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Tinto Maps #15 - 23rd of August 2024 - Horn of Africa

Hello, and welcome one more week to Tinto Maps! After a short break, we’re back to the duty of sharing more maps! Today the region we will look at is the Horn of Africa! So let’s take a look at it, without further ado:

Countries:
Countries.PNG

Here we have the countries around Nubia, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The first ones are organized around the ancient kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, which control the Upper Nile region. In the second area, the Empire of Ethiopia stands as the main power, with some smaller countries around it. Finally, the two Islamic sultanates of Ifat and Ajuraan stand as the main powers in the Horn and Somalia. Finally, around the African Great Lakes, there is a country that can be considered a ‘settled’ one, Kitara.

Dynasties:
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The dynasties of the Horn. There are some historical ones, while others are randomly generated. The most famous one is probably the Ethiopian House of Solomon, from where all their Negus come. The Walshma ruler over both Ifat and Ajuraan and we have some others, such as the Medri of Medri Bahri, the Umar of Mogadishu, the Banu Kanz of Makuria, or the Baranzi of Kitara.

Societies of Pops:
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A new map has popped up! Here you can see the countries that we consider as ‘Societies of Pops’, as they were presented in the last Tinto Talks. We have the famous Oromo people in the lands between Ethiopia, Ifat and Ajuraan; the Kunama, Gumuz, and Berta in the lands between Ethiopia; and Alodia, and the Zaghwa to the north of Wadai; there are a few more to the west, but I’ll share that picture in the Western Africa thread, as it’s more appropriate there. There are more Stateless Societies of this kind that we would like to add in the future, if it is possible due to our schedule.

Locations:
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Locations! You might notice that the density is quite unequal. Unfortunately, the archaeological findings for the period are scarce, specially out of the most known areas and a lack of urbanization in most of the territory has made the finding of proper non-anachronistic settlements quite a challenge. Keep this in mind when making suggestions. ;) It has been that dramatic in some areas that we had to use names of tribes and rivers, a bit contradicting our own rules, but the areas had to be represented as they were active parts in the development of the region.
One thing: a big chunk of the Arabian peninsula can be seen in today’s Tinto Maps; but, please, reserve the feedback for its future DD, when we’ll show all of the peninsula. Apart from that, you can see more detailed maps if you click on the spoiler button, as usual.


Provinces:
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Areas:
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Terrain:
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The terrain types of the region are quite interesting and diverse. It is marked by the Rift Valley, which creates different biomes, such as the Ethiopian Highlands and Plateau, or the African Great Lakes. That also marks a divide between Arid, Tropical, and Oceanic climates. The vegetation of the region also ranges from desertic and sparse, to jungle forests. And one more note: you may also note that 'Marshes' have been renamed into 'Wetlands', as we could put some work into that suggestion the last week.

Natural Harbors:
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Cultures:
Cultures.png

Another interesting map this week… You might notice that the lands of Ethiopia have a very mixed cultural situation. While more to the west and south, we are representing ‘tribal lands’ in a more homogeneous way, with kind of fixed boundaries to represent the different groupings. This doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be a mixing of cultures, but this was one of the first areas to receive a minority's review and the scope was limited mostly to Ethiopia.

Religion:
Religion.png

Another interesting map! Miaphysite and Sunni are the more widespread religions in the region (while not all areas have their mixed populations, such as Nubia as you might notice, they eventually will as we cover more of the map in our sprints). Animism is completely placeholder, as usual, and you might see some pockets here and there (If you have specific suggestions, please do them). You may also notice a purple minority inside Ethiopia… That is representing the Beta Israel Judaism in the provinces of Semien, of course!

Raw Materials:
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The raw materials of this week! A big chunk of the region has livestock as its main raw material, while also having some agricultural goods as Wheat or Sturdy Grains here and there. The most unique good in the region is Coffee, which is cultivated in the Ethiopian highlands. And there are also some precious resources spread here and there, such as Gold, Ivory, Gems, and Incense.

