Map Contest

This is the official page for the Map Contest. The corresponding blog post can be found here.

Basic Rules
The rules are very basic:

1) Follow the instructions, formats and prompts provided.

2) Act your age.

3) Notice the period after #2

4) The best way to prevent drama is not to start any. For clarification, see #3

5) The leader's word (in this case, my word) is law.

6) In the case I am wrong, see #5

Challenges
Read the challenge. Make a map and short timeline. Pretty straight forward.

Submitting
Entries can be submitted any time. Late entries can be submitted after the voting starts. However, when voting closes, no more entries will be accepted. The entries should be submitted in the following format under the contest heading:

Map Contest # (Heading 3):

Your Name (Heading 4)

Your Map (preferably 650px, but no more)

Your Timeline

Votes:

Voting
If you want to vote for someone's entry, simply put your signature in their Votes section, using the four tildes (~)

Sign-In
If you want to be part of the contest, just sign in here.


 * [[Image:1.png|23px]] Imp (Say Hi?!)
 * DS|Fear the Mutated Dean Sims Bomb, Fear It
 * Yay an Edit conflict (talk) 13:19, July 10, 2013 (UTC) maybe
 * --Salnax (talk) 23:46, July 10, 2013 (UTC)
 * ChrisL123 (talk) 00:01, July 11, 2013 (UTC)}
 * Sine dei gloriem (talk) 02:47, July 11, 2013 (UTC)
 * Scandinator (talk) 13:07, July 12, 2013 (UTC)
 * Mscoree (talk) 14:47, July 12, 2013 (UTC)
 * Mafia (talk) 17:28, July 12, 2013 (UTC)
 * Octivian Marius (talk) 17:46, July 12, 2013 (UTC)
 * -Kogasa [[Image:Miko THPW2.png|50px]] [[Image:Flag of Europe.svg|23px|border]] 2013 July 13, 20:41 (CET)
 * Feudalplague (talk) 18:44, July 13, 2013 (UTC)
 * Bfoxius (talk) 14:41, July 16, 2013 (UTC)
 * Feudalplague (talk) 18:44, July 13, 2013 (UTC)
 * Bfoxius (talk) 14:41, July 16, 2013 (UTC)

Map Contest 1 (Voting): King of the Hill
PoD: Columbus goes exploring for a different country (not Spain). This country goes on to dominate the New World.

Challenge: Create a map of the New World, dominated by a different country. This map can be from any time period, just be sure to say which time period. Be sure to include labels, map keys, subdivisions of countries, etc. (Note: By dominate, I mean this country has the most influence in the New World. Other countries can and should still have some land.)

Time Frame: Two weeks, July 7 - July 20
 * Voting Starts July 20, 0:00 UTC

Inquisition- Guns
First entry xD! A brief summary of what goes on here: Columbus sails for Portugal instead of Spain, and it is Portuguese ships which dominate South America. The Treaty of Tordesillas is still forced upon Portugal but they ignore it completely and wage war against Spain, with France and England. The end of this war is the unification of the Portuguese and Spanish Royal families, to form the Kingdom of Iberia, which goes on to control many of the regions that the UK did OTL, such as India, New Zealand and vast parts of Southern Africa. The Ottoman Empire declines but never dies out, still being a major regional power. Russia is a major power here, and controls OTL Alaska, while the British still control what is basically OTL Canada. This is a present day map. (I'll upload one with labels soon )

Comments:

Votes:

A different world-TOB
(Sorry for bad labeling quality)

Basically in this he sails for France, and France takes much of OTL USA and some Canada. Britain wins a war against France and creates settlement on Quebec. These become independent as New France and the Republic of Nova Scotia. Spain dominates Central and South America. Russia also expands its settlement in NA, creating Rupublika Ameriki. Sweden and Norway stay unified. Communism never exists. Britain has a lot less colonial land, and the colonial era is dominated by France (Asia) and Spain (Africa). The OE still exists, and Pakistan and India are one nation. The Russian Empire and France are the superpowers of today, and two new ones (German Empire and Salleland (Australia)) are expected to arise. There were three world wars this timeline - one in the 1700s, and two in the 1900s.

