[FM42] A brave new world - Historical divergence

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Rió de la Plata
Offical long name: Rió de la Platian Republic
Language(s): Spanish
Capital: Buenos Aires
National stadium: Estadio Monumental
Borders: north Brazil and Bolivia, east Uruguay, west and south Araucanía

The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata was the last to be organized and also the shortest-lived of the Viceroyalties of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. The Viceroyalty did suffer from the Napoleon Wars in another way than the South American nations on the west side of the continent. After the Spanish Armade was crushed in the battle of Trafalgar Square, in 1806 the British invaded Buenos Aires. The British were beaten back from Buenos Aires eventually, but it took two years of fighting and the loss and reconquest of Montevideo before the British were beaten. Being able to beat a world power without help from the Spanish mainland gave the local born Spaniards the confidence to start a war of independence. As the Viceroyalty was a combination of regions that currently are part of Rió de la Plata, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay not all regions responded as enthusiastic as the Rió de la Plata region. Over the years parts from Bolivia and Paraguay (a nation that no longer exists) broke off and went their own independent ways. During the independence war the area currently known as Uruguay was annexed by Brazil. In 1825 Rió de la Plata reasserted their claim over the Uruguay area and Brazil declared war. The war did not go as expected for neither the Brazilians or Rió de la Platians as it ended up with Uruguay gaining independence and conquering area from both Brazil and Rió de la Plata. Despite the war efforts not resulting in regained territory the war in general is not regarded negatively in Río de la Plata as the nation feels a kinship with Uruguay, while the Brazilians do not want to be reminded about it.

Rió de la Platian football is famous for two players, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. Both are two time World Champions with Rió de la Plata and have played their part in European football. Records are to be broken, but it remains to be seen if many of the records Messi set, will ever be broken. Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires was the site of the 1978 World Cup where despite Río de la Plata dignitaries protesting the outcome of the World Cup final the team of Frisia won their first World Cup.

Next up is Uruguay, the last Spanish speaking nation of South America.

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Uruguay
Offical long name: Oriental Republic of Uruguay
Language(s): Spanish, Portuguese
Capital: Montevideo
National stadium: Estadio Centenario
Borders: north Brazil and Bolivia, east Atlantic Ocean, west and south Río de la Plata

As described before, Uruguayan independence was mostly a result of the war over the Uruguayan territory between Río de la Plata and Brazil. The Uruguayan people turned out to be much stronger in their conviction of independence than the other two involved parties had expected. The result was that Uruguay conquered parts of southern Brazil and northern Río de la Plata. Additionally it would pull Paraguay into the war and conquer the southern part of Paraguay while Bolivia took advantage and conquered the Chaco region.
Uruguay these days is one of the most advanced nations of Southern America scoring near or at the top of most economic and socio economical indexes. This is reflected in football as Uruguayan football has always managed to field strong competition in international club football, with 9 Copa Libertadores wins being quite the feat for such a small country. When Uruguay hosted the second World Cup. it continued the precedent set by Nahua 4 years earlier that organising countries would win the World Cup.

Next up: Brazil

[Jorgen]

I am very curious to see what'll happen to the Caribbean, USA and Canada.

[Wolf_pd]

59 minutes ago, Jorgen said:

I am very curious to see what'll happen to the Caribbean, USA and Canada.

And rightfully so

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Brazil
Offical long name: Federative Republic of Brazil
Language(s): Portuguese
Capital: Brasilia
National stadium: Estádio do Maracanã
Borders: north Guyana and Colombia, east Atlantic Ocean, west Bolivia and south Uruguay

Brazil, the nation of samba, samba football and Pelé, the only player who has won four World Championships. Despite the World Cup succes, Brazil has seen limited Copa America success since. The outflux of Brazilian players to Europe has seen a weakened national side that has a hard time to restore the pride of Pele's past. 5 time Ballon D'Or winner Ronaldo was the only one to hand Brazil another World Cup in 1998, at the peak of his injury shorted career. The Brazil organized World Cups did not bring the nation any joy. Au contraire, it mostly brought them heartbreak. In the game where the World Cup attendance record of 173,850 was set at the Estádio do Maracanã. Brazil lost the final and in the second Brazil organized World Cup a semi final trouncing by the Prussian team would see many more Brazilian tears.

The history of Brazil then is not as bloody as that of the surrounding nation. This is because while the Spanish colonies would revolt when the Napoleonic wars handed them the opportunity, the Portuguese King moved the Portuguese court to Brazil, forming the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. When the war in Europe was over, the Portuguese court was moved back to Europe and Brazil declared independence in 1822. Portugal formally accepted this independence in 1825. The only significant loss of territory would occur in the Brazil - Río de la Platian war, but as mentioned while discussing Río de la Plata, the Brazilians prefer not to discuss this episode in history.

Next up and last for Southern America: Guyana

[Jorgen]

Are Falkland, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands part of Patagonia?

[Wolf_pd]

52 minutes ago, Jorgen said:

Are Falkland, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands part of Patagonia?

