Redrawing Every Country's Subdivisions

[erictom333]

I haven't been contributing to AH.com much lately, so I've decided to do a project to change that. I will be redrawing the subdivisions of every country in the world, in the order given in Yakko's World (the updated version by Deuterium the Sentient Mattress). Before we start, I'll set some rules:

• I won't be doing any countries whose land area is less than 5000 km² (smaller than Trinidad and Tobago) because they're too small.
• I will be doing the following partially recognised states: Palestine (with de facto borders), Taiwan (with de facto borders), Kosovo, and Western Sahara (with claimed borders); since the latter two are not mentioned in the song, they will be done at the end). All other partially recognised states will be treated as part of the country that de jure controls them.
• I will be treating Hong Kong and Macau as independent from China, although as they fall below the 5000 km² threshold I will not be redrawing their subdivisions.

Anyways, here's the first one:
United States (50 states + 1 federal district + 5 territories -> 73 states + 1 federal district)

 

[dokidokiboy]

So I used the GitHub tool Statesfun to simulate the 2004 through 2020 elections with these new US states.

Notes:

• The borders are not exact. In my defence, Statesfun only allows you to create states based on existing county boundaries.
• The tool only allows you to create states from the current US states, so I could not include Mariana or Puerto Rico.
• ertictom333 did not name the state on the Texan coast. I have given it the name "Gulfland".
• Since Alaska and Hawaii are left unchanged they are being omitted for simplicity's sake.

2004 (Republican victory):

2008 (Democratic victory):

2012 (Democratic victory):

2016 (Republican victory):

2020 (Democratic victory):

Oh, and just for fun allow me to try and suggest potential capitals for each state.

State	Capital
Alabama	Montgomery
Alaska	Juneau
Albemarle	Raleigh
Allegheny	Pittsburgh
Arapho	Denver
Arizona	Phoenix
Arkansaw	Little Rock
Brazos	Austin
Calusa	Miami
Choctaw	Memphis
Comancheria	Lubbock
Connecticut	Hartford
Coronado	San Diego
Dakota	Bismarck
Delaware	Dover
Detroit	Detroit
Florida	Jacksonville
Georgia	Savannah
Gulfland	Houston
Hawaii	Honolulu
Hudson	Albany
Illinois	Springfield
Indiana	Indianapolis
Iowa	Des Moines
Iroquois	Buffalo
Jefferson	Redding
Kentucky	Frankfort
Kanawha	Charleston
Kansas	Kansas City
Lincoln	Spokane
Louisiana	Baton Rouge
Mariana	Hagåtña
Maryland	Annapolis
Massachusetts	Boston
Matagorda	San Antonio
Miami	Chicago
Michigan	Lansing
Minnesota	St. Paul
Mississippi	Jackson
Missouri	Jefferson City
Mojave	San Bernadino
Muscogee	Atlanta
Narragansett	Providence
Nebraska	Lincoln
Nevada	Carson City
New Jersey	Trenton
New Sweden	Atlantic City
New York	New York
Ohio	Columbus
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City
Oregon	Salem
Palmetto	Columbia
Pennsylvania	Harrisburg
Piedmont	Charlotte
Platte	Wichita
Powhatan	Fredericksburg
Puerto Rico	San Juan
Roanoke	Richmond
Sagadahoc	Augusta
San Gabriel	Los Angeles
San Joaquin	Sacramento
Shoshone	Boise
Tennessee	Nashville
Trinity	Dallas
Utah	Salt Lake City
Vermont	Montpelier
Washington	Olympia
Watauga	Knoxville
West Florida	Tallahassee
Wisconsin	Madison
Yellowstone	Helena
Yerba Buena	San Francisco

 

[erictom333]

So I used the GitHub tool Statesfun to simulate the 2004 through 2020 elections with these new US states.
<snip>

I actually tried doing that myself but gave up halfway through. Some of your results were surprising (I thought Biden would have won Muscogee in 2020 due to Metro Atlanta). I wasn't really sure what to do with Las Vegas, and I had considered giving it to Arizona or splitting it off with the northern part of Arizona and the eastern part of Utah to form a state of Colorado (I have the borders for both of those cases, if you want to rerun the simulation); I ultimately decided to give it to Nevada as otherwise Nevada would be too small population-wise (then again I did make Guam + the Northern Marianas a state, and they only have 220k people between them).

Oh, and just for fun allow me to try and suggest potential capitals for each state.

