Map of the Month 11: The Times They Are A-Changin'

[CourageousLife]

The Times They Are A-Changin'


The Challenge
Create two maps representing the same country/organization/subject in different epochs.
(For example, a map of the Roman Republic in 450 BC contrasted with a map of the Roman Empire in 117 AD at its maximum territorial extent.)

The Restrictions
There are no restrictions on when your PoD or map may be set. Fantasy, sci-fi, and future maps are allowed, but blatantly implausible (ASB) maps are not.

If you're not sure whether your idea meets the criteria of this challenge, please feel free to PM me or comment in the main thread.

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The entry period for this round will end when the voting thread is posted on Monday the 8th of January.

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THIS THREAD IS FOR ENTRIES ONLY.

Any discussion must take place in the main thread. If you post anything other than a map entry (or a description accompanying a map entry) in this thread then you will be asked to delete the post. If you refuse to delete the post, post something that is clearly disruptive or malicious, or post spam then you may be disqualified from entering in this round of MotF and you may be reported to the board's moderators.
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[DaniCBP]

My first ever take on the contest:

The powerhouse of the Sahel​

The Empire of Bornu had been a declining state for centuries. Once a prosperous animist country, since the 15th century its history was plagued with inner fighting, invasions and famines. By the 18th century, Bornu was only another Sahelian state, in the middle of the Saharan Trade Routes, which helped their rulers to keep an stable infflux of earnings, but subject to regular raidings by nomadic Touaregs and Hausa attacks.

However, things were going to change for Bornu and its people.

In the early-mid 18th century, a couple of Dazzaga tribes of the Toubou began to migrate south across the Sahara from its lands in southern Cyrenaica and Koufra to Lake Chad, bringing with them new arms and technology acquired from the Egyptians. This tribes, which during its migration began to mix on a unified Dagazza tribe, were accepted into Bornu as they provided security and new agricultural techniques for the Mais of Bornu, in exchange for some lands to graze and cultivate.

It turned out soon that the lands left for them weren't as fertile nor productive as they had been promised, and soon the chief of the Dazzaga began planning the full takeover of the country. As their warriors had become an important part of Bornu's armed forces, but were more loyal to their own clan than to the Mai, the plan worked accordingly.
The exact date of the takeover isn't known, due to conflicting reports on the matter, with some reports by Berber chiefs to the Karamanlid rules of Ottoman Tripoli of a civil war in Bornu in the mid 1740s, while the Dutch colonists in the Niger Delta being only informed of the matter after 1750 by merchants of the Chad region.

In any case, by the 1750s the Dazzaga had taken over and declared the country a Sultanate, with its first sultan being the chief Abdel Chai Saleh.
Soon, their warriors were reported attacking neighbouring tribes and peoples. Their Toubou cousins in the Tibesti region supported their campaigns, as they could bring relative stability to the trade routes, deteriorated by lawlessness and raids.

Kanem fell. Wadai fell. Bagirmi fell. Mandara fell.

By the early 19th century, the Lake Chad region was dominated completely by Bornu, so were the Saharan Oasis and trade routes. The Niger and Lake Chad were again connected safely to Fezzan and northern Sahara.
The new rulers helped spread arabic as a Lingua Franca in the region, with arabic-style names gaining attraction and islamic scholars traveled to the Sultanate, spreading islamic-arab culture into the region, while respecting local traditions.
With renowed security on trade routes and wild climate which allowed greater harvests, the boost of commerce linking the Nile and the Niger through the Sultanate improved the economy, bringing prosperity and helping the stablishment of stable State institutions. Ngarzagamu was home to dozens of scolars producing works in a range variety of topics, from religious studies to law, medicine, grammar and other modern studies, whose new knowledge made the Chad Basin one of the most advanced regions in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 1811, an Egyptian delegation arrived to Ngarzagamu, invited to the proclamation of Muhammad Bahar of the Dazzaga as Caliph. The wealth and opulence of the ceremony was widely reported through West Africa, and to Europe and Arabia by the Egyptians, shocking the ones who still regarded the region as a famine-stricken unstable area.

His son, Saleh Youssuf ibn Bahar subjugated the eastern Sahel, almost up to the Nile, conquering the Dar Sila, Dar Masalit, Dar Runga and the sultans of Darfur during the 1840s, and the regional emirates surrounding their domains, imposing tributes and vassalage, reaching the zenit of Bornu's power, stablishing friendly relations with the Egyptians and other neighbors, bringing further stability and peace.

From Nubia to Cameroon, from the Fezzan to the Niger, Bornu was the dominant power over the peoples of the region.
The late 19th century would see the European Empires began scrambling Africa, threatening the power of the native powers.

But, by the 1850s, Bornu was one of the greatest powers in Africa.​

 

[Quel2324]

I don't like Goths. They're irritating and they get everywhere.

