Which state existing before 1900 would you like to lead?

From what I remember growing up, Benin was the greater power in the area with the areas around and that would become Lagos being under its control. Also since this is after Europeans discovering the Americas the highly lauded walls have already been established around the city itself. With that in the city would be a number of 'professional' units (mostly the King's and Queen Mother's guard).

Correct, Oyo was more the inland power while Benin had control & influence over the coastal regions. Oyo's zenith kind of preceded the period when Europeans really started exploring the inland so the information that is better document is from the period of Oyo's decline.
Oyo had a some point attempted to conquer the Benin but their army was cavalry based not really best suited for fighting Benin. They did subjugate the Kingdom of Dahomey further west after being rebuffed by Benin even though Dahomey had firearms. I think it possible for Oyo to conquer Benin (I can also see the argument for vice-versa, I just think Oyo would have an easier time if they can adapt their cavalry & tactics to the region better). Such a union will be very interesting for the region, it might run something analogous to Qing dynasty & Han Chinese administration; we could see a fusion of administrative & military tactics. The languages have significant overlap to the extent there's some degree of intelligibility and there's something of a brothers/cousins rivalry between the peoples over who came first in their oral traditions.
 
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Namorica

As Leif Erricson I would explore the St. Lawrence Seaway earlier than the 11th Century. I would start out my first settlement where Montreal lies. After building a portage system (using a log roller system for my longboats and knorrs) and later a canal for the Lachine Rapids, I would then expand my next city to the shores of Lake Ontario probably at current day Kingston. From there onwards we would skip further westwards using all five Great Lakes for ease of movement. Waterways would be our primary means of transportation. Further western growth and expansion would lead to our main industrial center being located on the site of present day Duluth, Minnesota.

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This would be in the center of many iron ore deposits, I would expand slowly from this area incorporating western native tribes into our unified Namorican confederation. This supposing that I would have knowledge of this area (aka Lord Kalvan) and would have a jump on starting certain industries and inventions prior others elsewhere in the world. The Norse would provide a regular army and navy, Native Americans would provide specialized troops and agricultural support. Intermarriages between the cultures would provide a unified front against later European and Asian aggressor states. This would also help build up the immune systems of the susceptible natives so as to avoid so many later epidemics. I would aim for a strong state built up from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway outwards. Other ports and trading stations would be built at natural harbors along the Altantic and later the Gulf seaboards.

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Of course we would gloss over the hardships of the new continent and would send glowing reports back of all the wealth and land to be gained, thus ensuring a steady flow of new colonists. Introducing new agricultural techniques would allow food production to increase, supporting the growth of our new nation. We would also strive to learn from our native citizens, not wasting resources or depleting natural hunting and fishing areas. So a healthy, growing, “green” and strong country. Laws would be a combination of Norse and Native American, in this society everybody works, nobody starves.

Our traders would be our major source of information, they would set up trading houses across the globe as fronts for information gathering. There has never been a problem with greedy people selling secrets for gold! This way we would stay on top of technologies, policies and other current events as they unfold.
 
Based on the governing skills of 99% of country leaders all you need to be qualified to do is know how to work a toaster.
yeah but they have bureaucrats and advisors to effectively do everything for them. If that's the case then I'm less picking what country I'd lead and rather picking what chair I'd like to sit in and do nothing.

In that case I'd say the Qajar Dynasty circa 1900, because the throne looks comfy and I'm sure I can extend the shelf life on my regime by just agreeing to have a parliament. Alternatively I'd like to inherit the estates and titles of Ulrich of Celje, I like the Habsburgs and all, but the mere continued existence of an early modern Slovene principality also sounds quite nice to me, I'm sure I'll get poisoned or something, but maybe existing a decade or two longer will get Paradox to remember to put it in EU4.
 
Probably as some sort of dictator of Switzerland in right around their 1847 Civil War, so I could try handling it with my future knowledge while I'm still young, and then have a nice quiet mountain nation to rule after that where we can all just sit around and pass a bunch of laws early, like female suffrage, etc.
 
Tawantisuyu, like tongenerations before The spanish contact like from 1472 The empire Is organized, so I could easily "invent" and alphabet to organice The bureocracy of The empire, plus The gunpowerd, and a School system in The Aztec model.
 
