Tinto Maps #4 - 31th of May 2024 - Poland, Ruthenia, Baltic

[Alexej1803]

This map shows the various tribes present at the end of the 13th century in modern fromer East-Prussia (with their German names) gruoped in the DD as Western Baltic. Btw. although in English the term Prussian is used to commenly refer to both German and native-baltic Prussians, while in German German Prussians are generally refered to as "Preußen"(Prussians commenly thought of) and the Baltic Prussians as "Pruzzen" as a general name for all those tribes above ( fun fact: the english word "spruce" derives from the word "Pruzzen"/"Prussian" itself). So I hope this will be considert in the German localisation.

This map of Prussia in 1900 shows quite good how certain regions were named or refered to by the common people based on the names of former Baltic tribes (marked by myself in yellow). Which brings me to some suggestions for the province names in the Teutonic Order:
- instead of "Ragnit" you could call it "Schalauen"
- instead of "Kulm" maybe "Kulmerland" (although to be fair maybe a bit long)
- instead of "Marienburg" maybe "Ermeland"
- instead of "Insterburg" maybe "Nadrauen"
-instead of "Ortelsburg" maybe "Sudauen"
- instead of "Osterode" then Galinden
- also to you combine the last two to one province "Masuren"

I'm aware those suggestions are by far not perfect and probaly not so familiar with the player( like calling the province of "Königsberg" now "Samland"), but I think it's more interesting to just plainly name those procinces after locations. Also some of the suggestions would pobably need to readjust which locations belongs to which province (like Thorn being part of a province of "Kulmerland" or having larger provinces than shown rightnow). Nonetheless it would pay some tribute to the existence of those tirbes, if they are being grouped together in a "West Baltic" culture group rather than their own separate culture.

Well at least I hope the suggestion for the localization in German will be thought of(because as someone from Germany it would be nice having them called "Pruzzen" instead of just plainly "Westbaltisch") .

1.Edit: "Pruzzen" can also be spelled "Prußen". The latter being a later used term for the native Prussians as step in language evolution ("Pruzzen" to "Prußen" to "Preußen"). To be honest both terms or variants of the name for the native Prussians in German would be valid. "Prußen" is probably more commenly used in modern German, but as long its either one of them is used then just some generic name, then it should be fine . Hence "Prußen" might even be better for the German localisation, while "Prußen" might be to similar to "Preußen" and cause confusion; so maybe after all "Pruzzen"? (At this point I am myself not quite sure, some other opinions would be nice).

Beside that, maybe (as I think about it) you could use for the English localisation the term "Prūsai" which is what the native Prussians called themselves, but that just an idea. Also the provinces of "Danzig" and "Tuchel" could be called "Nordpomerellen" (Northern Pomerellia) and "Südpomerellen" (Southern Pomerellia) similar to the divide of Holland into north and south as shown in DD for the Low Lands (but still might again require some readjusting of the province borders with the location).

If I caused now some confusion through with my edit, I hope I will be forgiven. But as a German saying goes: "Deutsche Sprache, schwere Sprache" (German language, difficult language).

2.Edit:
Regarding for some locations changes/addition some ideas came to my mind.

(map of the Teutonic Order around 1400)

1. Instead of "Schlochau" you should rather name this location "Konitz" because historically it's been the bigger city in the area and the sight of the Battle of Konitz between the Teutons and Poland in the 14th century
2. Adding here as a location the city of "Elbing"; it was one of the founders of the Prussian Confederation in the 14th century and later became in the 2nd Peace of Thorn 1466 an autononous city under the Polish crown like Danzig and Thorn, so could be later shown as a Polish vassal in-game. Aditionally it was one of the Hansiatic cities in the Teutonic Prussian lands (those cities: Danzig, Königsberg, Elbing, Thorn, Kulm and Braunsberg)
3. Adding a location of "Braunsberg", which was close to coast while "Heilsberg" is further inland and not a port city; also it became later the most important Portcity of Bishopbric Ermland in the middle ages and furthermore was a Hansiatic city( as mentioned before)
4. Adding the location of "Labiau" wich was a costal city unlike "Wehlau" which more inland
5.Here a new location might not be that necassary, but thers should maybe an event changing the name of the loaction from "Rößel" to "Allenstein" since the latter was only founded in 1353, but later became the lager city of both
6. Adding "Soldau" as a location since its the loacation of the Soldau castle playing an important role as a border fortress against the Poles ( being besieged multiple times by the Poles
7. the addition of the location "Georgenburg" would better depict the borders of Bishopbric of Samia since it was an exclave of it.