Wait for the map of South and Central America that I plan to post after I have finished Guyana

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Guyana
Offical long name: Co-operative republic of Guyana
Language(s): Dutch, English, French
Capital: Paramaribo
National stadium: André Kamperveen Stadion
Borders: north Caribbean Sea, east Atlantic Ocean, west Colombia and south Brazil

Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The most famous footballer from Guyana is Clarence Seedorf. He put the nation on the map with his football results for European giants Ajax, AC Milan, Internazionale, Real Madrid and was almost singlehandedly responsible for Guyana qualifying for several Copa Americas. His 177 caps between 1994 and 2014 is a Guyanese record and equaled the CONAMAF record set for Nahua by Claudio Suarez. It would be surpassed by Andres Guardado only in 2022. The success of Seedorf made many Dutch-Guyanese players decide to play for the Natio, even more strengthening their national team. 

Guyana as a former Dutch colony gained independence in 1975, but its history is obviously older. Guyana was intermittently part of the British, Dutch, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies, only to fall back to the Dutch as a result of the Treaty of Westminster. A short war between Brazil and would decide the faith of former Dutch Brazil (now mostly in the Região Nordeste of Brazil) which would stay with Brazil. while Amapá (at that time known as Portuguese Guian) and Roraima were added to Guyana.

Tomorrow first the map of Central and South America and then I will continue with the Caribbean teams and slowly work north towards North America.

[Wolf_pd]

Map time! Via the link @Jorgen provided

This obviously only the nations I have presented thusfar. More to follow!

 

Edit: not entirely sure I am a fan of the borderless maps like this (colourwise things would work better if you can add the names in the countries as well for instance. Maybe something for a follow up map.

[Wolf_pd]

Since I parked the Iron Curtain for tonight, I have some time to work out the Caribbean Islands. 4 are finalized except that I need to write down the history. These four are going in and I am reading history to work out the exact timeline.
2 are under consideration and if they go in they are in a 'ready to write history' state, but I have some alternatives under consideration that are slightly more left field. They would make for some interesting setting though.

[Jorgen]

13 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

Map time! Via the link @Jorgen provided

This obviously only the nations I have presented thusfar. More to follow!

 

Edit: not entirely sure I am a fan of the borderless maps like this (colourwise things would work better if you can add the names in the countries as well for instance. Maybe something for a follow up map.

Very nice, Glad to be of help.

Falkland question is answered too 😉

[Wolf_pd]

8 hours ago, Jorgen said:

Falkland question is answered too 😉

Shhhhh, not too loud! 

[Wolf_pd]

On the nation front, I have worked a bit more on Northern America last night and we might end up with a bunch more nations than expected. I aimed initially for 24 (down from 52 total for South and North America), but after some (re)mapping I am now closer to 32. This will obviously also mean some changes for the international competitions.

[Wolf_pd]

Next two up will be Curaçao and Dependencies, and the West Indies Federation.

The nations that drop out because of the Windies will be put to good use later on somewhere else, but that’s where my wishes for the editor come into play. I want to be able to change the namebases, change ethnicities and add nations (maybe women football might add a possibility there).

[Jorgen]

12 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

On the nation front, I have worked a bit more on Northern America last night and we might end up with a bunch more nations than expected. I aimed initially for 24 (down from 52 total for South and North America), but after some (re)mapping I am now closer to 32. This will obviously also mean some changes for the international competitions.

Well, 32 is easier anyways for comps and cups if you need groups and knockouts

[Jorgen]

12 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

Shhhhh, not too loud! 

Won't say a thing about flklnd

[Wolf_pd]

19 minutes ago, Jorgen said:

Well, 32 is easier anyways for comps and cups if you need groups and knockouts

Qualifying groups are quite easy to set whatever number you have, but I like nice even numbers

[Jorgen]

22 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

Qualifying groups are quite easy to set whatever number you have, but I like nice even numbers

Me too. No clubs waiting while others play matches, and with groups and knock-out stages following a factor 2, you always have a nice clean path to the final without 3rd places, qualify rules etc.

[Wolf_pd]

Took some effort, but I think I have mapped out North America to my satisfaction as well. Naming conventions could be an issue here, but there are a few people who made custom nations who could be a good/great/awesome influence here.

Back to the history books to write everything down and present it

[Jorgen]

@Wolf_pd You mean like chosing between i.e. Oregon Country or Columbia District? Or translating every name into English?

[Wolf_pd]

No, there are a few nations that if I follow my map closely would need a new name base that does not exist in the game right now.

[grade]

Can wait for the next episode of this history.

For the USA, are you incorporating First Nations into it, or will they have territories of their own? Like Cherokee or Navajo?

Is California its own nation. Like in the movie The Mask of Zorro, where the Montero reveals the plans to buy California from Mexico and forming the Republic of California. Maybe it happen in your version of history. But will the states or Republic of California control Baja California peninsula.

Curious to see.

Edited January 26, 2023 by grade

[Wolf_pd]

As California has been mentioned before in the Nahua history I can confirm that California is its own nation. It will control Baja California. For most of Northern America I have the map open and looking whether my mind decides to move some borders around, but for now they seem solid. The Caribbean will come first and then I will continue with North America.

[grade]

Nice. Thanks for the info.

What about Texas?

In case you can't decide on the North America map, get some dice and roll it. Let chance decide who wins the region, between two warring nations. it may create some frontiers that you never thought.