In a world without a prominent Christianity (and thus, without Islam), the Visigothic Kingdom had few reasons to hold itself together. Constant succession disputes and conflicts made the whole thing collapse by the time of the 370th Olympiad (705AD). Multiple kingdoms emerged, among which the Kingdom of Baetica got hold on Southern Hispania. Having the political disputes settled, the court at Hispali found itself with time and resources to think about conquest, specifically conquest from the Byzantines. They launched an invasion into the Columns of Hercules, securing the city of Tingis and removing Roman presence from the region. The unorganized Berber kingdoms west of the river Malva didn't become a problem, and after reaching the beginning of the Atlas range, the Kingdom of Baetica created the Earldom of Tingitania (397 O'-409 O' // 812AD-860AD). Thousands of settlers came with tales of prosperity and political benefits, and so a reasonable population was established.

However, underrating your opponents is the worst mistake you can make. Seeing this pressure and instability from the Peninsula, a league of minor kingdoms led by Altava united into the Mauritan Confederacy. They kicked Tingitania out of Tingis (why did nobles keep its name is still an unanswered question) and subdued the now Romance-Gothic Duchy as a puppet state. Pressure from Mauritania led to Tingitanians adopting a progressively semi-nomadic lifestyle. With this lifestyle, one of the only lucrative professions they could take was that of a merchant. The Hispanic-descended middle class became richer than the local one, creating a reputation not unlike that of Jews in later Medieval Europe. In 438/2 O' (974AD), "Goths" were expelled out of Mauritania, being forced to either go back to Hispania or to roam the desert for a home. Trade with them was also barred, and their temples were to be destroyed. The semi-nomadic lifestyle they had completed its transition into nomadism. In this regression, thousands perished, with no way back to their homes. Many people integrated in Tuareg tribes, converting to their religion and adapting to their culture, but they often did so as slaves.

With time, Mauritanians partially forgot their despise of “Goths”, and they increased trading with Tjntanjans. Populations became bigger and more stable, and the regression of Mauritan borders into the Mediterranean made it easy for the self-identified "Tjntanjans" to reach the Atlantic Coast. There, near what is now Seleri, they realized that, in a day with a clear sky, there was a big mountain across the sea. Tjntanjans started sailing the seas, establishing the mythologized city of Tjnes Nua (Tingis Nova) in the island inhabited by Mahos. They didn't know it, buy they had reached the Canary Islands (475 'O/1127AD). Tamara was an agricultural oasis for thousand of miles around, and by "civilizing" the Canarian Natives, they rediscovered plantation sites to trade luxurious fruits with the Old World.

Between the Canaries and the Cape of Salt, Transatlasic Tjntanjans had the chance of establishing a regional trade power, in the future getting filthy rich from trade to the Americas. Cisatlasic Tjntanjans didn't have the same luck, but they ended up as a respectable minority group within the Atlas Republic. Tjntanjan is spoken in both territories to this day.

Ugh, I really hate this teacher... How am I supposed to study for this test with JUST MAPS?

//Oh, boy, how do I love to use MotF to make my No-Christianity TL go ahead. Making this map (especially the Tjntanjan Kingdom one) has been a pain in the ___ because of how badly documented anything in Africa is. I still have trauma with dozens of tabs open each starting with "Wadi" /j. I ended in some US army map compilation and now I've found an amazing resource, tho.

//Also, I use an Olympic Calendar because I can. Enjoy!
For the migration map: (Font: Unigeo Family by Zetafonts -http://www.zetafonts.com/collection/8105)

 

[Prince di Corsica]

The Difference a Century Makes
Arabia from 1924 to 2024

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Just a century ago, Arabia was a very different place - not only was it divided between various tribal chiefdoms, emirates and kingdoms, but large parts of its territory were also under effective imperialist occupation, from Palestine to Oman. It was still a very backwards society, dominated by the tribal leaders, by the sheikhs and by the imams, and dedicating itself mostly to sustenance agriculture and to nomadic pastoralism. It was a land of oppressed, ignorant people, dominated by religious feeling and with very little to show for themselves.

But change was in the air - over the past decade, the Arab Revolt had taken place, with the Arabic people rising up against the yoke of Ottoman rule and, headed by the Hashemite clan, establishing kingdoms of their own in Syria, Jazira, Iraq and the Hejaz, and confederating them under the auspices of a new Caliph, a Arab caliph for the first time in five centuries. Although still far from uniting them under a sole banner, and from relieving them from imperialist exploitation, the Hashemite project was a very important progressive milestone in the development of modern Arabia. Throughout the next decade, they would defeat the remaining Arabic statelets and, over the next decades, take for themselves what remained of the European imperialist parcels of Arab soil.