Another point would be the ownership of "Kulm", which only became part of the bishopbric of Kulm in 1505. The bordes the bishopbric could also be more accurate but to miniscule and divided to properly show ingame. But you could fit in a location of "Deutsch-Eylau" to better show the border between the bishopbrics of Kulm and Pomesania. Also you could ad a location of "Kulmsee" between "Kulm" and "Thorn" for the bishopbric to have still two locations for this country ( also "Briesen" and "Strasburg" could be added for more acurrate borders with other loctions between them like "Lautenburg", but that a lot ofborder chaos I admit, although I would still like to see such a solution with more location because its more interisting and fun).

3.Edit:

This would be my personal suggestion how to rearange the provinces and locations , and names for the provinces(keep previos suggestions in the original post for addition of locations from 2.Edit and naming of certain provinces in mind)

1. "Südpomerellen" ( Southern Pomerellia)
2."Nordpomerellen" (Northern Pomerellia)
3."Kulmerland"
4. "Marienburg" or perhaps "Elbing" (if Elbing is added as a location)
5. "Galinden" (Galindia)
6."Ermeland" (Warmia)
7."Sudauen" (Sudovia)
8."Natangen" (Natangia)
9."Samland"(Samia) or just "Königsberg"
10. "Nadrauen" (Nadruvia)
11."Schalauen" (Skalvia)

9. and 8. could be combined (but idk how to name that province then) as well as maybe 5. and 7. (you could call it "Masuren" (Masuria) like mentioned above and) a then ad "Lyck" and "Angersburg" to 7. ( how to name 7. then idk)

Hope those edits are not getting to much out of hand, but I thought the 3.Edit would be great to better show what imagined from the start. Also I attached some sources for the maps and other suggestions in a textfile (sorry those are in German and just edited afterwards).

 

[Diarlex1217]

A new map mode, the Diplomatic one! The game starts with an ongoing war between Poland, Lithuania, and their respective vassals, on one side, and the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, and Bohemia and its vassals, on the other.

To be honest they should not start at war in 1337. The war took place in the years 1327-1333 and due to death of Polish king, they agreed to a armistice which lasted until Peace of Kalisz was signed in 1343. This peace lasted until the war in 1409-1411

 

[RoySobak]

"The Old Ukrainian spelling from the 14th and 15th centuries was nominally *Києвъ, but various attested spellings include кїєва (gen.), Кїєвь, and Киев (acc.), кїєво or кїєвом (ins.), києвє, Кіеве, Кїєвѣ, Києвѣ, or Киѣве (loc.)." This is what Wikipedia says. Kyiv is an anachronistic name. Ukrainians called the city Kievŭ at the time. Laurentian Codex and the Novgorod Chronicle also call the city Kievŭ and they are contemporary resources using endonyms. Kiev is first attested in 1804 as an English word, Kyiw (the first attestation of the modern Ukrainian spelling) is first attested in 1884, in a Polish source. Ukrainians officially started using Kyiv in 1995. So modern politics are a no excuse to not use the historical native name IMO.

Copying this from elsewhere. Kyiv is anachronistic

Vocal pronunciation of this city by inhabitants have barely changed. Same sounds but different letters - languages evolve. All is changed is a Latinization. Ukrainian way instead of russian. If muscovites will own it, may it be called Kiev, dynamic cultural names be blessed, Lithuanians - Kijow or whatever. But if Ruthenians - Kyiv works just fine.

 

[pog67676767]

Why does the Aukstiaitian culture spread so far into Belarus? From the times of the Kievan Rus the border has stayed rather close to the modern borders we have today,

 

[Kopechek]

Hi,

This is my first comment on this forum!

Many have already expressed their opinion that the locations and provinces in Livonia are indicated incorrectly. First of all, many of the locations are in the wrong places, and many locations that were important throughout the 14th to 18th centuries are also missing. I decided to draw a map of possible locations that corresponded to historical towns and castles, and also corresponded to historical boundaries.