Probably the Khazars sometime before the rise of the Magyars and Kievan Rus. Beat the Magyars to the punch and settle the Pannonian basin in the name of Moses! Send missionaries throughout eastern Europe and the steppe to spread the Torah. If Pannonia doesn't work out, maybe focus on carving out a kingdom in the Caucasus for long term survival. The number one priority is getting off the invasion highway that is the Eurasian steppe.
 
Knights of Malta, 1565.

I'd say 16th century Spain but there's not really a way to save them that wouldn't require adopting some of the modern financial schemes I find distasteful.
 
It is all about the opportunity for me:

If Franz Joseph is assassinated in 1853 I would want to be Maximilian. (Liberal) I doubt he would be offered the crown of Mexico, however, the crown itself was being first being offered in 1859 and Maximilian only accepted late 1861. If a crown was being offered I would see it as an opportunity to create a colonial empire for Austria because she is unlikely to colonise through the encroachment of the long Italian Peninsula and then the Mediterranean sea. I would approach (with confidence) those who were offering it and use the current liberal reform in my current state as an example of what I would do in the country being offered. I would also use my current state military a bargaining chip for the proposal's success and finally, I would propose a personal union, not direct annexation to the state I was head of.

There are also loads of other opportunities as well, including the Italian question where Lombardy-Venetia can be conceded for a stake in the Italian state. One of the options is to put a Habsburg on the Italian throne, if this is not possible because of France then another option is a federated state where a Habsburg prince would rule the Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia under a different dynasty. There is also the solution of war and install a Habsburg prince on the Italian throne.

The offering of the Spanish throne in 1871 is also a good opportunity to re-establish Habsburg rule, this plays well with a war with France to conquer Alsace-Lorraine region. I would also draw that differently because of Briey-Longwy. Finally, there is the opportunity to re-define Europe with the Greater German Empire idea, I would partition the non-German areas of the Austrian Empire into a single federated state with both states connected via a personal union. This non-German state would play a large part in the shaping of Eastern Europe along with cultures within Russia that desire independence but this does not necessarily have to occur through a war as Russian showed signs of revolution and collapse before WWI. If Russia were to collapse and Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were to gain independence, that non-German state can then be completely partitioned and a customs union can be created thus dominating Eastern, southern and parts of Western Europe. (The birth of a different EU is born) Greece is also another huge opportunity, the throne was offered in 1862 and what with the Turkish occupation of Greek lands is just asking for war; again put a Habsburg on the throne, make an alliance and when war or nationalism comes calling accomplish the Megali Idea. Greece and Spain would then fall in line with the customs union.

However, it would great if I was just an extremely wealthy English Prince in 1100 who had the great idea to conquer the Emirate of the Balearic Islands, create the Kingdom of Majorca and just design, and build towns, a city, harbours, and ships in retirement.
 
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Mughals at their height. Fully unify India, implement widespread religious tolerance and integrate Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains into government, modernize and industrialize as quickly as possible, then slap away any European hands that dare to touch Bharat Mata.
 
Canada during the Confederation talks. I'd preach about we're going to need an elected senate to overcome the demgraphic clout of Upper and Lower Canada.
 
Roman Empire at its classical height, ca 117 AD. Really offers the sense of limitless possibility for just about any endeavor I set my mind to.
 
I'd like to head up the Vandals just as they were emigrating to North Africa, try and establish a lasting kingdom there. I would also like to try my hand at Carthage before the Punic Wars, see if I can kick Rome in the keister before they can retaliate. Would also like to see what I could do in an early Florence, try and unite the Italian peninsula, or the Huns after the death of Atilla, to establish a permanent state in Europe.
 
I would probably be the Tsar of Russia after Alexander II's assasination. I would keep the reforms coming, break off the alliance with Serbia, and work on weakening the Boyars so that none would stand in the path of mighty Russia!

I've always wanted to see what Russia could do if Alexander II's reforms were kept and expanded. Breaking the allliance with Serbia because they are weak and only stand to get Russia into an unnecessary, bloody war.
 
Öz Beg Khan of the Golden Horde. Convert to Orthodox Christianity, accept Andronikos III Palaiologos‘ offer of marriage to Irene Palaiologina. Prop up Byzantium and assimilate with Russian principalities. Eventually uniting them into one massive empire from the Baltic to Greece and Mongolia.

Also organize a merciless rat cull and order every household to raise cats.
 
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