Reinassence Italy

[Naima]

Hello, here is a commissioned Renaissence Political map based on a 1499 map source for Italian states and subregions .
Style was plain history book style.



Higher Res Version.

[waldronate]

It's tough to do those kinds of maps for real places in historic times. Places on modern maps just weren't there some time back and rivers move a lot. The Po is the worst of those on Italy, if I understand correctly (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_del_Po has a nice GIF showing from 1604 through modern times, (1604 being when Venice did major diversions and other work, resulting in the natural state of the river being substantially degraded). And very few reservoirs have been there for more than a hundred years or so.

[Naima]

It's tough to do those kinds of maps for real places in historic times. Places on modern maps just weren't there some time back and rivers move a lot. The Po is the worst of those on Italy, if I understand correctly (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_del_Po has a nice GIF showing from 1604 through modern times, (1604 being when Venice did major diversions and other work, resulting in the natural state of the river being substantially degraded). And very few reservoirs have been there for more than a hundred years or so.

YEs there are barely no correct or precise state boundaries too... I had to rely on 4-5 different historical maps and "ALL" had different regional boundaries, so I decided to follow more or less one or the other by using also geographical features that usually give also a good idea for regional boundaries. Then the names there are not many sources for subregions but there are more microregions, though the client needed a subdivision similar to modern day Italy when possible for RPG reasons .

[waldronate]

Those city-states did have a nasty habit of being around the size of San Marino. Accurate historical maps are pretty much impossible to find because the survey tech wasn't great and those sorts of things tended to be more for navigation (a portolan map doesn't really have great coastline detail except for anchorages). It also didn't help that borders tended to be very much in flux and that a map was as likely to show the client's ambitions as much as their actual holdings.
As an RPG map with areas inspired by historical place-names it works quite well. Most modern folks who are familiar with the area would probably be confused and concerned if the Po delta was missing, anyhow.

[Naima]

Oh and yeah , once Pisa was also a Maritime Republic ... lol ...,after a devastating battle at Meloria with the Genoese fleet , in 1290 the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's Port) and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods however continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. It seems also that nearby area became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324 when Sardinia was entirely lost in favour of the Aragonese.
So things change with time and is not easy to get the original shapes or boundaries.

[Mouse]

Much nicer colours than in any atlas I've ever seen, though

Nicely done, Naima

[Naima]

Thankyou ...

I have updated the High res map with a better and more correct subdivision ...

[aeshnidae]

Hey now, why didn't the maps in my school history books look so awesome?!? *shakes fist at Baltimore County Public Schools*