Provinces:

1. Estland - Nortern Estonia:
   Reval - a major city, was a member of the Hanseatic League;
   Rappel - was centered around ancient Estonian maakond of Harju and Varbola stronghold;
   Padis - the Monstery of Padis was a prominent center, also later port in Paldiski was later a naval base for Swedes and Russians;
   Waissenstein - county of Jerwen, Germans bought it from Denmark in 13th century;
   Wesenberg - a major castle;
   Narwa - a town and castle;
   Hapsal - an important town and castle;
   Leal - an important town and castle
   Kertel - Hagö island was sparsely populated during the Late Middle Ages, but later Kädla (Kertel) town would became it's centre;
2. Nord-Livland - Northern part of Livonia (or Southern Estonia) with majority Estonian populace:
   Dorpat - a Hanseatic city, the centre of Dorpat Bishopric:
   Oberpahlen - a town and a castle;
   Walk - an importand town in the centre of Livonia;
   Neuhausen - a major castle;
   Fellin - a Hanseatic town, a major castle;
   Karkus - a town and castle;
   Pernau - a Hanseatic city;
   Alt-Pernau - northern part of Pernau, owned by Ösel-Wiek Bishopric;
   Soneburg - Livonian castle (Valjala is located near the Arensburg and was part of the Bishopric, not the Order);
   Arensburg - an important town and castle;
3. Süd-Livland - southern part of Livonia, Vidzeme, with Latvian and Livonian (Liv) population:
   Riga - a major Hanseatic City;
   Treiden - an important castle;
   Lemsal - an important town and castle;
   Wolmar - a Hanseatic town and a castle;
   Segewold - an important castle;
   Ascheraden - an important town and a castle;
   Wenden - a Hanseatic town and a castle;
   Ronneburg - an important castle;
   Marienburg - an important town and a castle;
   Kreuzburg - an important town and a castle;
4. Kurland
   Grobin - a Hanseatic city;
   Windau - a Hanseatic city;
   Pilten - a centre of Courland Bishopric;
   Hesenpoth - was a centre of another Bishopric's exclave;
   Talsen - an important castle;
   Goldingen - a trading city;
   Tuckum - an important town and a castle;
5. Semgallen
   Mitau - a Hanseatic city;
   Dobeln - an important castle;
   Bauske - an important town;
   Selburg - an important castle;
6. Letgallen (can also be a part of Polotsk province if 3 locations are too few):
   Dünaburg - an important town and a castle;
   Rositten - an important town and a castle;
   Kreslau - an important town and a castle;

Thus, the borders of the provinces correspond to the historical provinces of Livonia, and the locations can approximately correspond to the real borders at the beginning of the game and are able to simulate later historical borders.

Regarding vegetation, in some cases the areas of Estonia and Latvia were less forested than they are now (massive livestock raising and agriculture in general required large areas of cleared land, at least in populated areas near important cities).

And here is how country boundaries would look like in 1337:

 

[stoicsalad]

Some more historical maps. Let's start with the map from 1695, the most old and accurate map of Kiev. If you zoom it, you'll see some text in old Russian that I can't properly translate all, but it says град (?) Києва, the city of Kijev, if you transliterate it. It also says план Кіева on the left, the map of Kiev, which is still very different from ukrainian Київ, Kyiv. The second map is from 1739, Kiev here is named Kiof (which is still very different from Kyiv as pronunciation but is very similar to polish Kijow or Kijev as Киёв). The last one is from 1787, made in Russian Empire, and old russian writing before the revolution, when in Russian letter "i" was still used before using "и" instead which is similar but not the same. The whole third map is atteched below because it's really huge so you can zoom and check it yourself.

This said, I don't see any reason from historical point of view why the city or region should be named Kyiv and not Kiev.
View attachment 1141358 View attachment 1141351View attachment 1141345

The latter two maps are in Russian, so of course Kyiv would be called Kiev in them, as that's the Russian name. But the city isn't Russian, so I fail to see how that's relevant - you could just as easily call it Kijow, since the Poles used to own it and called it Kijow. Or Kijevas, the Lithuanian name.

And anyway - as far as I can tell, all provinces use the modern names of towns, and Kyiv is now the widely used name for the Ukrainian capital in English, so that's the name that should be used. Or else, Minsk should be called Měneskъ, which would just confuse everyone.

 

[Leoneq]

Exactly!

Łomża was definitely more important than Wizna. It is worth noting that Casmir the Great founded a gord near Łomża called Nowogrod. Ostrołęka, on the other hand, is the oldest city in this part of Mazovia (although this is shocking) and was the seat of the Ostrołęka Land, where the Kurpiowska Forest was located, where amber and honey were mined.