I also tried doing them but gave up halfway as well, and your results are pretty similar to mine. Here are the ones that I had different to you, and why:

• Alaska: Anchorage (bigger and more central)
• Calusa: Cape Coral (more central)
• There is no Delaware, I divided it between Maryland in the south and New Sweden in the north
• Georgia: Augusta (somewhat more central)
• Iroquois: Rochester or Syracuse (more central)
• Kentucky: Lexington (bigger and more central)
• Maryland: Baltimore (bigger and more central)
• Michigan: Grand Rapids (further away from the border)
• Minnesota: Minneapolis (bigger)
• Nevada: Reno (bigger, and see my note on Las Vegas)
• New Jersey: Newark (bigger)
• New Sweden: Wilmington or Camden (more central)
• Sagadahoc: Portland (bigger and more central)
• San Joaquin: Fresno (more central)
• Yellowstone: Billings (more central)
• Yerba Buena: Monterey (more central)

 

[dokidokiboy]

There is no Delaware, I divided it between Maryland in the south and New Sweden in the north

Ah, I see. I just saw Chesapeake Bay extend up far enough to cut Delaware off from the rest of New Sweden and thought it was still separate.

 

[dokidokiboy]

@erictom333, I thought I might let you know I had the idea to recreate your reorganised US in QGIS and put that map up on Reddit, and so I did and it was quite successful:

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1bhrvzj

However, now that I think about it I really should have obtained your permission beforehand, and I apologise for failing to do so. If you want me to take the post down I will.

 

[erictom333]

@erictom333, I thought I might let you know I had the idea to recreate your reorganised US in QGIS and put that map up on Reddit, and so I did and it was quite successful:

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1bhrvzj

However, now that I think about it I really should have obtained your permission beforehand, and I apologise for failing to do so. If you want me to take the post down I will.

You did my map justice. However, you should definitely credit me and link to this thread in a pinned comment (no need to take the post down).

 

[dokidokiboy]

You did my map justice. However, you should definitely credit me and link to this thread in a pinned comment (no need to take the post down).

Well, I did credit you in one of my comments...

...but because I am not a moderator on the subreddit I cannot pin the post. Sorry.

 

[erictom333]

Well, I did credit you in one of my comments...

...but because I am not a moderator on the subreddit I cannot pin the post. Sorry.

That's fine with me.

 

[erictom333]

Next up:
Canada (10 provinces + 3 territories -> 22 provinces + 1 capital territory)

Spoiler: List of provinces and capitals

• Abitibi (Timmins)
• Alberta (Red Deer)
• Athabasca (Grande Prairie)
• Cape Breton Island (Sydney)
• Denendeh (Yellowknife)
• Federal Capital Territory (Ottawa)
• Fraser (Vancouver)
• Huron (Toronto)
• Keewatin (Kenora)
• Labrador (Happy Valley-Goose Bay)
• Manitoba (Winnipeg)
• Montréal (Montréal)
• New Brunswick (Fredericton)
• New Scotland (Halifax)
• Newfoundland (St. John's)
• Nunavut (Iqaluit)
• Ontario (Kingston)
• Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown)
• Québec (Québec City)
• Saskatchewan (Saskatoon)
• Superior (Sault St. Marie)
• Vancouver (Victoria)
• Yukon (Whitehorse)

If the borders are too hard to see, here's a 4-colored version:

Spoiler: 4-colored version

 

[erictom333]

Mexico (31 states + 1 federal district -> 35 states)

 

[erictom333]

Panama (10 provinces (incl. 2 comarca-level indigenous regions) + 4 province-level indigenous regions -> 13 provinces incl. 6 indigenous regions)

Some tidying up of the provincial boundaries, as well as demoting all province-level indigenous regions to comarca-level.

 

[erictom333]

Two for the price of one.
Haiti (11 departments -> 12 departments)
Jamaica (13 parishes -> 5 counties)

 

[Swede]

Anyways, here's the first one:
United States (50 states + 1 federal district + 5 territories -> 73 states + 1 federal district)
View attachment 893574

As a Swede I must protest New Sweden not getting Southeast Pennsylvania, I.e. tje Pennsylvanian parts of the Philly metro area. That side of the river was also part of the colony and having the whole metro in one state, but not really much far beyond the metro, would make for state level agencies running transit, healthcare, water supply, etc making a lot of sense.

Same for combining the reduced NJ & NY states, but that's for the Dutch to file a complaint about

 

[Pragmatic Progressive]

An interesting project there! I am interested in how you will remake the subdivisions in Europe, e.g. in my home nation of Germany!

 

[erictom333]

Peru (24 regions + 1 province -> 13 provinces)

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An interesting project there! I am interested in how you will remake the subdivisions in Europe, e.g. in my home nation of Germany!

Just wait.

 

[Pax_Nihil]

Peru (24 regions + 1 province -> 13 provinces)
View attachment 897149

---

Just wait.

Eagerly awaiting Russia though I assume its far off.

 

[erictom333]

Dominican Republic (31 provinces -> 11 provinces)
Cuba (15 provinces + 1 special municipality -> 18 provinces)
Dominica (skipped)

 

[erictom333]

El Salvador (14 departments -> 9 departments)

 

[erictom333]

St. Lucia (skipped)
Colombia (32 departments + 1 capital district -> 12 states)
Venezuela (23 states + 1 capital district + 1 territory -> 9 states)

 

[erictom333]

Honduras (18 departments -> 20 departments)