Absolutely fantastic! Four minor nitpicks:
Thanks! I don't make a lot of maps, so when I do I try to make them good.
1) This is mostly an aesthetic critique: Venezuela's flag looks weird and off-putting. What are those little shapes in the yellow stripe? It just doesn't look good IMO.
What xt828 said; they're stars that didn't shrink very well. In retrospect a different flag for Venezuela might have worked better, possibly a simple tricolor.
2) I'm no expert on the British Empire, but why is South Atlantic a commonwealth? If the designation is based on population, then how can those three rocky, barren little outcroppings support a decently-sized population? Even the Falklands only have, what, three thousand people max? Or is it based on the old imperialist standby: "let's give these islands preferential status because they're populated by white folks"?
The Commonwealth of the South Atlantic is basically Tierre del Fuego with the Falklands and a couple other islands tacked on. I wasn't able to get any exact numbers for the place, but in OTL the Argentine half of the island has a population of roughly 130,000 including the capital of Ushuaia which has 60,000, so it's reasonable to assume that the population of the Commonwealth ITTL is at least 150,000. That's more than several other commonwealths which are just tiny islands closer to the equator (like Grenada).
3) I really like seeing that independent Araucania. The Chileans finally gave up on subduing the Mapuche, I'm guessing?
Yep. The Argentine Confederation (not yet reduced to just Buenos Aires State) backed Orélie-Antoine de Tounens'
Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia in the hopes of using it to slow the efforts of Chile and the Argentine Nation in colonizing Patagonia. Tounens failed utterly at extending his authority outside of the Mapuche tribes in Araucania who supported him, but they managed to hold back the Chileans with help from the Confederation and later the British who had already annexed Tierra del Fuego Grande and wanted to expand their influence in the region. His son abandoned the kingdom's claim to Patagonia after he died. These days the Kingdom of Araucania is an economically stratified, ethnically Mapuche state with a figurehead monarch and most political power in the hands of tribal leaders who use the national government merely as a convienient way of presenting themselves to the world.
4) Why does the US have the Galapagos? And are they doing anything to protect its unique fauna?
In OTL the indebted government of Equador attempted several times to sell the Galapagos, an offer which the United States seriously considered. ITTL a bankrupt Equador sold it to finance its (defensive) war with the Confederation of South America to the USA which viewed the islands as a convienient spot to put a naval base that would consolidate their control over the Nicaragua Canal. Originally the entire island group was administered by the US Navy, but the growth of a civilian population to support the military presence resulted in a gradual transition to civilian administration even though the federal government still owned most of the territory. As part of President Brown's program to scale back America's military now that the Undeclared War is easing, much of the federal land in the Galapagos (including the entire islands of Genovesa, Espaniola, and Floreana) was transformed into the Alfred Thayer Mahan National Park.
I think they're blue stars. Looking at the other flags, I think they're being resized without the benefit of antialiasing.
Hit the nail on the head with that one.
What, no Easter Island Republic?
Seriously though, excellent map.
I knew I forgot something!
Glad you liked it.
Very small quip: it's Tercera República de Venezuela (a femenine, not a masculine). Great otherwise, although the Neogranadine/Ecuatorian/North Peruvian borders are a bit off-putting.
Thanks, I'm not a Spanish speaker.
What is it exactly that you find off-putting about those borders?
How does the Confederation (alt-Bolivia) hope to exercise a claim to Acre? Is there a disputed border with Sud-Peru that's not shown?
Presumably they also claim part of eastern Southern Peru. Wasn't most of that land historically claimed by Bolivia anyway?
OTL Bolivia actually controlled that region for a while before Brazil got it.
The Confederation of South America is a rump-state descended from the
Peru-Bolivian Confederation that was formed between Bolivia and Peru in 1836 by an opportunistic Bolivian dictator. In OTL the Confederation was forced to dissolve by Argentina and Chile after the
War of the Confederation but ITTL Argentina was divided into two large states and several small ones and Chile didn't feel like taking on the Confederation alone. Supreme Protector Santa Cruz crushed a North Peruvian uprising and was able to build a reasonably stable dictatorship that expanded into the independent Argentine states of Salta, Jujuy, and Chaco which were annexed to Bolivia. His succesor later clumped them together as the Republic of the River Plata (yes I know it doesn't make sense, he was a power-mad dictator) and changed the confederation's name from "Peru-Bolivia" to "South America". The same succesor conquered part of Paraguay and then wasted huge amounts of resources conquering Equador (it took three tries) although by that point the Confederation was already dissolving under him. After a disasterous war with Brazil the country collapsed, Equador, North Peru, and South Peru seceeded and the regime in La Paz maintains claims on all of them. Acre was already de facto independent by that time.
I like how the capital of the Galapagos is named Darwin.
No mention of Alfred Wallace, I see. Maybe in this TL, the capital of the British East Indies is called Wallace?
I presume that the capital isn't located on OTL Darwin Island.
Darwin is a town that grew up on Chatham Island around the main American Naval Base. It was named for its location near the spot where Charles Darwin first disembarked in the Galapagos during his famous voyage.
I'm afraid that there are no cities named for Alfred Wallace in the East Indies, but there are several universities.
Very nice, I always like alternate South Americas (even if I can't make them myself). On that note, can I use elements of this for a mini-project of mine?
Thank you, they're undedone in my humble opinion. And please, feel free to use my map as inspiration. Given how liberally I used elements of OTL I'm not really in a position to complain.
I love this map. It's about time someone made a balkanized South America!
Just one little suggestion I have, though-wouldn't that state of Acre have different borders than the OTL Brazilian state?
Grazie, grazie.
It means so much to hear that people appreciate my work.
As metastasis noted, the borders are ever so slightly different. There is however a more significant reason for the country being so close in shape to the OTL Brazilian State, and that is that the OTL Brazilian State was formed by the Brazilian annexation of the
Third Republic of Acre upon which I based the borders of the country on my map.
