[Map] Ibn Battuta's Legacy 2 - An alternative vanilla map WIP

[Black7Emperor7]

There is a middle ground solution: Wagadu can be a localisation used when a Soninke owns Ghana, Roman or Eastern Roman Empire can be a localisation when a Byzantine owns Byzantium, and so on

I've done that for all the cultural holders of the 'Guinea Empire'!

 

[Cèsar de Quart]

oh no, don't worry! I'm glad.

I actually would like to take a look on Iberia one day too, so this is good, at least as an inspiration. Or maybe we could potentially join our work, since, I guess, each of us has slightly different regional priorities...

Accomodating for both Andalusi spain holdings and later Christian developments can be tricky, but it's a fun endeavour.

When I was looking at the Cordoba layout and it'd be interesting to have a temple holding to represent the ruins of the Caliphal capital of Madinat al-Zahra, from which stones were taken to build the nearby monastery of Valparaíso.

 

[elvain]

Status report. I have now extended my research on the Western Sahel and managed to add even few more baronies to the area of Ghana/Wagadu and working on adding provinces to the areas of Takrur and Djolof... then moving on to the Kawkaw/Songhay and Hausaland area... as well to the area of central Nigeria where I would like to introduce the Jukun culture to fill the space between Hausa, Sao, Nupe and Igbo. Any ideas or special requests about these areas?

I need time to draft a comprehensive and sourced suggestion but off the top of my head:

Maybe just posting some sources would help too. I have a collection of several dozens articles and books about the area. Some of them I still need to read in more detail, so perhaps pointing me to some, which you personally find good would help too

--------------
But most importantly the current next step is to introduce the Savannah terrain type, but I'm wondering, since there are quite a few people who know things better, what do you guys think it should work like?
The idea now is to have it as slightly adjusted drylands, potential buildings should be similar to drylands, but with some Sahelian specifics etc.

savanna = {
    color = { 150 160 50 }
   
    province_modifier = {
        supply_limit_mult = 0.05
        development_growth_factor = 0.05
    }
   
    audio_parameter = 1.0
}

Accomodating for both Andalusi spain holdings and later Christian developments can be tricky, but it's a fun endeavour.

When I was looking at the Cordoba layout and it'd be interesting to have a temple holding to represent the ruins of the Caliphal capital of Madinat al-Zahra, from which stones were taken to build the nearby monastery of Valparaíso.

oh yes. These "zones of conflict" such as Andalusia or Anatolia are always hard to simulate, if you want the map to represent both the Christian and Muslim structure of settlements and land-division.
Anatolia will in this respect be much easier, because in the game starts it was yet firmly Byzantine

 

[Black7Emperor7]

Status report. I have now extended my research on the Western Sahel and managed to add even few more baronies to the area of Ghana/Wagadu and working on adding provinces to the areas of Takrur and Djolof... then moving on to the Kawkaw/Songhay and Hausaland area... as well to the area of central Nigeria where I would like to introduce the Jukun culture to fill the space between Hausa, Sao, Nupe and Igbo. Any ideas or special requests about these areas?

What sort of ideas or special requests did you have in mind?

This is a summary of all the suggestions I've made by email that are ready to action

Misc. Nigeria changes

• Benin and Yoruba Kingdoms should definitely be feudal in 1066 start, possibly in 867 for Yoruba, though that is arguable.
• Scrap Tiv county name - replace with Indoma, as before the arrival of Tiv in the 18thC, Indoma were spread across Benue region in small groups, later displaced by Tiv moving into the area. Besides you already have Igala, and they are neighbours.
• County of Igala -> Akpoto or Okpoto, to represent the original inhabitants prior to the arrival of the Igala and Indoma from the fall of Kwararafa. This I can see you disputing, as your MO is stick with 'recognisable' names.
• Nupe - religion-> Orisha (for the time being), as Nupe are culturally linked with Yoruba, and not Hausa (Bori).
• Rename 'Nupe' barony -> Raba, as Raba was the original Nupe capital and is in basically same position as the 'Nupe' barony, up the river from Bida.
• Chukwu county in Igboland -> Arochukwu, at least based on it's location as far as I can tell.
• Benin City needs to be renamed as it was a later invention and looks out of place (as we have discussed together before), given it's not even a city in game! Acceptable options include, Ubinu (or Ibinu), or even Edo.
• In the current version of the mod some of the baronies positions are a bit sketchy, in Igala and Tiv for example the baronies are bugged and if you click in a barony in Igala the highlighted area is in Tiv. Some of the baronies in Igbo west county sit extremely close or on the actual borders of counties which looks off.

