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Manufacturing capability. Musket balls can be cast by anyone with a mold- Minie balls and their equivalent are a bit more complex and likely weren't feasible to manufacture in quantity until the development of centralised factories for mass production.

I'm not sure how survivable Hephasteion's position is after Alexander's death. You're the royal favourite who's power is based purely on having the King's ear. The king is now dead. What's to stop one of the other generals eliminating Hephasteion? Especially since they've all had to spend time...

Well this is essentially what Orientalism is all about.

You do realise that Java was the population centre of the East Indies way before the advent of the Europeans? It's simply fertile in a way that Borneo or Sumatra will never be.

That plus new resource extraction industries bringing large numbers of non-rice farming dependent populations to the region. The tin and rubber industries caused a boom in areas unsuitable for foodstuffs as well as in new urban areas that serviced these. It's notable that before independence the...

They were already Hindu-Buddhist. Islam in SE Asia is a relatively recent phenomenon dating from the late 1400s. You might also see Buddhism surviving in North India- it was still just about hanging on alongside Hinduism until the advent of Islam.

Ridwan pretty much somes it up. Java is exceptional because it has some of the most fertile land in the world. I'd add that even on the Malay Peninsula, outside Kedah and some of the river valleys, you don't get that much easy arable land- it's mostly mountains and jungle once you move away...

There actually were quite a few Japanese in Malaya IOTL. They tended to set up small businesses and the like. They mostly went back after WW2.

I'll just let myself out :(

Of course the Belgian Congo was, as you say, profitable. And re the British colonies I specifically meant during the 19th C Scramble for Africa period when they really were grabbed in order to secure the Indian Ocean. I'm actually thinking more along the lines of places like German Togoland...

Actually many colonial powers did set up "trade agreements"- the British liked doing this in India because it provided all the profit with a lot less expenditure. This is why half the Raj was nominally under the control of local rajas. It didn;t make British dominance any less real. The...

Captive markets for resource extraction. No one's going to respect anyone else's turf and the "natives" aren't passive- they'll cut deals with your rivals as soon as a better deal is offered which is why either direct control or propping up a vassal ruler is necessary.

In terms of how paganisms might develop it might be useful to look at the collective of philosophies and religions known as Hinduism. That's essentially the most prominent example of an Indo-European paganism (Vedic religion) syncreticising with other beliefs to form something new.

Fair enough. Bucephalas slips on loose gravel.

Interestingly enough...if Greece is in this much disarray, what might be the chances of the invading Celts actually conquering it and establishing Helleno-Celtic states?

Very interesting points, Russian- thanks for your notes on Darius. So perhaps the Persian Empire, without the unique stress of Alexander's invasion, wasn't purely ripe to fall? I wonder what the culture of the Middle East would look like- without the overarching Hellenism, do we see a much...

Kerala has lots of potential for hydropower (in a TL where Travancore remains independent it could industrialise on hydropower in the late 19th C) but the trouble with solar and South India is the monsoon which would make sunlight access patchy throughout a third of the year. As DominusNovus...

But even so wouldn't Alexander's death spark uprisings all over the Macedonian hegemony? Especially with Macedon tied down in a civil war... I'm not sure it would be that easy to reassert hegemony- although, of course one should never underestimate the potential of the Greeks to start...

Yes this is pretty much what I figured. Presumably Athens tries to turn the League of Corinth into a second Delian League I agree that the idea of a crusade of sorts against Persia is part of the zeitgeist. I'm wondering if an Athenian hegemony can make use.of the Macedonian nobles...

The year is 335BC. Alexander of Macedon, a young and ambitious prince, eager to build on his father's legacy has fought off all internal claimants to the Macedonian throne, crushed the Illyrians and Thracians and finally brought the Greek city states to heel through his destruction of Thebes...