[Wolf_pd]

Texas is also a neighbouring nation for Nahua and was an easy choice just as much for historical reasons (there was a Republic of Texas afterall) as semtimental reasons as I visited Texas some years back. I have friends there.

I prefer the history books over the dice, but if nothing helps, who knows. However, it is kinda funny how I have managed to set up the map purely on history untill now. You just need to dig deeper sometimes.

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: West Indies Federation
Offical long name: West Indies Federation
Language(s): English (official), but many many more
Capital: Port of Spain
National stadium: Independence Park
Borders: Because of the wide area the West Indies Federation covers the nations surrounding are based in clockwise order starting with our previous nation Guyana.
Guyana - Curaçao and Dependencies - Colombia - Honduras - Yucatan - Florida - Hayti - Borinquen - Virgin Islands - Sint Maarten

While the West Indies Federation is a relative new country, the history of football on the islands is not. The ball game was played on the Carribean islands, but it is unclear how it exactly ended up there. Since the Olmecs lived on the Caribbean coast trading with the islands could have done so, but there are theories that it arrived via Colombia as from there island hopping would have been easier. The Caribbean ballgame called Batey was replaced with the grass ball game in the 1800s when the Nahuans and Yucateco started trading with the English colonies in the Caribbean Sea. Just as the Spanish Conquistadores looked at the ball game with indifference, so did the English colonizers. The ball game would prove to be a favorite passtime for the slaves and indigenous people. Xaymaca would be the first non-Iberian language area where football would be played.

There had been previous attempts to join the various British colonies into one federation, but the one in 1958 succeeded for the important reason that it was based on the wishes of the islanders and not the colonisers. Initially a federation of colonies it was the expressed intention to create a political unit that would become independent from Great Britain. Due to internal conflict about among others the capital city it took four years until the federation was stable enough.

The West Indies Federation most well known football players must be Dwight Yorke who had a massive career at Aston Villa, but especially Manchester United.

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Curaçao
Offical long name: Curaçao and Dependencies
Language(s): Dutch, English and Papiamento
Capital: Willemstad
National stadium: Ergilio Hatostadion
Borders: North and west Carribean Sea, south Colombia and west West Indies Federation

Curaçao is one of the exceptions in the Americas in the sense that it is not independent. Despite that it is an official nation, but it is a nation part of the Kingdom of Frisia. Curaçao comprises three islands, being Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. It was formerly part of the Frisian Antilles which added Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba to the dependency, but physical distance made it easier to split the colonies up. The first mention of Curaçao in the 1800s comes up when Frisia regains control over its West Indies colonies. In 1954 Curaçao (by then renamed to Frisian Antilles) attained equal status with Frisia proper and Guyana in the Kingdom of Frisa. In 2010 the Frisian Antilles were split up again in the ABC islands and SSS islands, bringing back the Curaçao name to the Kingdom and adding Sint Maarten as a nation of the Frisian Kingdom.

Despite Curaçao having some very familiar names for football fans from Frisia like Denzel Dumfries, Jurriën Timber and Tyrell Malacia Curaçao's most famous football player is Egilio Hato. Hato was a goalkeeper who was well known in the Caribbean and beyond the boundaries of the region. Frisian giants AFC Ajax, Feyenoord and even Real Madrid offered him very lucrative contracts, but he turned the offers down because he chose not to play professionally.

6 Caribbean nations remaining, next up is Sint Maarten

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Sint Maarten
Offical long name: Sint Maarten
Language(s): Dutch and English
Capital: Philipsburg
National stadium: Raoul Illidge Sports Complex
Borders: North and east Atlantic Ocean, south West Indies Federation, east Virgin Islands

It is reasonable to say that it is quite easy to write down the history of Sint Maarten if you have just written down the history of Curaçao, because for a large part of the last 200 years they have been together as part of the Frisian Antilles. Initially Sint Maarten was part of the colony Sint Eustatius and Dependencies, but in 1828 was merged with Curaçao to form the Frisian Antilles. In 2010 the Frisian Antilles was dissolved and Sint Maarten was added as a nation to the Frisian Kingdom.

On the subject of football there is not much to mention. Comparing Curaçao and Sint Maarten in sports in general is very lopsided. This has mostly to do with the 291,000 inhabitants for Curaçao and the 78,000 inhabitants for Sint Maarten. Another reason is the fact that of the Antillians people living in Frisia 94% is from Curaçao and just 6% from Sint Maarten. This makes the talentpool for Curaçao much larger of course.

Next up is Hayti

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Hayti
Offical long name: Republic of Hayti
Language(s): French, Haytian Creole
Capital: Port-au-Prince
National stadium: Stade Sylvio Cator
Borders: West Florida, north Lucaya, east Borinquen, south Caribbean Sea

Hayti has the distinction of being the first Central or South American nation to free itself from colonizers in 1804. The Haytian revolution led to a wave of migration. 9000 refugees would settle in Louisiana and we will see them back later in another nation introdcution. In 1806 Hayti would split in two parts, the Kingdom of Hayti and the State of Hayti. The Spanish side of the island (Santo Domingo) was taken over in 1821 and the whole island was now united under the Republic of Hayti banner. Several Spanish attacks were beaten off and Dominican attempts to gain independence were foiled. We won't go into the internal history of the island more than this, as a series of revolts, emperors and coups would lead to a nation that is very susceptible for unrest.