New Central Nigerian Kingdom

• Barony of Kwararafa -> Beipi, believed to be the capital of Apa/Kwararafa, gets rid of generic placeholder barony.
• County of Kwararafa -> Apa, as i'm pushing for a kingdom title here...
• Duchy of Kwararafa -> Apa
• New kingdom level title to cover 'middle belt region' to break up Greater Nri blob - to be called Kwararafa
• If no new kingdom, I would rename Kwararafa county to Apa, and then have the duchy that includes this county to be called Kwararafa. Capital remains at Beipi.
• Another variation of this idea is to make K_Nri a duchy level title, d_nri, and incorporate that as part of k_kwararafa, to replace the 'Greater Nri' kingdom if you don't like the idea of a K_Nri AND a K_Kwararafa, i'd prefer having both personally.
• Potential to split E_Guinea, into east and west empire titles, name TBD, west could just be called Guinea obviously, with eastern empire consisting of everything east of K_Akan.

Titles

• All of the ruler titles in this area need to be reworked, which I have done if you want to incorporate.
• localisations of Guinea empire (if it remains as is), for Yoruba, Edo, and Igbo rulers
  
  Religions
• I have religions for Edo, Igbo, tweaks for Yoruba using vanilla doctrines/tenets that could be included. I will work on a Jukun one.
  
  
  Culture and kingdom map
  WIP culture map with new kingdoms. Igala I have as sitting in either Nri or Kwararafa, case can be made for both, I would decide this on what you think is better for game balance as far as kingdom size goes. Jukun is a decent placeholder culture in the sense that it is far superior to Nupe for everyone, and the Jukun played a significant role as far as we understand, in the Kwararafa kingdom. Akpoto could be replaced with Igala in the west, and Indoma in the east based on your decision. Jukun in Opanda could also be replaced with Afo, but I have to look into their movements closer to the game-timeline, as the Benue/Niger confluence area seems to be a major migration hub given it's strategic location, so unclear whether Afo presence is actually quite recent. It also depends on how micro you want to go with culture. I think for gameplay purposes it might make more sense to leave the area as Jukun, as that would make it easier to also add a central nigerian religion to cover the Kwararafa Kingdom area, breaking up the Bori blob which is a placeholder for this region, as it's not an Hausa area.

 

[elvain]

oh, thanks @Black7Emperor7 and sorry I haven't replied to your email.
But I have checked it and most of your suggestions are in accord with my plans. As I answered previously (hope I did), I indeed plan renaming Benin city and Benin county. Your suggestions are good in this place.
I also do plan to make Kwararafa a kingdom for the area currently filled by Greater Nri.... and it would potentially allow me to call the remnants of Igbo-Benue just Nri, and not Greater Nri. I want to add one more duchy there, though, probably Gwari (to include Guwari and Bauchi)
Despite my preference not to mess up with cultural names, I agree that Guinea empire should be localized for various cultures. IMHO similar thing should be done for Mali (Soninke = empire of Ghana or in this case probably Wagadu again, Qaw/Gaw = Songhay). IMHO it is better than splitting the empire in 2. I can't entirely rule out splitting the Guinea empire. It makes a lot of sense. OTOH I think it is so large in order to be very hard to creare, which is IMHO perfectly okay for an ahistorical umbrella entity.
I also agree with your suggestions about the Igala and Tiv counties (and I know about the positions bug, working on it, but thanks!). The plan is to give some more love to the area, for instance splitting the huge county of Ibibio for which I now already have some new sources (partly thanks to you!)

There are few exceptions, though:
- I don't plan touching religions. From several feedback threads I noticed there are bunch of suggestions made by people like you, who know the religious situation far better than I. Hence, I'd prefer to limit myself and my mod solely on map and cultures and leave the other, primarily the religious stuff on others to allow some compatibility. Hope this would be okay with you
- I'm not sure what you mean with the "Nupe" barony. There is none. It is actually already called Raba in the base game
- I'm not sure about adding more cultures to the Kwararafa kingdom region. As I declared, I'm not a friend of micro-cultures which differ only in name and for whom I don't have enough sources. I'm still little worried about availability of sources for the Jukun. OTOH I'm strongly tempted about adding a separate culture for the Igaw (although they would be the perfect example of what I don't want - a culture of a single duchy with only 3 counties)

