Leviathan

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, is a young adult steampunk novel set in an alternate-history Europe. The Great War is coming, but instead of the Allies vs Central Powers, it is the Clankers vs Darwinists. The Clankers have developed great steam powered machines, and the Darwinists have bred giant beasts as their weapons.



The map illustration is intentionally reminiscent of the "allegorical maps" of the period.

Via boing boing

Another Europe

Miguel Farah sends me this thought experiment map, wherein he plays "what if" with European history.

What would have happened if Simon de Montfort had failed and the Crown of Aragon had continued its northern expansion? What would have happened if the Castilian and Portuguese counties hadn't survived? What if the Sami people had had their own country? Or if the Austrians had avoided being robbed Tyrol by the Italians? Or if Bavaria had refused to be a part of the German Empire in the XIX century? Or if ...? When reading history, there are many occasions where one asks himself questions like this and speculates about the changes those would bring to a political map.

Significant divergences include an East/West schism in the Roman Catholic Church and the Austro-Hungarian Empire becomes progressive and gives its many ethnic groups greater autonomy (thus avoiding WWI). More...

I always enjoy alternate history, and maps always make these stories more interesting.

Related:

Disunited States of America
The People's Republic of America
Alternate Nations of North America
Roswell, Texas

Disunited States of America

We just can't stop talking about Texas Secession. [Secession, previously on Cartophilia.]

This got me thinking about all of the other Secessionist Movements currently going on in this country. During the 2008 Presidential Election, there was some hubub surrounding Todd Palin (husband of the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin) and whether or not he was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party. Citizens of several other states still claim the right to revert to independent status. Vermont and California like to remind everyone that they were an independent republic before they became states, and Hawaii was an independent kingdom before annexation.

What if all these secessionist movements actually succeeded? What might a map of the United States look like?



I created this map based on the Wikipedia list of active autonomist and secessionist movements in the United States. (Click on map for larger view.)

• Southern Neo-Confederates dream that the South Shall Rise Again! But, the New Black Panther Party envisions a Republic of New Afrika in the southeastern "black belt".
• Marxist-Leninists in Minnesota have proposed a North Star Republic, made up of Minnnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Who gets the Mackinaw Bridge?
• Chicano Nationalists have proposed the creation of Aztlán as a homeland for Aztecan people, perhaps in combination with states of northern Mexico.
• A movement within the Lakota Sioux tribe is calling for a reassertion of sovereignty over thousands of square miles in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. The Republic of Lakotah would be completely surrounded by the remaining United States.
• The Republic of Cascadia is the dream of a group of environmentalists in the Pacific Northwest. This new nation would include Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Northern California, British Columbia and the Alaskan panhandle. Proponents of this movement hope to counter what they see as "improper stewardship" of the land. Would this lead to an underground Lumberjack Liberation Front?
• The narrow strip of what will be left of the "United States" would run from New Jersey to San Francisco.
  

All of these secessionist appear undeterred by the bloodshed and heartache the last time states tried go it alone.

If these secessionist dreams come true, perhaps no one will be more pleased than Professor Igor Panarin, who has made a career in Russia predicting the disunion of the United States.

Also, previously in Cartophilia:

• The Dominion of West Florida
• Lost States

Peoples Republic of America

This is from an April 1 post on the Very Small Array blog:



This simple picture (in less than 1000 words) suggests an alternate history for the United States where in the aftermath of a communist revolution/civil war, the nation is divided between the "Peoples Republic of America" and the "Republic of America" on a little island off the coast (see China).

In this alternate history, is there some other anti-communist world power patrolling the Long Island Sound with their Seventh Fleet? What is to stop the PRA hordes from filing across the Brooklyn Bridge? Shouldn't "America" be spelled "Amerika"?

#370

Roswell, Texas

Roswell, Texas, (by L. Neil Smith, Rex F. May, Scott Bieser, and Jen Zach) is a graphic novel that takes place in an "alternate universe" where Texas remained an independent republic after The Alamo. Fast-forward to 1947 and President Charles A. Lindbergh has dispatched some Texas Rangers (law enforcement officers, not baseball players) to Roswell, in West Texas, to investigate a reported crash of a flying saucer!

However, other countries are interested in getting there first. President Walter Disney of California and his Nazi allies, as well as the United States and the Franco-Mexican Empire are all interested in what can be found at the crash site.

For graphic novel and/or alt history fans, it is an amusing, fast-paced frolic. The story is full of actual historical figures as main characters or just a cameo appearance, including John Wayne, Lawrence of Albania (Arabia), Frank Sinatra, Lyndon B. Johnson and The Pope.

Only little tidbits of the "why and how" of this alternate timeline are revealed in the story, but I was first intriged by the map of the Federated States of Texas on the back cover (hightlighted below). The borders of this Republic of Texas are much larger than the State of Texas today, or even the territory of Texas that was wrested from Mexico in 1836 and 1848.