Markets:
Markets.png

The main market centers of the region are Axum and Mogadishu, with ‘Adan/Aden being the main one controlling the access to the Red Sea. There are some weird calculations ongoing on the Somalian inner lands, that are already reported, and we’ll take a look at why is that happening.

Population:
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The population of the region! There are approximately 12.3M people in the Eastern African subcontinent; although take into account that it also comprises the regions of the Southern Great Lakes and the Swahili Coast, which we haven’t shown today, so we probably have to discount around 4M people from it (Swahili Coast accounts for 1.7M, and the Great Lakes for 4M, although that region is divided between today’s and next week’s Tinto Maps), for a total of around 8M.

That’s all for today! Speaking of next week’s Tinto Maps, it will be meaty, as it will cover Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa! See you!
 
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Ajuuran should be ruled by the House of Gareen, Ethiopia should be called Abyssinia at this time ( I know some internal use of the term Ethiopia existed, but it feels anachronistic to me to use the term, like calling Muscovy Russia) and there should be more vassals, both along the Banadir coast and in Abysinnia.
The Ethiopians never called themselves Abyssinian. Abyssinian was a term used by Europeans (notably the British and the Italians) and some Arab/Turkish scholars.
 
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In 1335, Pate captured Mogadishu for a very long time.

I expected at least a little more countries. Indeed, there were few organized societies in Africa at that time, but it is strange to imagine decentralized tribal formations as a full-fledged part of another country (tribes within Dir-Ifat and Ajuran). It seems that we will not have the Congo in the game, because at this time, its capital alone consists of 7 kingdoms, and around it there are hundreds of even smaller towns-kingdoms. Well, at least then it will be possible to install modifications to Africa.

By the way, I continue to edit the map of the approximate location of the main tribes and kingdoms in 1348, while it is still a raw alpha version, about 9% of the map is wrong and I still don't like the design. I also want to compile a text document with all references to kingdoms/tribes/nationalities. But my vacation is coming to an end, I won't be able to actively edit the map anymore.

View attachment 1178513
That’s not true. Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh 'Umar was king of the Mogadishu Sultanate at this point according to Ibn Battuta and the Pate Chronicle has stuff like giants in it, it isn’t reialible. In fact Pate was under the suzerainty of Kilwa and Mogadishu and Kilwa fought a war over Mogadishu’s colony of Sofala.
 
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The Ethiopians never called themselves Abyssinian. Abyssinian was a term used by Europeans (notably the British and the Italians) and some Arab/Turkish scholars.
It’s used in Somali and it was used in Abysinia at the time, the people of the Highland aren’t called Habesha for no reason! Nubia is classical and biblical Ethiopia and since Alodia still exists at this point before the Funj conquest Ethiopia shouldn’t be used in my opinion.
 
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The Oromos followed a Monotheistic religion, not an Animist religion, and it was called Waaqeffanna. The god they follow is called Waaqa, whom they believe is loving, intelligent, and black.

View attachment 1178483
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Currently, only 3% of Oromos follow this religion but before their Great Expansions, all Oromos followed this religion since ancient times.

The reason why only 3% of Oromos follow this religion is because during and after their Great Expansions into Northern Ethiopia, Kenya, and some parts of Somalia, they assimulated the religions that surrounded them. Currently, the Oromos that live near the Amharas are generally Orthodox Christians whilst the Oromos that live near Somalia are generally Muslim. In this map, you can see where the Oromos inhabit (all inside the white lines) and you can see how divided they are in religion.

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I would hope that there could be some events or some missions for the Oromos that depict their historical expansions and conquests northwards into Ethiopia, as it massively changed how we see Ethiopia today.

Here is a somewhat historically accurate map of how Ethiopia looked like during the 15th century.

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Now here is what it looks like today.

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What you can take out this map is that before the Oromo expansions, the Ethiopian region was very diverse but after the expansions took place, the Oromo successfully assimulated most of these ethnic groups into their dominant culture, although following the religion of the people they conquered.

Another important thing to note is when you are looking at the history of the Oromo, they were commonly called "Galla", which we do not know its origin but regardless, the term is considered offensive by Oromos today. Anyways, there's some interesting theories about the origin of the term like it was given to them by Prophet Muhammad and that the Oromos were lost "white" European guys from modern day France.