From totally different note... and a small explanation of why I haven't been very good at answering... here's a little sneak peak of what will the terrains of Western Sahel look like... let me introduce the terrain type of Savanna:

 

[Koyraboro]

oh, thanks @Black7Emperor7 and sorry I haven't replied to your email.
But I have checked it and most of your suggestions are in accord with my plans. As I answered previously (hope I did), I indeed plan renaming Benin city and Benin county. Your suggestions are good in this place.
I also do plan to make Kwararafa a kingdom for the area currently filled by Greater Nri.... and it would potentially allow me to call the remnants of Igbo-Benue just Nri, and not Greater Nri. I want to add one more duchy there, though, probably Gwari (to include Guwari and Bauchi)
Despite my preference not to mess up with cultural names, I agree that Guinea empire should be localized for various cultures. IMHO similar thing should be done for Mali (Soninke = empire of Ghana or in this case probably Wagadu again, Qaw/Gaw = Songhay). IMHO it is better than splitting the empire in 2. I can't entirely rule out splitting the Guinea empire. It makes a lot of sense. OTOH I think it is so large in order to be very hard to creare, which is IMHO perfectly okay for an ahistorical umbrella entity.
I also agree with your suggestions about the Igala and Tiv counties (and I know about the positions bug, working on it, but thanks!). The plan is to give some more love to the area, for instance splitting the huge county of Ibibio for which I now already have some new sources (partly thanks to you!)

There are few exceptions, though:
- I don't plan touching religions. From several feedback threads I noticed there are bunch of suggestions made by people like you, who know the religious situation far better than I. Hence, I'd prefer to limit myself and my mod solely on map and cultures and leave the other, primarily the religious stuff on others to allow some compatibility. Hope this would be okay with you
- I'm not sure what you mean with the "Nupe" barony. There is none. It is actually already called Raba in the base game
- I'm not sure about adding more cultures to the Kwararafa kingdom region. As I declared, I'm not a friend of micro-cultures which differ only in name and for whom I don't have enough sources. I'm still little worried about availability of sources for the Jukun. OTOH I'm strongly tempted about adding a separate culture for the Igaw (although they would be the perfect example of what I don't want - a culture of a single duchy with only 3 counties)

From totally different note... and a small explanation of why I haven't been very good at answering... here's a little sneak peak of what will the terrains of Western Sahel look like... let me introduce the terrain type of Savanna:
View attachment 631424

-Incredible! Savannah could do with a Pursuit value bonus to represent the decisiveness of the rout.
Just nitpicking but it is Savannah with with an H.
-Also, Songhai has Qaw and Sorko counties under it which lead to ahistorical revolts, would be nice if the counties were converted to Songhai since Qaw and Sorko are kinda castes in Songhai society.
-Are you thinking of adjusting the Development values and Technology unlocks in the region, it is about cultures after all. I will humbly suggest some candidates.
°Basically all the nodes of the Trans-saharan trade route in the Savanah or on the Niger should get a bump: Jenné, Timbuktu, Mali, Kumbi-Saleh and so on.
°A cultural tech that unlocks House Seniority could serve as a placeholder for lateral succession

 

[Brndnfrnch1]

I've enjoyed reading about this mod. I look forward to playing it after I finish my current campaign.

In a related/unrelated note, here's a wonderful soundtrack by the incredible Catalan composer, Jordi Savall, that's relevant to the work y'all are doing.

Ibn Battuta, The Traveler of Islam

 

[Wixelt]

Would there be any Asian areas [ie Deccan] that could also have a Savanna-like terrain?

 

[Black7Emperor7]

-Incredible! Savannah could do with a Pursuit value bonus to represent the decisiveness of the rout.
Just nitpicking but it is Savannah with with an H.
-Also, Songhai has Qaw and Sorko counties under it which lead to ahistorical revolts, would be nice if the counties were converted to Songhai since Qaw and Sorko are kinda castes in Songhai society.
-Are you thinking of adjusting the Development values and Technology unlocks in the region, it is about cultures after all. I will humbly suggest some candidates.
°Basically all the nodes of the Trans-saharan trade route in the Savanah or on the Niger should get a bump: Jenné, Timbuktu, Mali, Kumbi-Saleh and so on.
°A cultural tech that unlocks House Seniority could serve as a placeholder for lateral succession

RE: spelling, I think either is actually acceptable in english?

