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I worked some more on the map and am now much happier with it. Some key takeaways for me were:
Resize the canvas properly
Clearer hierarchy of labelling
Place cities with more regards to the topography

Let me know what you think! I'd love to add some icons as previously suggested, but I am struggling with what exactly to include. Mines or ports are an obvious choice but I don't want to make a thematic map, more of a general purpose one. But icons add so much visual interest, I might just have to include some just for that.