Despite the continuing unrest in Hayti which was amplified by the 2010 earthquake Hayti is a strong footballing nation with a deep talent pool. European football fans will recognize the names of Raphael Varane, Anthony Martial and Kingsley Coman, but there are also retired stars like Nicolas Anelka, William Gallas, Thierry Henry and cap record holder Lilian Thuram.

Next up the Virgin Islands and the reason CONAMAF does not have a 32 team Copa America.

[Wolf_pd]

In the meantime I have made a start with the player file which inside 5 minutes posed the first problem 

Borders are going to move and I prefer as little clicks/changes as possible, because the file already will be massive (considering the equivalent Iron Curtain file is now 270K in size, this might easily become double size…).

But if course, many players don’t have a city of birth, so that poses a problem. Next to that, some of the extinct nations will be needed and that doesn’t work very well right now especially since it’s only the Americas I have mapped out to satisfaction. So for the start players will only be moved to their ‘logical’ nationality where name is the deciding factor. If a player has a photo and the name doesn’t match the photo, the photo is leading.

Starting in Europe and South America as I at least know a few of the languages and it is easier to check each nation. I am not a fan of Italy though with 10% of ALL people in the database!

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Virgin Islands
Offical long name: Virgin Islands
Language(s): English
Capital: Road Town
National stadium: A. O. Shirley Recreation Ground
Borders: West Borinquen, north and east Atlantic Ocean, south Caribbean Sea

The Virgin Islands are a relative unknown in the footballing world. They play their games, but since the level of the Virgin Islanders is much lower compared to the surrounding teams, those games usually end up in lopsided defeats. Only Sint Maarten, Lucaya and Bermuda will on ocassion have a hard time beating the Virgin Islands. A proposition to allow all CONAMAF nation to play at the Copa America was not approved for this reason.

The history of the Virgin Islands is notable in the sense that Columbus visited and named them. Apart from that the Virgin Islands went through the hands of various nations that were active in the Caribbean in the period of exploration and colonisation. They were decolonized by the British in 1972 and set up the football association in 1973 shortly thereafter.

Next up is Lucaya

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Lucaya
Offical long name: The Commonwealth of Lucaya
Language(s): English
Capital: Nassau
National stadium: Thomas Robinson Stadium
Borders: South and West: Florida, north and east: Atlantic Ocean

The name Lucaya is an Anglicization of the Spanish Lucayo, itself a Hispanicization derived in turn from the Taíno Lukku-Cairi (which the inhabitants used for themselves), meaning people of the islands. Those people are no more as they were taken away by Spanish slave traders to work on other islands. Former a British colony, the nation's demographic make up is based on slavery being abolished on the islands in 1807 and it becoming a refuge for slaves from the American mainland and ships wrecking in the area. Lucaya gained independence in the 1973. Although football was played on the islands before independence the Lucayan federation was not formed until 1967. The Lucayan Amateur football championship was played before the FA was created and information about it is spotty at best. The Lucayan national team has not seen much success. Only once they were able to qualify for the Copa America in a shock result, but every attempt at a World Cup qualification ended in early failure.

Next up is Borinquen, after that will come Bermuda and the final island nation will be Greenland. Then it will be time for the North American mainland.

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Borinquen
Offical long name: The Commonwealth of Borinquen
Language(s): Spanish
Capital: San Juan
National stadium: Estadio Centroamericano
Borders: West Hayti. south Caribbean Sea, north Lucaya and east Atlantic Ocean

Before independence the island nation of Borinquen was a Spanish colonial posession with the name Puerto Rico. When the Napoleonic wars hit Spain, Puerto Rico was one of the areas that stayed loyal. As a result Puerto Rico received small gains in autonomy and rights. However, when the king returned those gains were removed and Puerto Rico was back to the status of a colony. Puerto Rico was pulled into the Spanish-American war when the United States attacked Spanish Florida. An attack on Cuba and Puerto Rico followed. While the Spanish army would win the war, they would also conclude that the American colonies were taking too much effort to defend, while the economic situation in Florida and both islands did not give much in return. The island of Puerto Rico would be given independence in 1898 with the new name of Borinquen.

While football was played when Borinquen was still Spanish, organized football did not start until 1900. The Borinquen national football would not take part in the Caribbean, Central American or American championships until 1940. Borinquen has not been a very succesfull nation. On a governmental level Borinquen has considered federating with Florida, which would have meant the national team of Borinquen would have been merged with the Floridean team. Question is whether any Boricua international would ever have a chance to take the field for Florida.

Next up is Bermuda

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Bermuda
Offical long name: Bermuda
Language(s): English
Capital: Hamilton
National stadium: Bermuda National Stadium
Borders: West Atlantic Ocean. south Atlantic Ocean, north Atlantic Ocean and east Atlantic Ocean

Bermuda is another of the still colonized areas of America. Bermuda is a British colony since 1612 and is the oldest remaining British colony. Bermuda is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and has been a stop for British between the Old and New World. The Bermudian population is mostly made up from the descendants of freed slaves and people who immigrated from the British Isles. All Bermudians have the British nationality as well.