RE: Songhai, it's a funny case but I think maybe why it has been done like this (no Songhai culture) is that, from what I have read, Songhai did not exist as an ethnic identity prior to the period of the Songhai empire - which is outside the game period - so no 'Songhai' identity can reasonably exist. What PDX have done is included the precursors for this identity. What should probably happen however is that these cultures should merge over-time, or into a melting pot culture, 'Songhai.'

RE: Tech and development. 100% though the base game is not very friendly for tribals in any region in terms of starting development levels, at least from my I could see peaking at other counties during my last game. Ditto for pre-placing buildings, even other major tribal centres there's very little in terms of pre-built buildings in any tribal holdings. What would make sense is dropping a trade post building, or whatever the lvl 1 tribal market is, into the key points of the trans-saharan trade route, and in big city states in Nigeria. Upgraded fort level for places like Kumbi Saleh would be nice too but I think some players might not like changes like that.

RE: Cultural tech, that's something I think is needed in the game generally, though there's a bit of it the further you progress in the eras, though as you can imagine no content for Africa after the 'tribal' era, coz you know, eurocentrism. There is actually a tribal era regional culture tech already in the game for slavic characters that allows you to enact house seniority at any era. It's simple enough to copy this one and rename it to something else and add west african cultures as required. I did a version of it in my own game just now and called it 'Dynastic Kingship.' Ultimately we need Eldership succession back in the game ASAP, as this is really the best way using vanilla (albeit ck2) game mechanics to represent rulership in many west african societies. You can also preset an elective law on to individual titles, such as west african kingdom titles, or even the duchy ones. Which at least involves an election, even if it's not an election by elders per se (I wish I knew how to mod in eldership!).

RE general tech, this is what i'd do for tech for the vanilla 'yoruba group', if we're not going to do individual cultures within it:


867.1.1 = {
discover_innovation = innovation_motte
#
discover_innovation = innovation_casus_belli
discover_innovation = innovation_plenary_assemblies
discover_innovation = innovation_crop_rotation
discover_innovation = innovation_city_planning
discover_innovation = innovation_currency_01
#
discover_innovation = innovation_bush_hunting
}

950.1.1 = {
# Tribal Innovations
discover_innovation = innovation_development_01
discover_innovation = innovation_barracks
discover_innovation = innovation_ledger
discover_innovation = innovation_mustering_grounds
discover_innovation = innovation_bannus
discover_innovation = innovation_quilted_armor
discover_innovation = innovation_catapult
discover_innovation = innovation_gavelkind
discover_innovation = innovation_african_canoes
#
join_era = culture_era_early_medieval
}

1066.1.1 = {
discover_innovation = innovation_burhs
discover_innovation = innovation_house_soldiers
#
discover_innovation = innovation_hereditary_rule
discover_innovation = innovation_development_02
discover_innovation = innovation_royal_prerogative
discover_innovation = innovation_baliffs
}

This has a feudal 1066 start for this region in mind, as tribal Yoruba and Edo doesn't make sense.

 

[elvain]

Would there be any Asian areas [ie Deccan] that could also have a Savanna-like terrain?

To be honest, I'm not very familliar with Indian history (to put it lightly. A true statement would be: I have no idea), and only very little about its geography, so I can't really say.
I plan the Savanna to be slightly more friendly terrain than the Drylands or the Steppe, and sort of local version of the 2 or the Plains - with potential for some sort of locally typical buildings etc.
As unfamilliar with India as I am, I can only ask - would Savanna really fit there better than Drylands, Plains or Steppe?

-Incredible! Savannah could do with a Pursuit value bonus to represent the decisiveness of the rout.
Just nitpicking but it is Savannah with with an H.

Good idea about pursuit. I will check it in the files how it works and what are the possibilities. It's the perfect direction of an idea!

As for the spelling - as far as I am aware, English allows both versions as equally good, and since I generally prefer not to put the ending -h in Arabic, Hebrew and other words where they are not really pronounced, I prefer this sort of spelling. Savanna without -h would only be wrong if we spoke about the US city of Savannah. But not about terrain in Africa.

-Also, Songhai has Qaw and Sorko counties under it which lead to ahistorical revolts, would be nice if the counties were converted to Songhai since Qaw and Sorko are kinda castes in Songhai society.