And Polish nationalism is creeping in here again. Unfortunately, this was to be expected.This week, the Polish president vetoed the law recognizing Silesian as a regional language. So since this is a fresh topic, many Polish nationalists will write nonsense - because they cannot understand what the concept of "nation" meant before the emergence of nationalist ideology.


Have you talked to them? The fact is that it was a border area where the influences of several cultures clashed. It is most reasonable to give Polish culture as the dominant culture in this location and Silesian culture as the second largest culture in the province.


I think they are combined into one. Kashubia covers only the eastern area marked on the map (Danzig, Tuchel, Stolp). So Kashubian culture represents both Kashubians and Polabians and also Slavic Pommeranian.


Yes. Nowy Sącz province should be a Gorals province.


X D

Do you know that in the 15th century there were only minor differences in the West Slavic languages, which is why Czech and Polish had minor language differences?It is true that Polish nationalism is the most irrational because it denies the foundations of science. Polish peasants from central Poland in the interwar period (1920s-1930s) were made aware of their nationality by the Polish state.

Here we go again...

XD You can literally go to wikipedia or any other source and you'll see how Silesian indentity was created. It is not "Polish nationalism", It's literally historic fact. It is worldwidely recognized that Silesian emerged from Old Polish. Also about the similitarities of West Slavic languages you can talk in period like 900, not XIV century, where most of Major langauge evolutionary changes happened, like in Czech G sound became H.

Just look up something like called "Map of Polish dialects" ig? Also Oświęcim is historical part of Lesser Poland, and before was inhabited by the Tribe of Vistulans, that future lesser polish dialect would emerge from.

Also no? Nowy Sącz shouldnt be Goral. Inhabitants of that area are "Lachy Sądeckie" that are totally NOT Górals. How do I know? I live here

Before you say something while talking about in my opinion important thing (yeah we talking about historic accuracy in history game), dont rely on "erm you cant say Silesian aint nation you Polish nationalist!". Silesian is very unique and special culture, it was separated from the main language, evolved in it's own way being influenced by Languages like Czech and German, but all the things that shaped this unique culture and language happened after 1337. So before you say anything go make some research, and then come back and argue about if Silesian identity existed in medieval ages or not. Pozdrawiam

 

[Fehervari]

Why's Bohemia at war with Poland? The Treaty of Trencsén and the Congress of Visegrád already established peace between them. In fact, they were nominally allies against Austria.

Shouldn't poland start with alliance or at least inheritance pact with Hungary ?

That particular agreement was concluded only in 1339, AFAIK.

The fact that Louis inherited poland and then split his kingdoms beetween doughters

Louis didn't want to split his realms. Chaos was just too great in Hungary for Mary to assume the Polish throne. The Poles managed to extract a deal inwhich Mary allowed them to make Hedwig their King/Queen instead. The Poles didn't like their monarch ruling from abroad, but they also especially disliked Sigismund of Luxemburg, that's what led to this development.

 

[Teutonic_Knight_2000]

XD You can literally go to wikipedia or any other source and you'll see how Silesian indentity was created. It is not "Polish nationalism", It's literally historic fact. It is worldwidely recognized that Silesian emerged from Old Polish. Also about the similitarities of West Slavic languages you can talk in period like 900, not XIV century, where most of Major langauge evolutionary changes happened, like in Czech G sound became H.

Just look up something like called "Map of Polish dialects" ig? Also Oświęcim is historical part of Lesser Poland, and before was inhabited by the Tribe of Vistulans, that future lesser polish dialect would emerge from.

Also no? Nowy Sącz shouldnt be Goral. Inhabitants of that area are "Lachy Sądeckie" that are totally NOT Górals. How do I know? I live here

Before you say something while talking about in my opinion important thing (yeah we talking about historic accuracy in history game), dont rely on "erm you cant say Silesian aint nation you Polish nationalist!". Silesian is very unique and special culture, it was separated from the main language, evolved in it's own way being influenced by Languages like Czech and German, but all the things that shaped this unique culture and language happened after 1337. So before you say anything go make some research, and then come back and argue about if Silesian identity existed in medieval ages or not. Pozdrawiam

Racz Waść pisać przestać, bo możesz pan się nawet na propagandowego profesorka Miodka powoływać (przesiedleńca zza Buga) a i tak nie zmienisz pan mojego zdania. Nie pozdrawiam

 

[Dunedayl]

Galicia-Volhynia should be named Kingdom of Ruthenia. This name was wildly used in latin documentation at the time. Galicia-Volhynia is a cabinet term (Like Byzantium) taken mostly from Hungarian naming of the kingdom and get traction after integrations of this lands into Austria monarchy.