Football was brought to the islands by the British obviously, but despite being the national sport, Bermuda is one of the worst teams in America. There are calls for independenced which according to some should help the level of the Bermudian team. Question is whether the island could handle independence as the British crown does complements al deficits.

Next up is Greenland

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Greenland
Offical long name: Greenland
Language(s): Kalaallisut
Capital: Nuuk
National stadium: Nuuk Stadium
Borders: West Nunangat. south Atlantic Ocean, north Arctic Ocean and east <redacted>

The football team with maybe the cutest nickname with a very dark undertone is Greenland. There is of course nothing teddy bear about a Polar Bear, so the Polar Teddy Bears are a bit of a misnomer. Greenland is an island country and part of the Kingdom of <redacted>. Despite the harsh conditions in Greenland football has played in competition since 1954. The climate does pose some challenges and the long winter means Greenland has one of the shortest seasons in competition football. One of the obvious isses plagueing Greenlandish football for years is the availability of a proper playing surface. Games were playing on sand or even gravel until the quality of artificial turf became of a sufficient level. An added issue was that since FIFA didn't allow fieldturf as a playing surface until 2007, it was not possible to have a FIFA graded pitch and play official international games until then.

The Greenlandish team is a mix of Greenlandic players and Nordic people who were either born in Greenland or who were born in the Nordics and moved with their parents. The current national team coach is scouting the Nordics for more players with Greenlandic roots to strengthen the team and qualify for the Copa America. The most well known Greenlandic player is Jesper Grønkjær.

** Redacted is because I don't want set Europe in stone yet and it would give me the option to change my mind. Also, even though you might think you may already have an idea about the looks of Europe, you really don't. Really, you really don't ** 

And now we have finished the American Island nations, it is time for the mainland. Next up is Florida!

[Wolf_pd]

We are 20 nations now and we have 13 more to go for a final total of 33 American nations.

You will have spotted some them already

• Texas
• California
• Florida

but for the others I still need to work out the exact history as there is a lot of interconnection. So the next reveal could take a few days.

[alex.s]

What an incredible project. Love reading the histories. Will be following closely!

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Florida
Offical long name: Republic of Florida
Language(s): Spanish, English
Capital: Havana
National stadium: Estadio Panamericano
Borders: West Aciadana, Illinois Confederation, south Caribbean Sea, West Indies Federation, north Iroquois Confederacy, United States and east Borinquen, Lucaya, Atlantic Ocean

There was a time being called a Florida man was an honour. Florida men were those from Spanish Florida who would guard the northern borders against intrusions from the United States and aid those fleeing from slavery. Initially Spanish Florida covered much of the southeast of the North American continent and together with Cuba formed the Captaincy General of Florida. Conflicts with France, Great Britain and the United States limited that area to what now is the state of Florida and the island of Cuba. Florida was Spanish until it was handed over to the United States in 1821. As Spain was knee deep in the Latin American revolts, keeping Florida was not seen as a priority.
The Florida territory would not be admitted was as an US state until 1845. The state seceded from the United States becoming one of the original seven states of the Confederate States. The United States requested Spain to assist in the Civil War. Spain in answer to that request attacked Florida from their bases in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spain quickly was able to overrun the Floridian defences as the Confederates did not expect an attack from the south. This also meant Spain was able to take over Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi. At the end of the civil war, the United States requested the handover of the states that Spain had pacified. To their shock and horror, Spain did not agree. As the United States had conflicts to solve on other fronts, it left Florida, considering it still low value for now. In 1898 the United States came back on that and invaded Florida and attacked Cuba and Puerto Rico in an attempt to get back mainland territory and get the two islands under control. This attempt failed miserably. The Florida area together with Cuba was declared a free nation afterwards as the Spanish decided to give up on their last colonies.

Florida football is mainly a winter sport as the summers are too hot to play football. With several Copa America qualifications and good results in the Copa Libertadores Florida can be considered a solid team in America, but it still needs a qualification for the World Cup to make the next step.

Next up Acadiana

[Wolf_pd]

Question:

Would there be interest for me to post a builder log where I write out exactly what I am doing in the files I am working on and why? This goes beyond what I am doing in the Iron Curtain and is aimed to be a guide or manual you can pick things from in your own building. Warning beforehand, the first part of my work is very much data gruntwork as I always try to start with an as complete as possible dataset.

[nasaiain]

This is an amazing piece of work, it has inspired me to try and create a history for my fictional Nation. Just doing the one is hard enough, I cannot imagine a full world

1 hour ago, Wolf_pd said:

Question:

Would there be interest for me to post a builder log where I write out exactly what I am doing in the files I am working on and why? This goes beyond what I am doing in the Iron Curtain and is aimed to be a guide or manual you can pick things from in your own building. Warning beforehand, the first part of my work is very much data gruntwork as I always try to start with an as complete as possible dataset.

Any guidance and advice you can supply with be greatly appreciated by myself and other. I tend to hit these projects in a haphazard way.

