I am very impressed by how many of these nations can be formed not by changing the people who inhabit them, but by changing what they call themselves. In the Americas, Africa, and Oceania especially, we often mistakenly assume that placenames were somehow inherent to the land, when in fact so many of them were just the names of explorers (America), geography (Indonesia), or the color of the trees (Brazil). Even "Denmark" could have that name with 1066 still happening, if the Normans just find the Danes rather than the Angles in cultural dominance at the time.
Another map with odd placenames
- Thread starter sunsurf
- Start date
Thanks! I'm glad you liked the Finnish Empire.
A little more information on the situation in Japan and the SW Pacific:
As in OTL, the grounds of a nations embassy are considered to be part of the territory of that embassy. So in the places known in OTL as Japan and the Philippines, various countries have embassies which cover hundreds of square miles of territory, much to the displeasure of the local potentates.
I looked up the Finnish slogan and found this article. I'd like to use the slogan on the Finnish Imperial Flag, if and when I make one.
A quote from that article:
...a sentence created by an Estonian philologist, Mall Hellam, which purports to be the one phrase that all the main Finno-Ugric language groups can conceivably understand: Elävä kala ui veden alla, or loosely translated, "The living fish swims in water".
Maybe that can be the title of a story, or the title of this timeline?
A little more information on the situation in Japan and the SW Pacific:
As in OTL, the grounds of a nations embassy are considered to be part of the territory of that embassy. So in the places known in OTL as Japan and the Philippines, various countries have embassies which cover hundreds of square miles of territory, much to the displeasure of the local potentates.
I looked up the Finnish slogan and found this article. I'd like to use the slogan on the Finnish Imperial Flag, if and when I make one.
A quote from that article:
...a sentence created by an Estonian philologist, Mall Hellam, which purports to be the one phrase that all the main Finno-Ugric language groups can conceivably understand: Elävä kala ui veden alla, or loosely translated, "The living fish swims in water".
Maybe that can be the title of a story, or the title of this timeline?
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You need a strongly Catholic state forcing the Pope onto Orthodox priests like Counter-Reformation era Poland-Lith. was doing to the Ukrainians, is all I'm saying.
And asking the Galicians (who are premusably TTL's Ukrainians, yes?) to pick up their entire nation and more importantly their state apperatus, and shift their culture and political centre of gravity 100s of km in the 18th C is pretty though. By that time societies were too complex to be moved without tremendous force.
Not impossible, just very tough.
And asking the Galicians (who are premusably TTL's Ukrainians, yes?) to pick up their entire nation and more importantly their state apperatus, and shift their culture and political centre of gravity 100s of km in the 18th C is pretty though. By that time societies were too complex to be moved without tremendous force.
Not impossible, just very tough.
You can't justify Pakistan, because by 1933 you'll have too many changes for Rahmat Ali to be alive and be issuing the Pakistan Declaration. He coined the term (well, actually, he called it Pakstan until someone pointed out that "paki" meant "pure" in a local language), and it's highly unlikely that anyone in an ATL would have come up with an English-language acronym for Punjab, Afghan, Kashmir, Sind, and Baluchistan.
Thande
Donor
Yes but it's about as likely as a mega-Iroquois Confederacy that dominates the North American continent by 1800 deciding to call itself the United States. Pakistan is an invented term.
Although if you want an unlikely name for northwestern India, at one point in the 1700s that whole area was called Afghanistan...
Okay.
One change I would like to make is India being called Canada. One of the regions/languages is usually spelled Kanada, though it sounds like Ganada when somebody says the word to me. It wouldn't take much for the conventional spelling to become Canada...would it?
And it's a fairly widely spoken language, so that helps.
One change I would like to make is India being called Canada. One of the regions/languages is usually spelled Kanada, though it sounds like Ganada when somebody says the word to me. It wouldn't take much for the conventional spelling to become Canada...would it?
And it's a fairly widely spoken language, so that helps.