Just as already replied above by @Black7Emperor7, the Songhai people didn't yet exist in the 11th century and even less so in the 9th. Yes, when the Songhai identity was created, the Sorko and Gaw have transformed into castes, but as far as my research suggests, before that they were 2 different people.
The cultural revolts etc. are a problem I do admit that... and in the future I'd like to add some content which would better simulate the historical process of forming the Songhai culture. I am pretty sure that it's also what was intended in the vanilla - that the Songhai would be a melting-pot culture for the Sorko+Gaw/Qaw, but the melting-pot haven't really happened for some reason. If vanilla won't fix it (hope it will), I will do so in my mod.

I think there could also be added a decision for the Sorko and Gaw/Qaw people in Kawkaw duchy to accept/create Songhai culture.... and I would love to eventually do some sort of caste system mechanic for the Songhai and Soninke societies. But that would more probably be for another mod, which would be built on top of this, which is primarily just simple/minimalistic map+basic culture stuff mod. But I can't deny I wouldn't like to do this sort of things.

-Also, Songhai has Qaw and Sorko counties under it which lead to ahistorical revolts, would be nice if the counties were converted to Songhai since Qaw and Sorko are kinda castes in Songhai society.
-Are you thinking of adjusting the Development values and Technology unlocks in the region, it is about cultures after all. I will humbly suggest some candidates.
°Basically all the nodes of the Trans-saharan trade route in the Savanah or on the Niger should get a bump: Jenné, Timbuktu, Mali, Kumbi-Saleh and so on.
°A cultural tech that unlocks House Seniority could serve as a placeholder for lateral succession

Yes, this will be under consideration. But I must say that I'm not very dissatisfied with the current state of vanilla.
Note that Timbuktu's fame doesn't really belong to the game's time period... and in popular narratives it is grossly overpowered. Places like Jenné(or Jenné-Jeno), Kumbi Saleh, Awdaghust and Gao were far more important than Timbuktu in CK time period (Timbuktu was founded 200 years after the 1066 bookmark).
As for the other cities, they certainly were very developped, but I keep them checked with the levels of development of the Middle East, Andalusia, Maghreb and Western Europe. I deffinitely don't plan to make them inaccurately more developed than places like Kairouan, Fez, Cordoba, Anatolian coastal towns, Alexandria etc.
Maybe these would deserve some boost too(especially compared to India, but as I said above, I have no idea about Indian history, so I can't really compare that), but despite the high civilization level of those cities, I think it would be incorrect to have them more developed than the most advanced places in the world. Despite its political and social crisis, 11th century Egypt was indisputably more developed than those cities.

Some overhaul of cultural techs will be part of this mod in the future, but my plan is:
1) set up the map and cultures
2) check the ballance, adjust province histories (add buildings where necessary etc.)
3) adjust cultural innovations and this sort of stuff.

At the moment this mod is still in early phase 1.

I've enjoyed reading about this mod. I look forward to playing it after I finish my current campaign.

In a related/unrelated note, here's a wonderful soundtrack by the incredible Catalan composer, Jordi Savall, that's relevant to the work y'all are doing.

Ibn Battuta, The Traveler of Islam

Wow! This is amazing. It really made my day when I saw it yesterday evening. Was listening to it and I can't thank you enough for sharing it.
I plan to do some youtube video simulations to show the differences between this mod and the vanilla like I did with CK2 version of this mod.... and thanks to you I now have soundtrack for those videos.
I totally love it!!!

 

[elvain]

sorry for doubble post...
@Koyraboro oh, sorry, I forgot... my primary question towards the ideas at the moment was primarily meant for possible ideas, suggestions or even sources about how I could enhance the map itself. Meaning more settlements or provinces. Something what would help me fill this map:

I mean I don't necessarily need maps, any sort of sources which would help locating important places of early Songhaian history...
as for maps I have plenty of them, but mostly they don't go much deeper into detail of Songhaian territories and settlements than this.

I was for instance thinking about adding Tondibi as a settlement, as it is one of the few places mentioned to be north of Gao, yet close to it... but well... as far as I was able to read, it was nothing but a pasture even in the late 16th century, and there are no mentions of the place before the infamous battle happened there

 

[Black7Emperor7]

sorry for doubble post...
@Koyraboro oh, sorry, I forgot... my primary question towards the ideas at the moment was primarily meant for possible ideas, suggestions or even sources about how I could enhance the map itself. Meaning more settlements or provinces. Something what would help me fill this map:
View attachment 631888

I mean I don't necessarily need maps, any sort of sources which would help locating important places of early Songhaian history...
as for maps I have plenty of them, but mostly they don't go much deeper into detail of Songhaian territories and settlements than this.
View attachment 631890

I was for instance thinking about adding Tondibi as a settlement, as it is one of the few places mentioned to be north of Gao, yet close to it... but well... as far as I was able to read, it was nothing but a pasture even in the late 16th century, and there are no mentions of the place before the infamous battle happened there

Can you please tell me what book is that last picture from? Thank you.