 

[SaintDaveUK]

Surely Johan or another Scandinavian can make sense of it if you don't have any Danes at Tinto

Oh, we have a Dane alright...

 

[maxacer1]

Also no? Nowy Sącz shouldnt be Goral. Inhabitants of that area are "Lachy Sądeckie" that are totally NOT Górals. How do I know? I live here

It depends who you ask and how far you go. Know people from there, and claim to be 'Górals' - The map locations are rigid not dynamic, you can only work with what you get so it looks exaggerated when you don't use the 'percentages' but just lines instead on a map.

 

[Pescavelho]

While Samogitians didn't have their own language back then, they clearly had their own seperate identity from Lithuanians (Aukštaitians), so it's not wrong at all that they are a culture on their own.

Yes, Old Latgalians = Old Latvians.

Galindians can be merged with Prussians, that's not a problem, they were really close.

At least all of Latvia isn't Latvian, but Western Baltic should be divided into Prussian and Curonian and should not include Semigallia as they were Eastern Baltic like Latvians and Lithuanians (closer to the latter). We can live without Selonians, they were the first to be assimilated into Latvians and Lithuanians.

Yatvingians are missing from the map and some of their lands are even shown as Polish, even now Lithuanians (most likely assimilated Yatvingians) are living there.

South Estonian should be a culture on its own, too, seperate from Estonian.

I will try to make a more detailed post later, as I'm writing all of this in hurry.

Isn't "Lithuanian" at this time an umbrella term for the united Samogitians (Lowland Lithuanians) and Aukštaitians (Highland Lithuanians) tribes? I feel like you could represent Samogitians by showing their Eldership as a vassal to Lithuania. Either way they were the last Europeans to abandon paganism so they should probably be represented in some way.

 

[Polesie Admiral]

Galicia-Volhynia should be named Kingdom of Ruthenia. This name was wildly used in latin documentation at the time. Galicia-Volhynia is a cabinet term (Like Byzantium) taken mostly from Hungarian naming of the kingdom and get traction after integrations of this lands into Austria monarchy.

maybe Rus?

 

[Deterock]

The latter two maps are in Russian, so of course Kyiv would be called Kiev in them, as that's the Russian name. But the city isn't Russian, so I fail to see how that's relevant - you could just as easily call it Kijow, since the Poles used to own it and called it Kijow. Or Kijevas, the Lithuanian name.

Kiev wasn't Polish since 1654 (after the Khmelnytsky Uprising) and it was under Russian control for around 50 years when the first map of Kiev was made. And, if we want to be precise here, the Khmelnytsky Uprising was a rebellion against Poles that oppressed orthodox in modern Ukraine, who seeked protection of Russian zar. And, as somebody mention above, there wasn't any "russian" identity as such until XX century, so it's not "rusified", it's just how the city was called at the times, and I think that's the most important part. Calling Kiev as Kyiv in a historical strategy is like calling "put_Washington_province_name" Washington in 1337. They started Kiev Kyiv after 2014, which was, like, 10 years ago. If so, we should call Constantinople Istambul, it's been called like that since 1930, right?

 

[Castlefox]

To be honest they should not start at war in 1337. The war took place in the years 1327-1333 and due to death of Polish king, they agreed to a armistice which lasted until Peace of Kalisz was signed in 1343. This peace lasted until the war in 1409-1411

Tbh it depends on how deep making peace mechanics are.

 

[Leoneq]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the fourth Tinto Maps! The feedback that we've received so far has been great, and there will be news soon regarding the map fixes that we've already done.

This week we are showing you Poland, Lithuania, Ruthenia, and the Baltic region. Let’s check it with no further ado:

Countries
View attachment 1141116
A bigger picture of what’s going on in this region today, as we hadn’t shown it entirely before. To the west, the Kingdom of Poland is ruled by Casimir III of the House of Piast. It is not a completely unified kingdom, as there are several powerful vassals under him, most of them also Piasts themselves.

To the east, the Duchy of Lithuania is ruled by Gediminas, who has greatly expanded the influence of the country into Russian lands (side note: Gediminas entitled himself in his diplomatic correspondence ‘king’, but was considered by the Pope ‘king or duke’, and the title of Grand Duke wouldn’t be formally adopted until later [most likely replicating the Russian title ‘Grand Prince’]. That’s why Lithuania starts as a Duchy, although it will have an event that would make it possible to adopt the dynamic country name of ‘Grand Duchy’).

