1555 World View
Let’s take a step back and have a look at things in 1555.
It’s 111 years (cue Umpire David Shepherd jumping up and down) since the start
of the game.
Europe is a bit of a mess. In Iberia Portugal and Aragon
have expanded, and Granada has disappeared and reappeared thanks to me. Castile
has been the big loser, although they have taken four provinces in North Africa
by way of recompense.
France has had a bit of trouble in recent years, with
Normandy and Toulouse breaking away.
England has expanded and formed Great Britain, and is
probably the most stable of the European nations.
Austria is the big winner in central Europe, having taken a
snaking path of provinces all the way through to the low countries. I’ve drawn
a red line round all of their territories. Prizes will be given for working out
what animal Austria currently looks like! Elsewhere, Poland, Hungary and
Lithuania are pretty stable.
Zooming out a little shows us some interesting changes. The
biggest is that Russia has formed, and is looking strong! The Timurid and Ottoman
Empires are also growing, and Yemen has taken over most of the Arabian
peninsula. Morocco dominates in northwest Africa, although it will be
interesting to see if they can hold on to their gains. Finally, Sweden is
dominating in Scandinavia, although Norway does have the safety net of overseas
provinces.
Whilst Catholicism still dominates in Europe, Protestantism
is spreading, and has a strong base in the UK and Scandinavia.
Zooming out even more, we see the whole of the known world
(almost, there’s a bit of North America and the Caribbean chopped off, as well
as the top of Scandinavia – sorry couldn’t quite fit it all in). Portugal has
revealed more of the world than any other European nation (which means more than
any nation!). Our next big push is to explore to the South and East of Malacca,
using our newly acquired Indian Ocean colonies as bases. We’ll be looking to
open up the Phillipines, the Orient and Australia, before making a dramatic
push across the Pacific to complete the circumnavigation.
So, what of Portugal’s fortunes?
Well, looking at the previous picture, all of our
territories are coloured in green. Our colonial subjects and Protectorates are
bright green, and directly controlled provinces a darker green. I’ll draw
little red circles round some of our more difficult to spot provinces:
In the North Atlantic and Caribbean, I’ve circled Barbados,
the Azores, Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. In the South Atlantic I’ve
circled the Falklands, St Helena and Fernando Po. In the Indian Ocean I’ve
circled (from l to r) Mauritius and Boubon, Diego Garcia, and Christmas Island.
Now let’s take a closer look at some of these areas.
First off, the Caribbean. This is an area of rapid fire
colonialism. In update 12, I reported that in 1514 there were only two active
colonies in the Caribbean, both owned by us (Barbados and Tortuga). By 1521 we
had a third province, and Castile had joined the party by taking Bermuda. In
the last 34 years, however, France and England/GB have also joined in, and
almost all of the available provinces are now settled.
We have the colonial nation of Cuba under our control.
Containing a total of 8 provinces (3 on Haiti, 3 on Cuba, and the islands of
Barbados and Jamaica), Cuba is the single dominant power in the region, with a
growing colonial army and navy, and the backup of having us as their overlord
available to bail them out if necessary.
The Aztecs, whilst bigger than Cuba, are far more backward
in tech levels, and have no navy to speak of. Castile has 3 provinces in
Guyana, 5 islands in the Caribbean itself (the newly formed colonial nation of
Castilian West Indies), and two provinces in modern day Louisiana.
Great Britain and France have 4 islands each in the
Caribbean, and France has a piece of Texas. The oddball here is Norway, who has
randomly taken Florida! Holiday destination for the Vikings?
Very little has happened in North America yet, apart from
the previously mentioned colonies, so we’ll move south next.
South America is an entirely Portuguese and Castilian party.
We have two colonial nations here, Rio da Prata in modern
day Argentina, and Portuguese Brazil in... err... Brazil. The Castilians just
have Castilian Brazil here, and they are completely outclassed militarily by my
subject nations. It’ll be interesting to see if Castile continues expanding in
Guyana, or tries to take some of Argentina.
Moving across to Africa, in the West it’s all us and locals.
We hold all of the coastal provinces south of Morocco all the way round to
Benin and Hausa in modern day Nigeria, with the exception of one which we’ve
left as a deliberate buffer against those nations. Mali has annexed Ashanti and
the other nation to the north east (name I can’t remember!), and has been
forging claims on some of our territories, so we’ll have to put them in their
place before the century is out. We also control the island of Fernando Po
(circled).
In the South of Africa, we have the province of Luanda in
Angola, surrounded by our protectorate, the Kongo. We also now have two
provinces in South Africa. You can also see a big green nation in East Africa.
That is Kilwa, which now owns every province on the Eastern seaboard of Africa,
all the way up to the Gulf of Aden. They will be a major target in the next 25
years or so, as we will seek to take Zanzibar and other territories from them.
The Indian Ocean is going to be the location for many
colonial adventures for us in the remainder of the 16th century and beyond.
There are some very strong nations in the region and we are going to need to
take some provinces from most of them in order to dominate a trade route from
Malacca all the way round the Cape to home.
Our current holdings are shown more clearly on this picture.
We have so far studiously avoided confrontation on the mainlands, colonising
islands to secure a network of bases for ferrying troops and supplying ships.
Mauritius and Boubon (now called Reunion) in the west will be used to base our
attacks against Kilwa, Diego Garcia in the central Indian Ocean will be used to
base any attacks made against the Indian subcontinent and Yemen, and Christmas
Island in the East can stage anything against Indonesia.
So, what are our short term plans?
Exploration – carry on into the Pacific, opening up new
trade routes and potential colonies along a route back to South America.
Expansion – Increase our island holdings in the Indian
Ocean. Timor in Indonesia looks promising, as it is currently uncolonised, and
Ceylon currently doesn’t have any allies... the fools!
Consolidation – support our 3 colonial subject nations in
the Americas, allowing them to expand where possible. Take advantage of any
colonial wars that might escalate to steal more provinces from Castile. Beat up
Mali when time permits to release their annexed nations and reduce their trade
power and military size. Pally-up with Morocco. So far, every ally we’ve had in
Europe has done the dirty on us (except Castile, who we betrayed...
muahahahaha). Morocco is now a major force in North Africa, and is currently
non-hostile towards us.
Next up... Update 16... surely not another war with Castile!?!
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