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The Oromo, once a regular nomadic, semi-pastoralist African ethnic group, would become the most dominant people in the Horn of Africa and a threat to the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia to their north and the Muslim sultanates to their right.

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Source: The Cambridge History of Africa by Roland Oliver & John Fage


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Source: The Uncivilized Races of Men in All Countries of the World By John George Wood

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Source: Ethiopia By Paulos Milkias


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Source: The Standard History of the World by John Herbert Clifford


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Source: History of the World from the Earliest Period to the Present Time by Evert Augustus Duyckinck

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Source: Some Developments in Ethiopia During the Era of Mesafint by K Darkwah
Waaqefena was created later under the influence of Islam and Christianity , Waaq is literally the term for the sky so I assume at night it is black.
 
It’s used in Somali and it was used in Abysinia at the time, the people of the Highland aren’t called Habesha for no reason! Nubia is classical and biblical Ethiopia and since Alodia still exists at this point before the Funj conquest Ethiopia shouldn’t be used in my opinion.
It wasn't used in Ethiopia, as I stated before, the Ethiopians never called themselves Abyssinians. But I understand what you are trying to get at.
 
What happened to SaintDavid?
He mentioned in the British Isles Tinto Map that he would be away for some time and that progress on the British map would therefore stall for some time. I have no idea why, we can only hope it is for joyous reasons such as paternity leave, extensive travel etc rather than less pleasant alternatives.
 
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That’s not true. Abu Bakr ibn Shaikh 'Umar was king of the Mogadishu Sultanate at this point according to Ibn Battuta and the Pate Chronicle has stuff like giants in it, it isn’t reialible. In fact Pate was under the suzerainty of Kilwa and Mogadishu and Kilwa fought a war over Mogadishu’s colony of Sofala.
The Pate Chronicle is based on oral tradition, there are grains of truth in it. You’re making the mistake of taking it literally, I’m not familiar with it as I can’t access the source but the giants are likely a representation of something
 
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What happened to SaintDavid?
He mentioned in the British Isles Tinto Map that he would be away for some time and that progress on the British map would therefore stall for some time. I have no idea why, we can only hope it is for joyous reasons such as paternity leave, extensive travel etc rather than less pleasant alternatives.
He will be on parental leave for some more weeks.
 
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Regarding Societies of Peoples, I outright feel... deceived.

The 14th August Tinto Talks on colonization seems set up to make us believe that Stateless Societies were the replacement for usual Europa Universalis natives, analogous to Vic3's Decentralized Nations: Johan wrote about needing to overpower "countries in plural, and next week you will understand what we are talking about" like it's something you always deal with, and then showed a map of Scandinavia where every single uncolonized province was covered by some "[name] People" tag.

Then this Tinto Maps drops, and it turns out no, in large chunks of the world colonizers will find "empty" land and people that have little to no agency like in EU4 or Victoria II. I was hoping for better.
Whilst I agree, this is exactly the place to suggest new ones to be added. This map is largely fine from the coloniser pov as the coast is occupied by settled countries to engage with. The issue is more prevalent in the West African SoP map, which feels like they have ignored the coasts where groups like the Kissi or Kru could imho have fit into this category easily. They have also stated there will be natives who dont classify as SoPs which is fine, I just feel we need to know if they have any added effects on colonisation.

Also bare in mind the 1300s was pretty early places like the Kongo were not united at the time and records are slim. The fact colonising Africa is basically non existent until later in the game there is plenty of possibilities for SoP and Settled nations to appear via events way before colonisation can even occur. Like Funj or Denkyira in eu4.

Sure disappointing but there is some context and also if we want it to improve it we should attempt to provide some feedback for inclusions
 
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Much like I did with West Africa, I'm going to talk about my thoughts on East Africa, because I have a few thoughts about it.
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Is it wrong for me to say that I'm a bit disappointed?