[Wolf_pd]

1 hour ago, nasaiain said:

This is an amazing piece of work, it has inspired me to try and create a history for my fictional Nation. Just doing the one is hard enough, I cannot imagine a full world

Cool to hear it has helped you start and work something out for yourself.

[Jorgen]

5 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

Question:

Would there be interest for me to post a builder log where I write out exactly what I am doing in the files I am working on and why? This goes beyond what I am doing in the Iron Curtain and is aimed to be a guide or manual you can pick things from in your own building. Warning beforehand, the first part of my work is very much data gruntwork as I always try to start with an as complete as possible dataset.

That would be very interesting. I am afraid of the editor work atm, which keeps me from starting my own edits. 

[grade]

12 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:

Question:

Would there be interest for me to post a builder log where I write out exactly what I am doing in the files I am working on and why? This goes beyond what I am doing in the Iron Curtain and is aimed to be a guide or manual you can pick things from in your own building. Warning beforehand, the first part of my work is very much data gruntwork as I always try to start with an as complete as possible dataset.

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: H*LL YES!!!!

 

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Acadiana
Offical long name: Territory of Acadiana
Language(s): French, English
Capital: Baton Rouge
National stadium: Acadiana Superdome
Borders: West Texas, south Caribbean Sea, north Illinois Confederation and east Florida

Before Acadiana was known as such, it was called Louisiana named after King Louis XIV. Louisiana encompassed a large part of North America and was a French posessesion. The United States wanted New Orleans (now La Nouvelle-Orléans) as posessing New Orleans meant the French could close the Mississippi to US water traffic at any time. In 1803 the United States were surprised when the French foreign minister asked the US envoy how much the United States was prepared to pay for not just New Orleans, but the entirety of Louisiana. This would double the size of the United States in one swoop. A small part of the Louisiana territory was admitted as the eighteenth US state of Acadiana in 1812. Acadiana had a strong French contingent as their numbers were filled with people being removed from French Acadia in the north when the British won the Seven Years war. The Acadianans in English are also known as Cajuns which was the way the Americans pronounced Acadian. Acadiana would seceed in 1861 as the sixth state to do so. Due to its strategic location on the Missisippi river New Orleans was captured early on in the Civil War and it severely limited Confederate action west of the river. Much of the fighting in Louisana would be around the Mississippi river or other waterways and the Union navy turned out to be too strong. In the wake of the Spanish taking over Florida the Acadianians took their chance and declared indpedence. The United States could only look on in despair while another territory broke away.

Acadianian football is heavily linked with Hayti as the two nations share a language and many Haytians fled to the Louisiana territory because of war, natural disasters and political instability. Despite the Haytian influx Acadiana is not a strong nation in the CONAMAF region. Acadiana has on several ocassions considered joining other federation for a combined national competition, but the levels at which the Acadianian teams would enter the competition has always been a stumbling block.

Next up Texas

[Wolf_pd]

To start of my builders log it is good to know how I work. I am, for reasons I won't go into, a very organized person. I can put this to good use in my work as a software tester and it helps editing as well.
My need for organisation also means that preparation is just as important as the building. I will use from to time examples from the Iron Curtain mod as a lot of what I have done for that is a good example for how I work.

As this is a bigger project some parts will not apply if you want to rebuild a specific nation for instance. In that case, just pick out the parts you consider usefull and in case something isn't clear, just ask.

So for this world project, it started with a lot of reading. I have an interest in geography, history and football. Looking at the Iron Curtain projects for FM20 and FM22 I like to combine them. You might have noticed that With the Historical Divergence project (HD or HDP from here on) I could start with a blank slate. Reading through various books, wikipedia and other sources I ended up with a long list of nation options. The list at one time was over 350 entries (yep, really) and dropping some is really hard. I guess I have some alternative projects in line  And then it is time to map the nations. For some reason, probably because I am a visual minded person, mapping helps me finalize the nations. As I mentioned in one of the posts before, when I finished the map of North America, I just put it in front of me to see if something on the map would say, no, you have to change this. It didn't happen btw, so that's great.

While the nation reveals and the histories written down are an important part of this thread, they were not necessary when I started building. Since I will move data between nations, I need to be sure that I move the right data. That's why I will always start 'completing the geography' in the editor. This consists of three categories of data:
Local Regions
Cities
Clubs

There are more than have a geographic link, like for instance weather or languages, but weather is linked to a specific place and the city positions don't change and languages can only be set correctly by the time I have moved all local regions, cities and clubs to the right nation. You might wonder, why clubs as well? Because ultimately they are the most important of the football landscape. Local regions and Cities help the regional competitions especially.