But that was not all - Arabia would also enrich itself considerably through the discovery of massive oil resources in its ground and on its shores, resources that would be exploited, first by capitalist foreign companies, namely the Arabian-American Oil Company, that gave the State powerful resources that allowed for some modernization to take place. Alongside this development, a veritable renaissance of Arabic culture was taking place, promoted by the memories of the Arab Revolt and the struggles against French imperialism in Syria, and later against the British as well. Arabs educated in European universities returned home to spread some of the ideas they had learned in foreign shores, molding them to Arab perceptions. All of this while infrastructure, such as the railroads, began appearing, marking the landscape and approaching the faraway corners of the immense Arab motherland.

Ultimately, the Arab people overcame the need for the Hashemites, whose confederate system and backwards, tribal and religious views only delayed further progress, while their hoarding of oil revenues impoverished the country. On 14 July 1958, the Second Revolution took place, that saw the Hashemite Royal line wiped out, and a Republic proclaimed. Although that was not the end of the upheavals, it began the process that, by 1964, saw the People's Republic of Arabia being proclaimed, embracing socialism as an all-unifying policy that could continue the progress of the country going forward.

Ever since, the People's Republic has faced a number of upheavals, that is for sure, and has had to deal with some important issues, such as recognizing the rights of groups such as the Kurds, the Assyrians and the Jews to their autonomy. But, ultimately, the history of the People's Republic has been a history of massive successes - lifting millions from poverty, bringing the country together through hundreds of miles of railroads, increasing every humanitarian standard possible and, perhaps the most amazing of all, making the deserts bloom, restoring long-lost rivers and lakes to a greater wetness, and building entirely new towns and civilizations out of the former desert. Arabia is now a much wealthier country than it was, 60 or 100 years ago, and also a much more fresh, beautiful country, full of rivers and abundance.
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From a backwards corner of the planet, Arabia has become a world leader - being the forefront of environmental engineering sciences, and leading the world's effort towards decarbonization, while leading the race to the stars, having this year placed the first man - an Arab man - on Mars. Arab authors dream of colonizing the Red Planet, and turning its wastelands into the blooming paradise they have built at home.

The world has changed a lot in the last 100 years, but nowhere perhaps has much as it has in Arabia.

____________________________________________

So, I've been wanting to do a map incorporating the Sharifian Solution, especially Jazira, that seems like it would be a very interesting country in the long run. Here that opportunity hasn't presented itself entirely, but still, it was fun.

I wanted to do a very busy map, with cities, rivers, lakes, railways, labels, and the flags just looked like a fun way of adding more to the map, making it look fuller and allowing me to show the diversity of the place. And then, making 2024 even fuller, both in rivers and in cities, really showcases progress, I think.

This map was both a delight to design, has a lot of fun things happening there and it was very interesting to research for, making me look deep in Arabian history in a way I hadn't before.​

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[Karl der Große]

The image depicts the historical situation in a modern (AD 2024) religious school textbook. Maybe a bit biased.


"Jing,
It's ridiculous you sprang this on me so suddenly. Here, my four year old son made this. This will have to do for you, unless you can delay the board meeting. Threaten me all you want, you know this isn't fair and in any case the big bosses will hold you responsible. Remember all agency communication is monitored and logged. Given your dubious credentials from the University of Banja Luka (if you remember, my own alma mater is Zhejiang), I'll assume you need a legend too.
Yellow is the SUN. Hard to believe I know.
Red is of course our own Zhōngguó and our friends and allies. Our colonies on Mercury and Venus prosper, and are gathering groundbreaking physical data. Note our influence extends past Saturn.
Purple is the Accelerationists. In our societal striving for perfection, some misguided groups seek to leave Earth as a homeworld behind and grow adapted to other celestial bodies. Some glue together and bore out asteroids, setting them to spin so gravity is simulated inside using centripetal force. Some live on floating stations in the gas giants, using the planets' makeup for fuel and (with the help of some fusion) manufacturing material. Some live on the barren surfaces of dwarf planets and moons, trading and gathering astronomical data with less interference from larger celestial bodies.
Green is the pirates, and the Knights Templar. Remnants of an ancient religious, financial, and political organization. Now they are little more than pirates, though their stated purpose is to protect pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem, a city in the Caliphate that is holy to them. There are no open indications the Caliphate is disloyal to us, but we were closely monitoring the situation until you took over and got rid of all Guo Min's good policies. They certainly had a hand in the fighting before the Treaty of Olympus Mons, and I'm sure they're making life hard for our outposts past Mars as they raid supply shipments and research vessels. None of our agents have seen one of them in the last 50 years, at least not that is known to my security level, but it is rumored they have grown physically misshapen and grotesque due to conception, gestation, birth, and life in near-zero gravity. Some of them may not be able to survive on Earth.
Regardless, it looks like they will be our problem to help solve. Hopefully with somebody competent soon taking your place.
From the desk of Director of Mars Field Office Wang Yong, 28/2/2364"