Thank you for the initiative. Here is my first batch of corrections for GERMANY. This is for the north-east region east of the river Elbe only. I will amend further by editing my post, hope to have Germany complete by the weekend.
Update: Done except for Central Germany and Austria/Bohemia.
I am aware this is becoming quite a long list. However, Germany is a tad larger than Portugal or Poland ...
Also, I am not suggesting to move a single regional border (except maybe the river Eider, see bottom). These are all suggestions for correcting spelling errors, renaming a few regions, and above all, subordinating regions to other areas. I do hope these are all simple text edits that do not affect the map as such, or scenarios or gameplay, at all.
Update: Central Germany done (I listed it under Northeastern). I think I will provide an Excel sheet with all corrections.
1. Areas:
Northwestern Germany
- Esbjerg is part of
Jutland, not of the Duchy of Schleswig. (Actually, neither is the city of Fredericia itself, but most of the region on the map is, and it's the only considerable place there, so I'd say leave it that way);
- Obviously Schleswig (the region) cannot be part of Holstein, but has to be part of
Schleswig (the area);
- Hamburg, if it cannot be an area in itself (it was a city state), should better be part of Holstein than of Mecklenburg, as it borders the former on three sides, but has no connection whatsoever with the latter;
- the same goes for Lübeck, in principle, though at least it borders on Mecklenburg, so it can be left that way;
- the areas of Braunschweig and Hannover should be merged to form one big
Hannover; as Braunschweig was a tiny state that would only be represented on the map by the region of Braunschweig itself; Hannover would then consist of: Lüneburg, Verden, Delmenhorst, Hannover, Hameln, Peine, Göttingen, Uelzen, Minden, Osnabrück; and Braunschweig -- unless this can be made an area in itself;
- Nordhausen and Magdeburg need to go to the area presently called Anhalt (with which I'll deal under the heading Central Germany);
- most of what is now called Hessen is actually Westfalen, except Kassel, which is Hessen proper;
Westfalen should include Münster, Hamm, Dortmund, Paderborn, Siegen, Arnsberg;
- Wesel and Solingen (and only those two) should be
Berg;
- of the region presently called Pfalz, only Landau and Saarbrücken (if you stretch it, and not because of the city but because of the region), maybe Mainz are actually part of that region; the entire rest of the present Pfalz should better be called
Rheinland.
Northeastern Germany
- There is no West- and Ost-Pommern. They should be Vor- and Hinterpommern, respectively.
- Stargard belongs to Hinterpommern, not the Neumark.
- Glogau and Grünberg should be part of Silesia (Schlesien), not the Lausitz.
- Gleiwitz, Kossel (Kreuzburg) and Klozberg (Oels) should be part of Schlesien.
- The three easternmost regions of Ostpreussen (Kapsukas, Suwalki, Sakia) should be Polish. These are lands that were under Prussian rule since the partitions of Poland, but not a historical part of East Prussia. Prussia lost them after Tilsit to the Duchy of Warsaw.
- The map is missing West Prussia (Westpreussen). If everything from the Vistula (Weichsel) to the Memel (Niemen) is one area, it should be named Preussen, not Ostpreussen. Otherwise (and a better solution, too) the easternmost provinces of Pommern (Stargard, Schneidemühl (to be renamed Bütow), Putzig), the three northernmost of Grosspolen (Bromberg, Chelmnitz; Tuchel (Tuchs)), and the three westernmost of Ostpreussen (Thorn, Marienburg, Danzig) should become
Westpreussen.
- Wittenberge should be part of Brandenburg, not Mecklenburg.
- Cottbus and Finsterwalde should be Lausitz, not Brandenburg. (They became part of Brandenburg only after the partition of the Kingdom of Saxony in 1815.)
- Zittau should be part of the Lausitz, too, not of Bohemia.
- There is considerable confusion with the areas to the west of the river Elbe. In the broadest sense, all the following regions should form
Thüringen: Nordhausen, Mühlhausen, Erfurt, Salfeld, Jena. There was no political entity called Thüringen before 1920, but the area was one of minor principalities, so this makes sense.
- Now here is a list of regions that lie roughly within the modern state of Sachsen-Anhalt: Magdeburg, Burg, Zerbst (to be renamed from Eisenach), Torgau, Dessau, Halberstadt, Halle. In a political sense, this region was divided between Sachsen, Brandenburg (Altmark) and Anhalt before 1815. The most correct political map would make Magdeburg, Burg, Halberstadt and Halle part of Brandenburg, Zerbst and Dessau part of Anhalt, and Torgau part of Sachsen. Alternatively, this could all form one area called, for lack of something better, after the Duchy of Anhalt which was central in the area.
Southern Germany
There is a considerable confusion here with the areas.
- What is called Franken here is not Franken at all, but the southern parts of Hessen plus Nassau. This could be called Hessen-Darmstadt to distinguish it from the present "Thüringen" -- which is actually Hessen and which could then become Hessen-Kassel;
- Most of what is now called Oberpfalz is actually the real Franken (roughly the northwestern half of the modern state of Bavaria). If two areas should be kept in this region, Ingolstadt, Amberg, Cham, Weiden, and above all, Regensburg, should constitute the Oberpfalz. Nürnberg, Fürth, Ansbach, Bayreuth, Schweinfurt, Würzburg, Kissingen, Aschaffenburg and Rothenburg should constitute Franken. Of course, if that leaves the Oberpfalz too small (what IS an area actually, in game terms?) it could be added to Bayern. It
is historically a part of the Duchy.
