century, Carthage no longer exists and what Punics remain fled to the islands that IOTL would be known as Sicily, Sardina, and Corsica and established them as their new homeland. They've got the best ships in the Mediterranean and still mostly trade as their lifeblood. Not much military to speak of, but that's starting to change as they greatly fear a resurgent Rome looking to expand west. They use the Punic script, though ITTL, it's known as "Northern/Old Punic" by the Ansongoans, as Punic is the basis for the script used in West Africa. They still worship the old Punic gods and have fiercely resisted the spread of Meirsim (Two God Path) by codifying their religion.
3. The Suebi Kingdoms: Technically not Europe, but demographically a bit closer than IOTL. When Germanic warlords invaded the Atlas mountains and broke Carthage's power, decades of low-level conflict followed. What resulted was a sizable Suebi aristocracy ruling over a Berber populace. As time has gone on, the two people have started to merge, though Germanic culture and language is starting to dominate. They have become a major trading partner for the Ansongoans. They use Northern Punic as their script and worship Germanic gods.
4. The rest of Europe: Most land west of Germany has Celtic or Hispania majorities ruled by a Germanic elite that is rapidly diverging away from what they once were during the migrations. My reasoning is that due to Rome never expanding into these areas, the Celtic population of France was never genocided, leading to a larger Celt influence.
5. Arabian Peninsula: Will soon cover this. Aside for a bit more Aksumite and Egyptian influence on the western coast, things are pretty much as IOTL. Two God Path missionaries and Jewish immigrants and merchants aren't unknown in larger settlements, but worship of the Arabian gods is the norm.
Always great to see an old TL come back to life- so we've got an empire stretching from Lake Chad to the atlantic? That's one beefy thing, but can it hold together?
The best thing China ever did was expand out of the alluvial North China plain and hack its way through the southern forests to the South and East China Sea coasts-- it might have even seemed implausible, if not for the fact that it happened. It brought Chinese civilization it what are now its richest and most populous territories, to the point where the original cradle of Chinesw civilization seems a second rate territory by comparison.
Ansongo may benefit from a similar expansion into the forest belt south of the Sahel, which may be capable of being transformed into a large African-rice agriculture economy-- but moreover, it will make Ansongo civilization and the states ruling it independent of the Sahel's own climactic vagaries.
Ansongo may benefit from a similar expansion into the forest belt south of the Sahel, which may be capable of being transformed into a large African-rice agriculture economy-- but moreover, it will make Ansongo civilization and the states ruling it independent of the Sahel's own climactic vagaries.
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Yeah. Ansongo is sitting pretty-ish right now but new pressures will eventually mount. Something to note is that Ansongo's true home is in the savanna, as their usage of giant eland as mounts and meat, milk, and hide sources instead of horses and cattle that are susceptible to sleeping sickness, means that they aren't quite as dependent on the Sahel's climate for success. I've toyed about another round of expansion into the forest belt, but Ansongo may settle for massive cultural imperialism.
Absolutely. My map editing skills have significantly improved, so I feel more confident making new maps. What I'm going to do is make a bunch of maps and re-edit older posts to place them at the end of the posts so people know what I'm talking about.
Yeah, it's impressive, but conquering is always easier than ruling and it's 2,070 miles from the eastern banks of Lake Chad to the Atlantic. Granted, Mao is just a vassal state while Kita is fully incorporated into the empire, but that's a massive bureaucratic endeavor, even with camels, elands, and a literate aristocracy and jali force. Kind of reminds me of this comic satirizing the American empire of the early 1900s.
