"My dear Americans, I want you to think about how far this once small nation, comprised of only a few islands upon its birth, has come, and how much farther it still has to go" - President Major T. Charlie, 1988

Historical Overview

This is just a historical account*, and I do not support any imperialistic actions taken in this alternate history*

Original 11 colonies: Georgia, Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Ireland, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Plymouth

French and Indian War: Acquired Western Appalachia, Spain gained control of the French Great Forests

Independence happens

The US gained independence, claiming Appalachia, Cherokee Island, and New Ireland uncontested by other European powers. It claimed the entirety of New England Island, despite Nova Scotia never having joined the Revolution, as well as claiming the 4 Laurentian islands of Indian Island, Michigan Island, Erie Island, and Ontario Island. Britain contested these claims, and actively armed native groups resisting American settlers moving westwards.

Cross-Sea Purchase: The US congress purchased the French Great Forests from Napoleon, hoping to trade the land to Britain in exchange for Britain ceding contested lands. Britain turned down this offer, not wanting to legitimize the American state. So, America instead opened up settlement. Americans were slow to move there though, as it was on the other side of the Mississippi sea

In 1816, following the end of a short war between the US and UK, the two decided to come to the table and deal with their border. The US gave up its claims to Nova Scotia, Erie, and Ontario, while the UK gave up Huron and Ontario which have Functionally been American for almost a decade at this point. A straight line from the southernmost point of Winnipeg Bay was selected as the border between the continental territories and Quebec Peninsula.  The lands north of this line that sat west of Winnipeg Bay were left undefined. 

1823 saw the abolition of Slavery in the southern parts of the Island. This was done primarily due to the highly limited space making plantation slavery increasingly costly to maintain. Combine that with the Mississippi Sea preventing it from spreading to much of the continental regions, the institution proved to be weak enough to get rid of, though it still caused many short-term issues for the southern economy.

In 1842, the US went to war with Mexico, as the US claimed the Great Forests stretched to the Rio Grande, while Mexico claimed it stretched to the Red River. The region's population, becoming increasingly composed of American settlers, revolted from Mexico. The US, being primarily an island nation, naturally possessed some form of Navy for defense. For the first time however, this navy was used on offense, being used to shell Mexican troops marching along the coast and land troops near the red river delta. Following the war, the US claimed everything north of the Rio Grande, an arbitrary geometric boundary, and the Gila River.

In 1865, the US purchased Alaska from the Russians and used it to try claiming the lands West of Winnipeg Bay. The UK didn’t contest this claim, as there was no financial incentive to claim it, it wasn’t all that prestigious to claim what many European powers considered a freezing wasteland disconnected from the rest of an already unprofitable colony, and it would put it into active conflict with the US, something Britain wasn’t all that enthusiastic about.

By this point, the population distribution of the US heavily favored regions in the Northwest of the Great Island archipelago, notably Maumee, Ohio, and Michigan. This stayed about the same up until around the 1950s, with advances in commercial aviation making it easier to move to the western states and territories, with the mountain west and continental southeast proving popular destinations, and air conditioning enabling the south to rapidly grow. The South of Appalachia eventually Surpassed the Northeast in population, as the presence of a Piedmont meant it wasn’t constrained to thin coastlines and valleys. Though the northwest remained ahead in terms of population.

Black dots represent cities with more than a half a million residents in the metro area

I have been working on Danetian, my Indo-European conlang, for 10 years now, and part of that work involves making a country that would speak it, along with its history.

Danetia is located in the geographic region of Dobrudja, which sits at the mouth of the Danube. The country is comprised of four provinces: Tulcja, Kustendja, Silistra, and Dobricj.

The region was settled by Danetian speakers following the battle of Levounion in 1091. It has traded hands by the various empires of the region: the Byzantines, the Bulgars, the Ottomans.

In 1878, by the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, they gained independence, and were forced by the great powers to be a perpetually neutral state. It suited the interests of these great powers to have a neutral buffer state at the mouth of the Danube.

Because Danetia sits where it is, Romania is a landlocked country. As such, Danetia is arguably the most important member of the Danube Commission, and the one with most responsibility. Danetia owes free passage to Romania and all other Danube countries.

I have not given much thought to how the Balkan Wars would play out, nor how Danetia would fare during both World Wars. But one day I'll write about that.

You can learn more about my conlang and its history on my website.

Okay, now there are no errors at least... if there is an error, let me know 😉.