Being the organized person I am I create build logs for the files I create. Below is an example the log I made for a file from the Iron Curtain
Filename            Versionnumber                        Area of Change        Description
IC22 World Data Changes v000016                            DC: Oceania            Set Rival Nations
IC22 World Data Changes v000017                            DC: South America        Set Transfer Preferences
IC22 World Data Changes v000018                            DC: South America        Set Rival Nations
IC22 World Data Changes v000019                            DC: South America        Set non-Foreign Nations
IC22 World Data Changes v000020                            DC: Caribbean        Set Transfer Preferences
IC22 World Data Changes v000021                            DC: Caribbean        Set non-Foreign Nations
IC22 World Data Changes v000022                            DC: Central America    Set Transfer Preferences
IC22 World Data Changes v000023                            DC: North America        Set Transfer Preferences
IC22 World Data Changes v000024                            DC: South America     Set Transfer Preferences
IC22 World Data Changes v000025                            DC: Albania            Set Transfer Preferences
IC22 World Data Changes v000026                            DC: Albania            Set Gain Nationality to 10 years
IC22 World Data Changes v000027                            DC: Albania            Set Rival Nations

Filename is obviously the name of the file that will be loaded into the game
Versionnumber is my versionsystem and as you can see I make sure I have enough options (maybe a million is overdoing it )
Area of change contains an abbrevation of the sort of change (DC stands for Data Changes which you will recognize from the filename) and the area behind it speaks of which continent, region or nation the changes apply to.
The description is a short version of what I change there. It usually refers to which specific tab I am going to edit like Transfer Preferences, non-Foreign nations or Rival Nations, or I will set a specific change like Gain Nationality to 10 years. And yes, that's literally 1 change for 1 version there.

Reason for these extensive logs is so I can find back exactly which change was made where AND when I am testing I can test the EXACT change I made to the game to its effect. Did I mention I am a software testing in my daily job?

For HDP I started of with two base files. Base files are files that will NOT end up in the mod, but... the datachanges in it will. Little riddle here
One of the issues when you start up splitting nations is that you need to make sure that the changes are made in the correct file and not double changes (that can have some annoying side effects). So the solution is to make all changes for one continent in one file, the base file. When the Base file is done, it is cut up in little files and those little files are used as a start file for the various Nation files. This is the file named Base Geography Changes. The other one is the Base People Changes, but that one might end up in the game in its whole (with a different name).

For the Base Geography Changes files I made the following change list. This is the list of actions I do per nation. The explanation is between () behind the change.
Add Local Regions (I check the local regions in FM and check if they are complete. If not, I will add the local region)
Edit Local Regions (I will add the inhabitants number and language where missing. These are generally done based on wikipedia)
Add Cities to Local Regions (Cities that do not have a local regions set, will get one. If a city does not have a Local Region in real life, it will get a City District Local Region, something like Minsk City District for instance)
Add Cities to Clubs
Create Cities and add to Clubs

So that gives the following start of the buildlog
Filename            Versionnumber                        Area of Change            Description
FM32 Base Geography Changes v000001                            Geography: Argentina        Add Local Regions
FM32 Base Geography Changes v000002                            Geography: Argentina        Edit Local Regions
FM32 Base Geography Changes v000003                            Geography: Argentina        Add Cities to Local Regions
FM32 Base Geography Changes v000004                            Geography: Argentina        Add Cities to Clubs
FM32 Base Geography Changes v000005                            Geography: Argentina        Create Cities and add to Clubs
FM32 Base Geography Changes v000006                            Geography: Brazil            Add Local Regions
and that continues until I have done all nations for CONMEBOL and CONCACAF.
You will notice I have some actions that are not necessary for for instance Argentina, but by having each actions for each nation I know for sure that I am not missing anything. I can fix things up when I work in the separate files, but better safe than sorry.

And this is how I start pretty much every edit I work on.

[Wolf_pd]

The second Base File I am working on is the Players Basefile. I am still thinking if this file will be cut up or it will used as a whole. Just like with the Base Geography File the main work on the nationalities needs to be done in one file to avoid errors or double work. This is a completely fictional database, so players can be changed. I am aim to keep as much of them as they are in real life, but nationality changes can lead to additional changes. As this file is going to be really big I need to decide on my direction and need to answer a few question what to do with specific data and when to make certain edits.

I created a list of questions to answer which then can be turned into 'rules'. Rules are meant to make editing easier. They are like a little checklist that you can keep next to you during editing and by the time you have repeated the checklist for the Xth time, you no longer need the rules.

On to the questions which I have written down as pseudo code:
What is the leading piece of information for deciding on Nationality?
1.    IF the last name is connected with the Nationality of the person
    THEN Keep the nationality
2.     IF the last name is not connected with the Nationality of the person
    THEN Check Second Nationality
    IF the last name is connected with the Nationality of the person
    THEN Set Second Nationality as Nationality and remove Second Nationality
3.     IF the last name is not connected with the Nationality of the person
    THEN Check Second Nationality
    IF the last name is not connected with the Nationality of the person
    THEN Remove Second Nationality
    AND Set different Nationality
4.    IF the person has a second Nationality that is not used for 2.
    THEN the second Nationality is removed.

The City of Birth, Region of Birth and Nation of Birth are not taken into account here, except when it can help set the Nationality for 3.
Some additional things with regard when changes will be made.

5.    IF the last name and first name do not match the same Nationality
    THEN the last name is leading and the first name will possibly be changed at a later moment
6.    IF City of Birth, Region of Birth and Nation of Birth do not match the Nationality
    THEN they will possibly be changed at a later moment

These rules cover about 95-98% of all cases. There are some other cases that go deeper into the data like cases where someone has been adopted, but these will be done on a case to case basis.
Another thing to note is that I will only make changes based on current geography, so I won't change Nationalities based on the new geography. That's for the simple reason that the final world is only set for the Americas now.