Comments:

Votes:

King of the Hell - Scraw


' King of the Hell. World Political Map, nil labels. Approximately 1980. '

So, here it is. I originally had an idea very similar to Guns', but we developed this uncanny ability to read each other's minds and he beat me to it. I now spit this out as my replacement. In my entry, named King of the Hell, the Spanish crown rejects Columbus and he goes back to Florence, where he dies penniless. In the early 1500s (no later than 1515, I'd say), the Russians discover the Americas via OTL Vancouver Island. They name the whole god damn North American continent Alyeska, and the first colony Alyeska. Alyeska is independent today, shown in light blue along the Pacific coast. It is in two parts, Alyeska and Orientalia. Orientalia is named so because the Russians get dibs on the Pacific Ocean and name it the Oriental Ocean, hence the name. This new spreads to France and England late-ish, who get there by 1550 and 1575 respectively. Most of the US east of the OTL Mississippi, as well as the Louisiana Purchase area, becomes New France, including OTL Ontario. The British get footed a bit of Quebec and Newfoundland, named New England. This timeline also features victory for Napoleon. Napoleon unites Europe west of Russia into a series of vassal states, with the aid of Russia, and, wait for it, the Mamluk Empire, having beaten the Ottomans. Ironically, I take Egypt out of their control by the 1900s. Napoleon forces the Spanish and Portuguese crowns to the New World, onto OTL South America (Novorossiya) uniting Iberia under his brother, Joseph. Napoleon later betray the Mamluks and supports the Greek and Egyptian rebels against them, as well as expanding into the Middle East and India, as well as Africa. China rules the Asian mainland and Japan is the undisputed master of the Pacific. The Japanese discovered Australia, and it is split with the British and the French. The British are a global power, surviving on a commonwealth-like system consisting of their one-time colonies. India is divided between a free north and a once British-dominated Southern India. Today, the world is less peaceful than OTL, with war between New Spain and Brasil commonplace, and tensions between France (with New France, the Aztecs, the Greeks, and the Persians) and Russia (with Alyeska, Novorossiya, the Iberian exile states, Japan, and the Mamluks) ever-rising. Welcome to King of the Hell. (OOC: I had a lot of fun with this and might make it into a timeline or some sort of small project. OOC 2: Named King of the Hell because there's always war and death, but this means more advanced technology and living conditions in major countries.) (Labelled Version: Double-click for full size.)

Comments:
 * I like the way that you dealt with the Columbus POD, and the originality of the scenario. Map is nice and eye-pleasing. CourageousLife (talk) 17:25, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Votes:


 * -Kogasa [[Image:Miko THPW2.png|50px]] [[Image:Flag of Europe.svg|23px|border]] 2013 July 20, 00:08 (CET)

Dark Vision - Mafia


Columbus is rejected by Spain, and after attempting to drum up support on the mainland, travels to the UK. He sails from the UK, and discovers America. After the UK discovers America, they don't tell other countries about it, and colonize the entire of the Americas. Russia discovers Alaska in 1600, and is defeated when they attempt to invade. The rest of Europe discovers America in 1615. When Napoleon rises to power, the UK wins several battles, as they have the entire of the Americas. Napoleon surrenders earlier, and is executed. The UK doesn't colonize many other colonies, as they have two continents. With the Americas closed off to them, other nations which desire colonies turn to Oceania and Africa. The Slave trade is yet to be abolished. When WWI begins, the UK is not involved until France is losing badly. They then join on the side of Germany, and invade France. The French are the ATL Germans of the First World War, being billed the entire cost of the War. WWII begins when a French Fascist takes power in France, and invades Spain. The Germans declares war, followed by the UK. When the war ends, in 1942, the UK grants independence to OTL Mexico, and OTL Brazil. The ATL world is very different to OTL, as the UK is incredibly powerful, but does very little, and the lack of such costly World Wars means the UN was never founded, so wars in  Europe are more common. The world in this Timeline does not have the nuclear bomb, as the French and their allies surrendered without much of a brutal war, so the Cold War after the Second World War, isn't cold, with repeated Soviet attempts to invade Alaska, and the USSR invading Germany and France at one point, before they were forced to retreat by the opening of a new front by the UK. With a constant war to focus on, the USSR never collapsed. This world is brutal, with military regimes, and Communist dictatorships, with very few nations, as the colonial era never came to an end.