To the south, the principalities of Kyiv and Galicia-Volhynia have recently fallen under foreign influence, the first ruled by Theodor, brother of Gediminas of Lithuania; and the second by Yuri II, also from the Piast dynasty.

To the north, the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, which conquered the lands of Prussia and Livonia a century ago, are at war against Poland and Lithuania, after a long-established rivalry.

Also, a side note: we will talk about Moldavia in the Tinto Maps devoted to the Carpathian region, as it’s currently in a ‘placeholder’ spot.

View attachment 1141098
A new map mode, the Diplomatic one! The game starts with an ongoing war between Poland, Lithuania, and their respective vassals, on one side, and the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, and Bohemia and its vassals, on the other.

Locations
View attachment 1141100
Here you have the locations of Poland, Lithuania, Ruthenia, and the Baltic region. Some issues that have already been reported by our Polish coworkers are the inconsistencies in the location naming in Polish (we’ll use proper Polish letters more thoroughly), and we’ve also started to review both the Polish and Baltic locations based on the early feedback you gave us. Oh, also, the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons missing is a bug, we’ll properly re-add them while doing the map review.

Provinces
View attachment 1141101
Any suggestions for provincial naming are pretty welcome, as in the last DD!

Terrain
View attachment 1141106
View attachment 1141108
View attachment 1141109

Cultures
View attachment 1141110
The Baltic lands have an interesting mix of different cultures. ‘Western Baltic’ culture represents the people speaking a West Baltic language (Old Prussians, Yotvingians, Curonians, etc.), while ‘Prussian’ is the culture of the German settlers of that area; on that style, we have a ‘Baltic German’ culture in the lands of Livonia and Estonia that also got settled by German-speaking people. The divide between Polish, Ruthenian, and Aukstaitian might be too deep, so we will most likely add a bit more mixed situation in the borders between these cultures.

Religions
View attachment 1141112
A region with a more interesting religious setup! Apart from the Catholic-Orthodox divide, you can also see the Romuva religion, which was a hot topic in 1337 (shall the Dukes of Lithuania convert to Catholicism, or stay Pagan?). Red stripes to the north are other Animist populations. Also, disregard the Sunni region to the southeast, as we have to review all the pops of the Pontic Steppes, as well.

Raw Goods
View attachment 1141113
From the distribution of the materials, maybe a couple of things might catch your eye. The first is that there’s an Amber good present on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The second is that the Tatra Mountains, in Slovakia, have a bunch of precious metals, which makes them a very interesting area to exploit and develop.

Population
View attachment 1141117
View attachment 1141127
The population of the region is divided into country and location views. Two notes: The total population of Estonia is not 711K people, that’s the total for its owner, Denmark. Second, we’ve read your feedback regarding the population map mode, and we’ll take a look at how to improve the visualization of the data, making it better for you.

EDIT: Markets
View attachment 1141180
And that’s all for today! The region that we'll show next week is Italy! Cheers!

PAVIA MAKE JAWOR INDEPENDENT (i explained it more in my other post)

 

[Antoni123]

I think that a more appropriate name for the Pajęczno province is Sieradz (Sieradz was much more important than Pajęczno at that time) in which Pajęczno was located and the Wieluń province should be much smaller because part of it should be in the Sieradz province and the Sieradz land was larger than the Wieluń land.

 

[perceval350]

Shouldn't market access of Kiyv be higher in the locations that are adjacent to the Dniepr ?

 

[stoicsalad]

Kiev wasn't Polish since 1654 (after the Khmelnytsky Uprising) and it was under Russian control for around 50 years when the first map of Kiev was made. And, if we want to be precise here, the Khmelnytsky Uprising was a rebellion against Poles that oppressed orthodox in modern Ukraine, who seeked protection of Russian zar. And, as somebody mention above, there wasn't any "russian" identity as such until XX century, so it's not "rusified", it's just how the city was called at the times, and I think that's the most important part. Calling Kiev as Kyiv in a historical strategy is like calling "put_Washington_province_name" Washington in 1337.

1337-1654 is longer than 1654-18XX, so by your logic, it should be called Kijow.

Anyway, modern names make the most sense and confuse the least people. Besides, it's clear PDX has already chosen to use modern spellings, and changing it would entail a bunch of problems (what if names changed from 1337-18XX, having to change so many location names, etc.).