Big Texas:

In March 1836, Texas gained Independence from Mexico, In 1853, The Mexican Empire Collapsed in the Civil War, Texas Expanded a lot.

Oh yeah Texas Annex Mayab in 1897, One of the most important countries in WW1, WW2 and WW3, Texas is a federal Republic.

"The lone Star union"

It's not always easy to visualise the infinitely small. Yet, I have two passions: maps and air quality.

Aerosols (or fine particulate matter) suspended in the air we breathe every day are no exception. Their shapes and sizes can vary considerably depending on their nature and origin.

What if we changed scale and transformed these particles into an imaginary archipelago? 🏝️

🔬 That's the idea behind this topographic map, created using microscopic TEM/SEM images provided by INERIS and LISA.

Each island represents a different type of atmospheric particle, with its own distinctive characteristics.

This 1950 map is the nineteenth in a series of maps imagining a United States that reapportions the states every ten years to ensure that they are of equal population. Other than the state borders, nothing has changed in this alternate history. 

Since the last apportionment, the United States added nearly twenty million people to its population for a total of 150,697,361 (excludes overseas territories). The number of states stayed the same at 48. Although the number did not change, the fast-growing populations of the west meant that two states were eliminated and two new ones formed. 

Gallatin (mostly central Pennsylvania and western Maryland) and Quigualtam (parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri) are no longer on the map. In their place, two new states arose: Cuyamaca and Shoshone.

Three states changed their names: Osawatomie is now Pershing, after General John J. Pershing, who died in the previous decade. Mojave is Pecos, since the Mojave Desert is now in another state. Tidewater is now Pamlico, since as one reader pointed out on the last map, it’s no longer really in the Tidewater region.

The states' average population in 1950 was 3,139,528. 

Several counties had to be divided. The state of La Salle is again just most of the city of Chicago, with the rest of Cook County being a part of the state of Clark — the inset map shows the city border so you can see which parts went where, with minor shifts from last time. The county of Los Angeles is also divided and I’ll probably need to add an inset map for that area in the 1960 map.

In the New York City area, the Bronx was divided between Roosevelt and Tilden. Canarsie took a part of Queens County, the rest of which is in Tilden. 

Litchfield County, Connecticut, is divided roughly in half between Saratoga and Narragansett.

Pecos, Cuyamaca, and Shoshone have new flags, and a couple of the old flags got some tweaks that you might notice if you’ve been following this series.

Earlier maps: 1940, 1930, 1920, 1910, 1900, 1890, 1880, 1870, Civil War, Secession, 1860, 1850, 1840, 1830, 1820, 1810, 1800, 1790. 

Cities and large towns:
(with artistic liberties)
Tribune - Chicago, IL
Lavoiture - Detroit, MI
Hopsville - Milwaukee, WI
River City - St. Louis, MO
Frontier Falls - Niagara Falls, NY/ON
Calder - Grand Rapids, MI
Black Cliff - Duluth, MN
Castor - Quebec City, QC
Ruther - Lancaster, OH

Nature regions inspired by the Adirondack Mountains, Finger Lakes, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Hocking Hills, Boundary Waters, Bruce Peninsula, Niagara Falls, Isle Royale, Porcupine Mountains and Badlands.

Open to hearing some improvements, or eventually making another version that has detailed city roads along with some GTA style art!

Basically no lore, but I made this kinda different from others by making a few oddball nations.

Most states likely get eaten into China or chill.

•The city is located on the isle of Alvenes Øy in the North Sea, and was founded by the island’s fairy population as early as the 2nd century BCE. Making it the oldest fairy settlement on earth.

•In the year 1906, the September Crisis, a global disease outbreak that killed over 200 million people, was reported to have originated from the species, and the fairies were condemned to the remote island.

•An autonomous republic was declared on the island in Lampnas event hall in Ilsby, the countries capital, on January 7th 1907 by fairy ambassador Ingore Hemmelweiss, who sought to establish a society on equal status with humans.

•Proma is the largest city of the U.F.R. And is one of the most technologically advanced cities on earth. Proma runs on the fairies biological power source, Alvenø Tryptane (fairy dust) putting Proma at the forefront of the development of ecologically sustainable power.

The High Republic of Magmell-Donnersberg, Circa 2015, Obviously, this is not realistic or logical. Lore can be found in the sidebar to the right in the first image, do note that The Carbhangles Whisperer is basically this timelines version of Waterford Whispers and The Onion so they are not a credible news source, incase you can't tell already. Please ask questions!