Comments:
 * I thought it was interesting to see a hyper-power scenario, and I also thought the idea of a Russian-controlled Middle East was very fresh and new. CourageousLife (talk) 17:25, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Votes:

Walking the Streets of New Lands - Kogasa


In this timeline, Columbus goes to explore for Scandinavia. He manages to land around Cuba and soon Scandinavia begun colonise the new lands, which they call Nordland and Sydland respectively. Russia later managed to colonised Alaska, and Portugal colonised around Brazil. The Kalmar Union managed to last longer up until 1650, in which Sweden and Denmark-Norway went their own ways. Meanwhile, Japan begun to rise and turn into a major power as well as expansionist.

By 1700, Nordland was divided between Denmark-Norway, Sweden, and Russia while Sydland was divided between Portugal, Denmark-Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Meanwhile Japan discovered Australia and managed to colonise most of it.

In 1790, Algønquin declared independence from Denmark-Norway successfully. By the 1880s, almost every nation in Nordland and Sydland was independent except Suriname, which remained a part of the Netherlands to this very day, and Alaska.

Later, in 1904, the Russo-Japanese War begun to spread and turned into the First World War which lasted for Ten Years. The Japanese/Allied Coalition managed to win in the war and the Treaty of Hakodate was signed. Alaska declared independence shortly before the Russian Revolution took place. By 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Germany, which led to a Second World War between the Comintern and the Allies. The war resulted in the collapse of Communism worldwide and the rise of Japan, Brazil, and Kemiträsk as the new Superpowers, and no Cold War took place. The main characters of the Touhou Project are Mononobe no Futo and Komachi Onozuka.

Comments:
 * I feel like too many OTL borders were used on this one. 21:26, July 20, 2013 (UTC)
 * How so? I did merge many smaller nations into larger ones. Only Turkey, Switzerland and Romania retain the same borders as OTL. Germany does for the most part, too with a slice of it being under Sweden. -Kogasa [[Image:Miko THPW2.png|50px]] [[Image:Flag of Europe.svg|23px|border]] 2013 July 20, 23:50 (CET)
 * No no, you don't understand. All the borders are some sort of border in OTL. For example,  Alaska implausibly has the Colorado border at its southern corner, Mexico goes up to Arkansas for no reason. You didn't add any new borders. All the nations are just amalgamations of OTL borders. Kind of hard to explain. 21:59, July 20, 2013 (UTC)
 * Ah, I see what you mean. I usually use the OTL nations, subdivisions of nations, historical nations, and/or borders around disputed areas to carve borders for new nations. Hence why most (if not all) my alternate maps have borders drawn from OTL. -Kogasa [[Image:Miko THPW2.png|50px]] [[Image:Flag of Europe.svg|23px|border]] 2013 July 21, 00:09 (CET)

Votes:

Sultan of the Hill - Chris
In this interesting and likely somewhat ASB world, Columbus is constantly denied funding for his voyage to "India" due to monetary constraints from recent wars. In a desperate move, Christopher Columbus moves to Constantinople and asks one of the richest empires at the time, the Ottoman Empire, for funding to explore a route unbeknownst to Europe. The government reluctantly agrees (since they already have a route to India), but sends the best ships with the best crew (including ) across the Atlantic anyway.

When arriving on New Jerusalem (OTL Puerto Rico), Columbus and the crew discovers that they have not landed in India, but rather a new continent. The ships soon land on OTL Mexico and discovers untold riches, and influences the Ottoman government to establish settlements in the New World, somewhat more peacefully than in OTL. Forced conversions were less than European's would have, and Inca is not defeated, it is instead made a protectorate. The Ottoman's major colony is Al-Tasweyah, a transliteration of "the settlement" in Arabic. The new discovered land is kept secretive for decades in order to prevent other countries from collecting riches from the New World, and the Ottomans benefit greatly.

