YES, YES, WE'RE FINALLY SEEING FLAGSAs we go into the next chapter, I've been working on my mapmaking skills:
amazingAs we go into the next chapter, I've been working on my mapmaking skills:
I knew a few of those dots would get away from me. It's a living document and I plan to further improve it, so I suspect you'll see it again.YES, YES, FINALLY WE'RE SEEING FLAGS
One question though, which software did you use? Also, I noticed one minor mistake, between Vic and Girona there is an unnamed city and in the south of Tunisia are three or four of them which automatically makes the map bad, sorry. /s
There are a bunch of smaller farm communities the Normans founded up there, but by and large, you can even see this when you look at Andalusia today: Leaving aside Madrid, the biggest population density is in Andalusia, Valencia and Catalonia, while the northern provinces are quite a bit less dense. Here you can see the same thing: The biggest clusters are in Andalusia and Valencia. That's in part the climate, but also the legacy of the fact that most of the old Roman, Greek and Carthaginian infrastructure was in the south of Iberia, with Asturias having always been fairly untamed and Gallaecia mainly being exploited as a mine. Andalusia had a huge advantage in the form of being able to exploit those old Greco-Romano-Carthaginian towns, farms, roads and irrigation networks.I love the amount of cities on the map and their different rankings, it really gives a sense as to where Andalus's populations are concentrated. The contrast between the inland north with a major city every 200 miles or so and the urbanized south with like 6 or 7 in that same span is jarring.
I can really see the Seville-Cadiz span becoming the basis for a megalopolis by TTL's industrial age, and maybe the whole span from southern *Portugal down to Tangier or even Sale (which I'm guessing has eaten up Rabat for a light snack) could be considered a continuous "Mid-Atlantic" urban sprawl.
Meanwhile, the north is out of the way for now, and Extremadura/Toledo are probably staying a backwater until railroads are introduced (and even after that, OTL Madrid's high-level manufacturing is probably going to be concentrated further south anyways). But it would be very fun for Lisbon to take after Brittany-- making its own mark on the colonial era as a swashbuckling competitor to Isbili, where the Hajib's spies are few, pirates/smugglers ply their trade and fishermen crowdfund trans-Atlantic voyages. The Ebro, though, might actually rival the Guadalquivir for crafts and industry-- that, plus close contact with Provencia across the border, leaves *Catalonia/Aragon likely to go its own way culturally if not politically. Something like the Glasgow-Edinburgh belt?
Loving Santiago's flag, and you can't go wrong with classic OTL Navarre (though maybe the origin story for it TTL would have something to do with the reconquest of Viguera or something). Also, the Asmarid Seal-of-Solomon having five points is aesthetic but probably an anachronism-- Morocco under the Marinids seems to have favored an eight-pointed Seal consisting of two squares at 45-degree angles to each other, and Turkish beyliks using the symbol opted for a six-pointed Star-of-David design.
What’s the back story behind the other flags. I know Genoa’s flag is the same as OTL, but why does Navarre have three lions and why does France not use the Fleur-de-Lys and has such a different flag from OTL, but Italy uses a Fleur-de-Lys? The flags are really cool and it would cool to learn the backstory behind them.
France does not use the fleur-de-lis because it seems to be mostly associated with the Capets, and the Capets flamed out on the launchpad in this universe. The cross fleury adopts some of that imagery. It was picked up by the Ingelger monarchs, along with the sun, which calls to mind the Oriflamme and evokes some of the mythologizing around Charlemagne's time.What’s the back story behind the other flags. I know Genoa’s flag is the same as OTL, but why does Navarre have three lions and why does France not use the Fleur-de-Lys and has such a different flag from OTL, but Italy uses a Fleur-de-Lys? The flags are really cool and it would cool to learn the backstory behind them.
I don't have much data on the historical distribution of Basque versus other languages, but the written language there is Latin and most of the ruling class are actually fluent in a Latin dialect similar to Gascon, owing in part to the unification with Aquitaine in the 11th century. For a time, owing to the marriage with the ruling house of York, the rulers spoke Anglish as their first language, but that's lapsed somewhat, and they now tend to speak Gasconesque officially and Basque in casual speech. Most common people, however, speak Basque, though finding a written document in the Basque language is impossible right now.What's the ratio of Romance speakers to Basque speakers in Navarre? Is Basque doing better or worse compared to OTL?
Of the Christian nations, only one has reached the New World: Denmark, centuries before Al-Andalus did. However, the settlements in Vinland were ephemeral and are now abandoned, and visits to Markland are rare at best and have declined. There is a small colony at the tip of Greenland that is holding on by the skin of its teeth.Do the Basque have the same whaling/fishing tradition as per OTL? And if so, does that mean they are benefiting form the Andalusi improvements in deep water ship technology? There has always been speculation(and possibly proof) of Basque fisherman in the Grand Banks around Columbus's voyages.
Along that line, and forgive me if this has been answered before, but has there been any New World voyages by Santiago, Navarre, or another Christian nation?