Earth, 2174

[bartmoss]

Thanks guys.

Rhotherian, I personally do not believe in global unification within any kind of near-future timeframe. Not unless there is some kind of threat for force people's hands. I think it's mainly for economic reasons though, not so much for politics (tho that obviously also plays a part). I looked for your map but couldn't find it - let me know where you posted it, would love to see it!

[Rhotherian]

Oh, turns out I didn't. My bad... ^^'

There's a tiny version of the map at the bottom of this post which links to the full map.

The largest federation (The United Earth Federation - blue) had its roots in the UN. The other two large federations are the Afro Eurasian Empire (red - sorta like a fusion of your Islamic and Chinese empires) and the Federation of Southeast Asia (green). All other countries are in random shades of grey.

This is my version of Earth in roughly two hundred years' time.

[Elpolloloco52]

Just a quick note about Africa, Nigeria's population is supposed to explode to 700 million people in the next century, according to UN reports. I'm not sure if the rest of that part of Africa will have a similar population boom as well, but regardless, I think this would affect the stability of the area in noticeable ways. In fact, now that I look at it, I see that Sub-Saharan Africa is, with the exception of states bordering the Islamic Union, almost entirely the same. To me, this seems unlikely, given the instability of the region and the hand corporations have in politics there.

Aside from that, however, this map is very plausible.

Edit: that was with regards to the OP, not the map above me.

[Javert]

Very nice map! I agree on many of the details. However, I would agree with Elpolloloco in that Africa will see more change. Also, global warming will affect the political geography in a large way by this time.. so think of most countries pushing north! Canada and Russia and Antarctica are going to have big land rushes, so I like how you extended the USA. And Texas, too. But since at this point it will probably be 90-95% Mexican I don't know if they will keep the name.

There are a whole lot more probable scenarios -- like the shrinking in power of the EU due to immigrant problems, the desertification of the southern US and central Africa, and the loss of Coastal cities globally, that you might want to add into it, although as it is it is still very impressive. A good resource for this time would be Future Timeline.net. Look it up. I was hooked.

[bartmoss]

Rhotherian, thanks for posting that map - always great to see what other people come up with, very inspiring. I do think I disagree with some of the border changes but if history has taught us one thing then it is that you can never tell what will happen over the course of two centuries.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I didn't have any smart ideas for much of Africa and I didn't want to simply change borders at random.

In this setting/timeline I postulate that global warming is a problem, but not nearly as catastrophic as a lot of people think it will be. The reason here is pretty simple; I didn't want to create a "eco disaster" future. For Antarctica, it kinda depends on when exploitation begins, if it's in the 22nd Century then Antarctica will probably be FN administrated. If it's before, the FN might inherit administration from the UN, or there could be some sort of treaty in place. It won't actually be a place people want to live beyond having to work there.

Nigeria will certainly see a population increase, no doubt. No idea who predicts what exactly, but the precise numbers don't really matter that much. Again, my timeline is basically very optimistic, I went with the median UN projection and then lowered it, Discussion and graphs: http://enderra.com/2011/06/09/future...on-population/.

Basically I assume that increased education and higher cost of living will make large families much more unattractive globally. Earth population will top at 9 billion, and then stabilize around 8 billion in the long run. This might have to be revised over very long time periods, say beyond 3000AD, as I consider very advanced medicine and other technology. Earth can certainly support a huge number of people - if we build the right infrastructure.

As for the EU, I think there are really only two things that could happen. The entire thing could fail spectacularly, or it will become integrated and become more of a federal nation than an alliance. There's pretty much no way the European nations will let the EU fail if they can help it. There's almost no way that immigration could destabilize the EU, it could radicalize it a little if politicians continue to fail to deal with it constructively (integration of immigrants). Immigration can be a very powerful force to improve a nation's economy, power, and so on, if channeled properly.

And by the late 22nd Century, many emigrants will move off-world anyway.

[Rhotherian]

Very interesting.

"Change borders at random..." That certainly sounds familiar. xD

And you're welcome and thanks. ^^

[TheMeanestGuest]

Nice maps! Here's a question I don't think I've seen an answer to. How did Canada end up with Northern Michigan?

[bartmoss]

Nice maps! Here's a question I don't think I've seen an answer to. How did Canada end up with Northern Michigan?

Mapmaker's error, I think. Looking into it.

[bartmoss]

Fixed maps. I read up on various African nations again and there is simply nothing I can hook into. Perhaps Africa is really surprisingly quiet in the 21st/22nd Century.