For the past two maps that have had them, aka this one, and Egypt, I was hoping that there would be something for the Beja, since they have had states since the 9th century, and this was a period prior to Arabization and Islamization of their people, where their states didn't use Arabic, and they were Miaphysite practicing religion-wise. Alas, they're currently shown with very little, which is disappointing. Only two of their states are present on the map which are Bazin and Jarin, which there definitely were more. There was Belgin, Qita'a, Nagash, and Tankish, all of which were Miaphysite Beja states recorded since the 9th century, which were all conquered by another Beja state that was more islamized, Belew in the 15th century. Adding in more Beja states could better represent them and their people as right now it's rather dull in my opinion.

Moving outside of the Beja, the Harla are also weirdly absent from the map as well, despite the fact they had a state of their own as well that was subordinate to Ifat, not being a part of it directly. Adding in a Harla kingdom would give us the opportunity to play with them a bit more, which I'd appreciate.

Oddly enough, a nation that was present in EU4 but is missing here despite being around at this time is Hadiya, which existed since the 13th century, adding them in would bring in another independent nation to the area, which I think would be appreciated.

In Somalia, the absence of the Warsangali Sultanate as a vassal of Ifat is also troubling especially when they existed at this time as well, and out of all of the Somali states present in 1337, lasted by far the longest, being present in the timeframe of Victoria 3, so adding them in to the start would be something I'd appreciate.

Ennarea also should be present in some of the Gonga territories as Ethiopia did not own that area, and they had just emerged independent from Damot, so that could add in another player to the region.

Alongside Harla annd Warsangali, there's also the absence of the Dawaro Sultanate, which was aligned with Ifat as another Muslim principality that was located into lands that are currently apart of Ethiopia, so that could be added as well.

Heading over to the lands of the Omotic groups, both the Welayta are missing their culture (which should really be in the part currently represent as Oromo as the Oromo were not in most of that area at that time and were located further south as they had yet to migrate north yet) and kingdom which both were present in 1337, so adding them in could give us an option to playing the Omotic groups earlier, especially since the Kefficho of Kaffa hadn't properly formed their state yet in 1337 according to their oral history.

Recently created during this time was the Kingdom of Simien, a Beta Israeli vassal state of Ethiopia, so representing them could give people an option to play with Judaism much earlier and easier than any other method.

Finally, we have to talk about the Great Lakes, as there's only Kitara there... and it's ahistorically smaller than it should be. Realistically it should cover more territory, as it had control over all of what would be Ankole, Tooro, and Bunyoro at this point, and likely had some vassal states of their own before they too collapsed. It is assumed that Buganda was created in the late 13th century, so they absolutely should be present at game start, either as subservient to Kitara or as an independent kingdom. Rwanda has some rulers as well, albeit the first one dated appears later on in the 14th century, so I'm hesitant to include it. Finally, there's the Luhya people and their kingdom of Wanga, which existed since the 11th century, so adding them in Western Kenya wouldn't be a bad idea.

Hopefully some of these ideas can help formulate this area a bit better, since many other states had yet to emerge at this time, albeit there's definitely a good chunk of nations that are missing and could be added.

As for SoP's, I really can only say that the Oromo should not be one, but two. Split them into the Borana and Barentu to more accurately represent them since the Borana and Barentu Oromo ultimately ended up very different with one another by the time of Victoria 3, and that more groups should probably get them such as the Shilluk, who would form their own kingdom by the 16th century.

For cultures, again, push the Oromo further south and add in the Welayta, I cannot stress that enough. They would come into Ethiopia later on, but they certainly shouldn't have all of that just yet, especially when Oromia at this time was more so Kenya than Southern Ethiopia.

For religions, there's not a lot I can say, adding in Waaqeffanna for the Oromo and any Somali animists would be great, maybe some Nhialic for the Dinka which had slight variations for the Nuer and Shilluk as well, but other than that, I have no concrete ideas on what to add.
 
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Please consider hard coding "Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi" into the game for a Somali country (Adal if it shows up). That is one of the most famouse Somali leaders who participated in the largest war in East Africa around the time the game will take place. Could be interesting to see a general with high stats being more important than a ruler.
 
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