Aside from the Islamic presence in the Americas, the French and Ottoman alliance grows tenfold in the New World, and the Ottomans and French become two of the largest powers in the New World. This bond would also help modernize the Ottoman Empire, giving the people more power as opposed to absolute rule, and granting European nations like Greece, Serbia, and Romania semi-independence. The British and the Russians would also gain claims in the Northern New World, with the Spanish and Portuguese in the Southern. The greater influence by the Ottomans influences national identities of Muslim-majority areas, like in Russia and Malaysia. ChrisL123 (talk) 07:42, July 15, 2013 (UTC)

Comments:
 * Very nicely done. Map is easy on the eyes, and goes into acute detail. Another very original idea. Well done. CourageousLife (talk) 17:25, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Votes:
 * 21:05, July 19, 2013 (UTC)
 * Reximus55 (talk) 19:53, July 20, 2013 (UTC)
 * Yay an Edit conflict (talk) 22:55, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Two Worlds, One Planet - Bfoxius (talk)
Venice, after losing much of its possessions in the Eastern Mediterranean, takes a chance with this "Columbus" guy. He lands in the OTL Outer Banks of North Carolina, and the colony of Venetia Nova is eventually established in 1512 around the Albemarle Sound. This expedition persuades Venice to abandon their old galleys and adopt the more modern caravel design.

Venice keeps this New World a secret for much of the first half of the 16th century, growing rich from the tobacco trade, and gaining the money to fund their constant wars with the Ottomans, which they usually win, gaining them much of Greece and the Aegean Islands. Eventually, nations wonder where the tobacco comes from, and the United Provinces, believing that it is Chinese in origin, set sail to the west, looking for China, and eventually run into OTL Newfoundland in 1577. They also found a trade empire, but this one is around the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River/Seaway area. They use the money to found their wars with Spain, and unite the Low Countries early.

The colonial powers ignore the Aztecs, and they grow powerful and resistant to European disease. They expand into the OTL south United States east to the Mississippi river. Back in Europe, in the 1600's, the Inquisition is more severe, and many Catholic nations, such as France, Spain and Scotland become very strict, religious and intolerant of Protestantism. Many Protestants flee to the merchant nations and England. England, the United Provinces' ally, founds a colony in the New World in Cuba for religious refugees. Eventually in the 1700's, religious tensions caused the Great War, a war between the Protestants and Catholics. Russia, who was neutral, actually emerged stronger going out than going in. They colonize OTL Alaska and several western Canadian provinces. The native North Americans, surrounded by colonial powers, form a European-style government, known as the North American Confederation.

Eventually, much of Europe is ruled by a theocratic dictatorship, pioneered by a victorious Napoleon, who was heavily religious, and became pope, while many of the successors of the merchant republics emigrate to America, where they and the natives coexist as democratic capitalist republics. The Second Great War was an African colonial war, where the theocratic dictatorships fought the American republics over African colonies. Today, this region remains unstable, and is the world's major tinderbox for war. Asia is much like OTL, but a monarchic Russia controlling Mongolia and Manchuria. China is a backwards Communist state, yet to reform to become like today's China. Japan is a rising power, an empire that's not theocratic, an extreme rarity ATL. They control much of Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Australia, and India.

In an ironic turn of events, global warming, accelerated by the advanced technology of the timeline, floods the last bastions of freedom in Europe, Holland and Venice, fallen from their past glory, with their colonies preserving the legacy of the explorers of old...

Scotland was Calvinist, not Catholic.

ATL Protestantism was weaker and was confined to areas such as the United Provinces, Venice and the American nations.

Comments:

Votes:

Republic on the Hill by Scandinator


Seizing the lucky eighth spot :P. Colombus, after getting rejected by Spain, returns to his native Genoa. Intrigued by his offer of a sea route to India, the Doge of Genoa, seeking to topple the Venetian trade monopoly and bypass the hostile Ottomans, finances the expedition. The Genoese manage to find the New World and knowing that they would need support, inform the Milanese of the find. The Milanese provide the manpower while Genoa provides the fleets and the two nations divide up large tracts of the New World. The success of the two nations in the New World allows the Milanese to defeat the Venetians and retake the Po valley and Verona. The Venetians assassinate the Milanese royal family and Genoa, Savoy and Venice fill in the gap leaving a rump Milanese state which is a Savoyard puppet. The Milanese New World territories are seized by Genoa to whom the settlers must rely for supplies. The Spanish and Portuguese eventually colonize along with Denmark-Norway, England and France. Two horrific world wars result in Genoa becoming a leading world power in a tightly-contested area. China, France and Russia are also broken up in the resulting treaties. Africa is peacefully decolonized with culturally similar areas combining into the new states.