 

[mechl]

oh no, don't worry! I'm glad.

I actually would like to take a look on Iberia one day too, so this is good, at least as an inspiration. Or maybe we could potentially join our work, since, I guess, each of us has slightly different regional priorities...

Yea I'm fine if you ever want to take anything from what I did. For me this is more or less just a way to pass time till Shadowlands is out later next month. Working remote has done wonders for my freetime.

 

[elvain]

Can you please tell me what book is that last picture from? Thank you.

oh, sure, it's 2004 edition of Dierk Lange's Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa.
It presents some controversial and contested theories. As often with similar works, you don't need to agree with the presented hypothesies, yet it is based on data, which are accepted as valid throughout the accademic community.

 

[elvain]

@Koyraboro you clearly know a lot about the Songhay area, and since you were proposing adding some barony to the Niamey area, what barony would you propose?

I tried to find some historical places there, but still couldn't find any... and Niamey isn't a good choice since it was founded in 1900. Any idea for a better name than the villages on whose area Niamey was founded: Gaweye, Kalley, Maourey, Zongo? And if no better alternative, which one would you consider to be the best?

PS: I have already added 1 barony to each county of Kawkaw duchy, but want to add one more. Plus I have added one more county to the desert area just east of Ansongo and Kukiya plus I think I will add also move a county of Bura under the Kawkaw duchy. I can't think of more boost to the area, though

 

[Koyraboro]

@Koyraboro you clearly know a lot about the Songhay area, and since you were proposing adding some barony to the Niamey area, what barony would you propose?

I tried to find some historical places there, but still couldn't find any... and Niamey isn't a good choice since it was founded in 1900. Any idea for a better name than the villages on whose area Niamey was founded: Gaweye, Kalley, Maourey, Zongo? And if no better alternative, which one would you consider to be the best?

To be fair I don't really know. You said it yourself the archeology in these areas is rather lacking.

 

[Koyraboro]

Are you planning to work on e_Abyssinia? The area is so much dense and populated than the current density suggest.

 

[elvain]

Are you planning to work on e_Abyssinia? The area is so much dense and populated than the current density suggest.

Yes, I already made small editions to kingdom of Blemmyia for the next version, but I guess this isn't what you meant I also do plan some additional chagnes in this region, although I need to admit it's not the primary

As for Ethiopia itself. Unlike in the case of Songhay, the number of sources I collected for Abyssinia is considerably higher, but the first-phase research suggests that I won't be able to increase the density of the kingdom of Abyssinia itself.
After all, according to this amazing analysis by @Chetson it already is the highest ranked African kingdom in barony density per map pixels and the only one, which made it into the top 30 ranked kingdoms.
But we'll see what second phase research will show

Like in other cases, if you have some sources, which would suggest that something is missing on the vanilla map, I'm all eager to read them.

 

[Koyraboro]

Yes, I already made small editions to kingdom of Blemmyia for the next version, but I guess this isn't what you meant I also do plan some additional chagnes in this region, although I need to admit it's not the primary

As for Ethiopia itself. Unlike in the case of Songhay, the number of sources I collected for Abyssinia is considerably higher, but the first-phase research suggests that I won't be able to increase the density of the kingdom of Abyssinia itself.
After all, according to this amazing analysis by @Chetson it already is the highest ranked African kingdom in barony density per map pixels and the only one, which made it into the top 30 ranked kingdoms.
But we'll see what second phase research will show

Like in other cases, if you have some sources, which would suggest that something is missing on the vanilla map, I'm all eager to read them.

Don't tell me, it's the projection isn't it? Those evil Europeans and their Mercator projections /s

 

[elvain]

Don't tell me, it's the projection isn't it? Those evil Europeans and their Mercator projections /s

Meh, I'm a European... and I hate Mercator and dislike... but understand the CK3 projection... Especially considering the Sahara and the "Guinea kingdom".

After all if the projection was 100% correct, the Saharan baronies would have to cover a terirory of 2-3 regular european duchies.. and a regular Guinean barony would be a regular European duchy... and with no possibility to add more places to those areas. Now they usually take just one duchy. I don't think it's fair for the denser parts of Africa, I can disagree, but I do understand