In little bits here and there throughout the story, the reader learns that in 1861, when the American Civil War started, Texas cut a deal with the United States. In exchange for Texan assitance putting down the rebellion, they were deeded most of Louisiana, Arkansas, and all or part of present day Missouri, Kanasas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

While the scenario is a bit implausible, it is necessary to create the shoot-from-the-hip culture that exists in this Texas of 1947 (and 1964). Every Texas stereotype is enlarged for comedic effect. For instance, in Texas, all citizens are required to carry a handgun. You must have a permit to be exempted from this law...

Published by Big Head Press, the comic was originally serialized on their website, and can still be found there in full color.

Opening Atlantis

I just finished reading Opening Atlantis, the first book in Harry Turtledove's latest alternate history series. In this alternate time-line, a portion of the North American continent split off and drifted into the Atlantic Ocean, 85 millions years in the past. The small continent was never populated by humans, and much like Australia, the flora and fauna took a decidedly different evolutionary path. This book presents three episodes in the colonization of the small continent: the first settlement by Englishmen in 1462, a conflict with pirates in the 1600s, and the English-French war of the mid 1700s.

As with any sort of fantastic literature, there is little point in arguing the plausibility of the scenario... for instance, with this new continent so much closer to Europe, it is hard to imagine that it would have taken until the 15th century to discover it. Surely the Phoenicians, Romans or Vikings would have found it before then... So, the best thing is to accept the premise and enjoy the ride.

According to Uchronia: The Alternate History List, Turtledove has also written two additional novellas that take place in this universe. One of the stories takes place in the 1840s, when naturalist John Jay Aubudon travels to Atlantis for one last view of bird species nearing extinction. It is likely that these two novellas will serve as the basis for the projected second book in the series, The United States of Atlantis.

Alternate Nations of North America

In my previous post, I mentioned the CommonCensus Map Project. From their website:

The CommonCensus Map Project is redrawing the map of the United States based on your input, to reveal the boundaries people themselves feel, as opposed to the state and county boundaries drawn by politicians. View the maps to see how the country is divided into 'spheres of influence' between different cities at the national, regional, and local levels.

This information will finally settle the question over exactly where cultural boundaries lie, contribute to the national debate over Congressional redistricting and gerrymandering, and educate people everywhere as to the true layout of the American people that they've never seen on any map before.

This is a fascinating project. Click on this map to see the project as of its last update in August. I live in a suburb of Dayton, generally refer to myself as being from Dayton, but sometimes think of myself as living within the larger sphere of Cincinnatti. In some ways, these areas are analogous to Nielsen Media Markets or Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). But what this project is really about is defining affinities that trancend artificial borders. Which immediately reminds me of The Nine Nations of North America, by Joel Garreau.

While it was written in 1989, most of his observations still ring true. Garreau took a look at North America, erased all of the international, state and provincial borders and redrew the lines around regions that have common interests in culture, politics and and industry.

When I first saw this book, I was naturally attracted by the map on the cover, however, the insights I gained from this book continue to color my understanding of how things work in this country. In this week between the caucuses and primaries, I have a better understanding of what is important to Iowans in the Breadbasket and New Hampshirans in New England.

In the classic alternate history of North America, For Want of a Nail, Robert Sobel allows history to take a different turn.

Over the two centuries following the failed American Revolution, two rival nations emerge and divide the continet between them. This work of fiction is written as a complete, detailed historical text. The two nations develop on a parallel path that includes some of the best and worst traits of America. According to this article, John J. Reilly described them as two strands of American nationalism, "the utopian impulse, resulting in a penchant for social reform" and "quixotic experiments in economic equality," that is "very keen on liberty and indifferent to equality".

Other Map Blogs of Note

While I never imagined what I was doing here was completely original... I hadn't yet come across other blogs that were devoted to "fun with maps". Since starting this blog several weeks ago, I have discovered several.

Maps For Us: The Children of America Need Maps appears to have started just a few weeks before mine. Clearly inspired by Miss Teen South Carolina:



Maps For Us encourages folks to send in their maps to help children learn from maps... submitted maps are serious and whimsical, and include everything from maps to coffee shops in Amsterdam:



The the lost continent of Atlantis:



UPDATE 11/6: But, they haven't posted since September, so they seem to have lost interest already...

UPDATE 12/2: "This Account Has Been Suspended". I guess the joke is over.

Strange Maps appears to have been publishing from the UK since 2006. This cartophile shares odd maps that he finds or his reader send. Most of the maps appear to have some serious intent, such as this map of the socio-economic divide of England:



or a folk art rendition of Peru:



Launched in March 2003, The Map Room is a blog that points to maps, map collections, map-related resources, and material about maps on the web.

His most recent post, brought this new "Atlas" to my attention:



2003!

I sort of had an idea for a blog like this back in 1994... but I didn't know what blogs were.

That was right about the time I had, what I thought was a brilliant idea... I would compile a bibliography of Alternate History books. However, while I was compiling titles, I found a website that was already doing it. The website that would become Uchronia: the Alternate History List had already compiled a list three times the size of mine.

Yet again, I am unoriginal. But I'll keep at it. I still have hundreds of post cards, ads and other map memorabilia that maybe, just maybe no one else has posted...

If you find any of this remotely interesting, please feel free to comment. Also, feel free to send interesting links or images of map memorabilia to me at Admin AT cartophilia.com.