Comments:
 * I like the detail this map goes into as far as central and southern Africa and Europe. CourageousLife (talk) 17:25, July 20, 2013 (UTC)
 * I am working on a similar map but I decided not to post it. Scan I have a tip for you. Napoleon was a Corsican and Corsica was part of Genoa, I assume that would result in extensive puppets of Genoa. Octivian Marius (talk) 21:02, July 20, 2013 (UTC)
 * I like the borders. Or rather--the lack of them. Very interesting idea. 21:26, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Votes:


 * Octivian Marius ( talk ) 21:02, July 20, 2013 (UTC)
 * [[Image:1.png|23px]] Imp (Say Hi?!) 22:21, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Staaten-General on the Hill - Imp
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I prefer the ninth spot if I am totally honest. If Chris thinks his map is ASB, he has got nothing on this. Well, Columbus, getting rejected goes to the one place they understand how important spices and grains are in the matter of trading and selling, Holland. Knowing how important a route to the east could be in making a hefty profit and getting the spices cheaper and faster - Holland soon funds the expedition across the Atlantic. Of course, more to come.

Comments:

Votes:

Discussion
You guys are awesome. There are some great scenarios here, and I'm really glad y'all are getting into them. Before I open up voting, I want some feedback first. What I want to know is: Thanks for the participation. I changed the formatting of the page a bit, which should make it easier to edit. If you haven't entered your submission, feel free to do that now. Voting will be up tomorrow around 0:00 UTC. CourageousLife (talk) 05:45, July 19, 2013 (UTC)
 * Was this a reasonable amount of time for the contest?
 * Do you guys want to just submit anytime, not just 24 hours before voting?
 * Any other comments or suggestions?

The amount of time was good. I'd support submitting anytime, so as to allow others who haven't submitted to a particular scenario still can, even if it's over. -Kogasa  2013 July 19, 13:35 (CET)


 * I agree with the above.


 * 21:04, July 19, 2013 (UTC)


 * The only foreseeable problem with this is complications with archiving contests, which I had planned to do. CourageousLife (talk)
 * I can archive. Just tell me when voting is done.
 * 22:05, July 19, 2013 (UTC)

Long story short, I hate figuring out UTC time. I'm opening up voting now.

Also, how do you guys feel about a Victory Gallery of sorts? The winning map of each contest displayed somewhere on the page? Any thoughts? Hmm? CourageousLife (talk) 21:30, July 19, 2013 (UTC)


 * How about we just put up each winning map at the top of the page until the next winner is announced?


 * 22:05, July 19, 2013 (UTC)

Also, I hope we have a Napoleonic contest or something.

22:07, July 19, 2013 (UTC)


 * I'll definitely take that into consideration ;) CourageousLife (talk) 22:10, July 19, 2013 (UTC)

I'm still readying up my map (there is another hour and 33 minutes when I post this). :P Imp (Say Hi?!) 22:27, July 19, 2013 (UTC)

Could we get an extra day, please! Imp (Say Hi?!) 23:49, July 19, 2013 (UTC)

Scan said he needed an extra day, so that's no problem. Just make sure you get it in soon, because voting is open, so you might not get as many votes as you could. Good luck! CourageousLife (talk) 00:07, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

Voting will remain open indefinately, since there will be some late entries. However, a new contest will be up in a few hours. CourageousLife (talk) 15:32, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

I'm also adding a comments section under each entry so everyone can give feedback. CourageousLife (talk) 17:16, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

I am almost done with my map, so can I have a few more hours? Bfoxius (talk) 21:50, July 20, 2013 (UTC)

I would really like to find out what this second contest is about so I can get started. ;)

22:13, July 20, 2013 (UTC)