- Zwiesel and "Ilz" (Freyung) should become part of Bayern.
- Of what's now called Württemberg, only Stuttgart is actually a part of the Duchy. Ulm, Ravensburg, Tübingen and Überlingen should become part of it, however. Memmingen, Augsburg, Nördlingen would be Schwaben.
- Note that the tooltip for Württemberg presently says
Berg.
- Mannheim needs to go to Baden.
2. Regions (that should be renamed)
Northeastern Germany
- Rostock and Warnemünde can't be two different areas; Warnemünde is a suburb of Rostock. I propose to name Rostock ->
Wismar and Warnemünde ->
Rostock. That also gets the relation to Schwerin right.
- Eisenach - this place is in reality completely elsewhere. Call it Wittenberg or better
Zerbst, to avoid confusion with Wittenberge.
- Grossbeeren - this also elsewhere; the region should be called
Grossenhain.
- Grunwald - can't find that on any map.
Schwiebus would be in the area.
- Kreiss - ditto. This is closest to representing
Schneidemühl (which is south of Neustettin).
- Schneidemühl: should become
Bütow, for instance. A historical place of some significance roughly in the area.
- Landsberg and Neumark: What is here called Neumark is where
Landsberg actually is. The present region of Landsberg was to the contemporaries the "
Netzedistrikt".
- Tuchs? I believe this should be
Tuchel.
- Brieg is on the river Oder, this region doesn't even touch the river. Call it
Neisse.
- Kossel? -
Kreuzburg is in the area.
- Klozberg? -
Oels is in the area.
Southern Germany
- Ilz (north of Passau): no such place (the river is called so). Call it "Freyung" (the only considerable place there)
- Oberammergau (southernmost in Bayern): it's a small place. Better call the region "Garmisch"
- Freising (west of München): in reality, Freising lies considerably north of Munich. Aichach, Schrobenhausen, or Dachau would be better names for this region. I recommend "Aichach".
- Kaufbeuren is west of the river Lech, which is on the map and the border between Schwaben and Bayern. Better make this "Landsberg", which is east of the river and in Bayern.
3. Spelling of names:
(Note: If the Umlaute (ä, ö, ü) have become unpopular (as I gather from Philippe's post in another forum) they should be replaced by the correct transliteration, i.e.
ae, oe, ue, not just a, o, u, because that's plain wrong and gives a different sound in German).
Northeastern Germany
- Mecklenburg (with an "n") is correct, as the map has it; the tooltip information says Mecklemburg (with an "m"), that should be corrected;
- within Mecklenburg, the region is correctly labeled Wittenberge. However, the town is lacking the closing "e" (Wittenberg);
- Ludwigs
lust; this is actually pretty funny, because the map now says "Ludwigshut", which means "Ludwig's hat" instead of "Ludwig's pleasure"
;
- Grossbeeren (needs an additional "e"); but see under "regions to be renamed";
- Görlitz (with an "ö") or Goerlitz;
- K
üstrin or Kuestrin, not Kustrin;
- Grünberg (with an "ü") or Gruenberg;
- Königgrätz (needs both an "ö" and an "ä") or: Koeniggraetz - presently, the region has Koniggrätz and the town Königgratz;
- Olmütz (with an "ü") or: Olmuetz - correct in the region and tooltip, but the town says Olmutz;
- Lötzen (in Ostpreussen) or: Loetzen;
- Neidenburg (ditto, not Niedenburg);
- Königsberg (if the Umlaut remains in use, other Koenigsberg is correct);
- K
öslin or Koeslin, not Kosslin ("ö/oe" plus drop one "s");
- Insterburg (map says Intersburg);
- Halberstadt (correct in the region and tooltip, but the town is now labelled Halberstad, without a "t");
- Saalfe
ld (region correct, but city icon says "Salfed";
- Mü
hlhausen, not Mülhausen (lacks an "h").
Northwestern Germany
- L
üneburg or Lueneburg; the tooltip is correct, but the city icon has Luneburg;
-Osnabr
ück or Osnabrueck; tooltip correct, but city icon say Osnabruck;
- K
öln; city icon correct, but tooltip says Koln;
-
Saarbrücken, not Sarrebruck (this is a German city); and btw, the other city, Kaiserslautern, would cover the area better.
Southern Germany
- K
ärnt
en or Kaernten (the map says Kärntern, the tooltip says Karntern, both with a false second "r");
- Bad Gastein (two words);
- Innsbr
uck (no! "ü");
- Kitzb
üh
el or Kitzbuehel (needs an "ü/ue" and an "e");
- N
ördlingen or Noerdlingen (the region & tooltip has it correct but the town says Nordlingen;
- N
ürnberg or Nuernberg (tooltip correct, but the town label says "Nuremberg".
Switzerland
- Z
ürich (correct on the map, but the tooltip says Zurich);
- Sankt Gallen (not Saint Galle) - this is deep in the German speaking part;
- Brig (not Brigue, ditto);
- Chur (not Coire);
- Zürichsee (not Lac de Zurich).
4. Other map corrections
- The river Eider (which is the border between Schleswig and Holstein) has to run into the Heligoland Bight proper, not into the Elbe estuary. Where it's now, it's more likely to present the Nordostseekanal, which was not there around 1800.
)
(and you may also delete all this nonsense if you want)
)