Again I go through the file in a strict set order. The aim here is to make sure I can do smaller batches as for instance for Italy there are 60K items in the People section (about 10% of total...). 

Filename            Versionnumber                Area of Change        Description
FM32 Base People Changes v000001                    People: Argentina        Check Second Nationality for Nation Argentina
FM32 Base People Changes v000002                    People: Argentina        Check Second Nationality Argentina for Nation is not Argentina
FM32 Base People Changes v000003                    People: Argentina        Check Person name for Nationality Argentina for Person not born in Argentina
FM32 Base People Changes v000004                    People: Argentina        Check Person name for Nationality Argentina for Person born in Argentina and City is null
FM32 Base People Changes v000005                    People: Argentina        Check Person name for Nationality Argentina for Person born in Argentina Province Buenos Aires and City is not null

FM32 Base People Changes v000004 is an important one. A lot of the lesser well known player will not have a City of Birth. This means that if you don't set the right query you might miss these and they can be a lot! Also, if a person doesn't have a City of Birth, usually that is set (hidden so to speak) to the Capital of the Nation).
This means that for v000005 you need to specify that you only want the people WITH City of Birth. Otherwise you are doing a lot of extra work.

When checking names you need to take into account that names do change over time and can get a local flavour. When I was editing for the Iron Curtain 22 I changed a few names to Serbian from Hungarian, only to be pointed out by an Hungarian friend that the version I thought was Yugoslav was actually a Hungarian version of the Serbian name. And of course because I am Dutch I might miss those subtleties in language and naming conventions. Luckily I can set history from 1800 and naming conventions for last names is a relative late additions to the fold. Napoleon has done a lot for setting rules about this in the last few hundreds of years. Yes, yet again this man

People might notice that a few things are missing that could also decide on Nationality, being the Photos that some of the players in the editor have or Ethnicityor what if there is someone with a double name?

Good questions.

The Photos are easy. Names are the deciding factor, but if the photo says something else, the photo is leading. However, there are not that many photos in the database, so photos are mostly a case by case situation. Ethnicity will be something that comes into play when a Nation has a colonial past (looking among others, at you UK, France and Portugal). Usually the person's name and Second Nationality will already help working out the new Nationality. A check on other people in the database with the same last name usually does the trick as well. If not clear, it is up to Google and ultimately my own decision where someone ends up. This will probably happen for some of the British and French people.
Double names all depend on what the double name is in the end, but they usually give good information already.

[Wolf_pd]

Sorry about the long posts lately btw

[grade]

I absolutly love the info your share. Thanks

 

[CannonballAndre]

Any reason why Amapá is not part of the guyanas? Wait, it is, dumb me.

Edited February 13, 2023 by CannonballAndre

[Wolf_pd]

Nation: Texas
Offical long name: Republic of Texas
Language(s): English, Spanish
Capital:Austin
National stadium: Texas Stadium
Borders: West California, south Nahua, north Oceti Sakowin and east Acadiana, Illinois Confederation

The story of the Texas Republic starts with the Viceroyalty of New Spain where Texas was part of the northern frontier. In 1821 the Mexican Empire gained independence and Mexican Texas was part of that empire. Mexican authorities allowed for immigration from the United States which made Texas a mixed Spanish and English speaking area even before Texas gained independence from Mexico. In general English speakers had the upper hand with  a 4 to 1 ratio. Mexico realised the issue with this and tried to remove the United States settlers. This resulted in the Texas revolution in 1836 and the independence of the First Republic of Texas. The same year the Republic applied for stateship into the United States but this was rejected. 10 years later Texas would be accepted (or actually annexed) as the 28th state, but only if northern parts of the Republic would be relinquished as United States territory. This didn't sit well with the Texans. Following the annexetion relations between Mexico and the United States soured and already several months the Mexican-American war would break out. The Texan state endured two years of war, but the end result was that the United States expanded into northern Mexico and the state of Texas almost doubled in size. With Lincoln becoming president of the United States and slavery being a constant point of contention, Texas seceded from the United States in march 1861. A month later the American Civil War broke out. Sam Houston, the Governor at the time of the secession did not approve and preferred to return to an independent republic. While he couldn’t stop the secession, the idea of independence was planted in the minds of the Texans. The Texas area didn’t see much battle actions. Texan soldiers were mainly deployed east of the Mississippi River. When the outcome was becoming clear and the Unionist were winning, those deployed regiments returned to Texas and started the second Texas Revolution. The goal of the Revolution was to reconquer the Texas territory last to the United States. With the United States in total disarray and unrest and revolutions breaking out all over the North American continent, Texas managed to add Oklahoma and New Mexico declaring the Second Republic of Texas. When oil was found in Texas an economic boom would take place which made Texas the 10th richest economy of the world.

The grass football game reached Texas already in the time of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. With a warm climate it became an all year round sport. The biggest teams play in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Austin, all in stadiums up to 120,000 capacity. Texas also has a rich college football tradition with each college team being connected with a (usually local) team from the Professional Texas Football League (PTFL). Despite no specific atmospheric or geographic advantage Texas has a very strong home record in international football. Texas Stadium was named the Death Star for that reason, somewhere in the 70s.

Next up is California