An impressive feat, to be sure. If only you had managed a little better at conversion in Italy, you may well have had over 4,500,000 Muslim subjects.
-
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These overviews of the now mighty Granada just ever help to make me think of how much this once small state has grown. Truly brilliant progress.
Nice to see that the Scotland in your game remains the one I know and love; a country which ever succumbs to glorious failures!
Nice to see that the Scotland in your game remains the one I know and love; a country which ever succumbs to glorious failures!
That's quite a number of people you have there. Poor Medewiwin by the way. 
Thanks for calculating the population province by province to give us these totals, that must have taken some time
Thanks for calculating the population province by province to give us these totals, that must have taken some time
Ah you poor soul, never a chance to see the new building system of MMP2 and higher!
Basically for all buildings (especially marketplace, workshop, tax collector, and defensive systems for forts) there's a separate building chain that's accessible only to cored provinces in the provincial decision screen. New developments are made on top of each building, reflecting for example the progression in the 1450s of "cottage/artisan workshops" to "chartered manufactories" of the 1600s to "basic factories" of the late 1700s. The transformation of a province over the ages is quite amazing with the new system (and not just reflective of PE/TE in the province's income).
There's literally hundreds of new options.
I shall try to incorporate it into my AAR on future updates, so you can salivate
I do wish I had all that! Maybe someday some nice soul will convert MMP2 to Mac format. I can hope, right? In the meantime, I'll look for pictures in your Genova AAR and have jealous fits now and then!
I know! I think it would have been hopeless in a few places (the % chance was negative) but I should have tried in Milan even though it would have cost a lot. I also noticed that the Catholic provinces generally had better odds for conversion - so way back in the past when the Sultan chose to allow and support the fragmentation of the unified Catholic world, he didn't know that he would be setting up a conflict for years in the future.
Enewald - I have to admit that I was a little surprised to see cities in 1812 with populations still in the thousands. Madrid had barely 3,700 people and Gibraltar has 6,500. And yet Granada had 583,000. Go figure! And I was really really surprised that my total population was not even 7,000,000. 10 cities (Granada, Tlemclen, and 8 Italian cities had over half the population of the entire Sultanate!)'Population' is one of the weaker parts of EU-games.
Thanks morningSIDEr! I thought you might be amused to see how the Scots had managed to turn certain victory into the status quo - I suppose at least they didn't LOSE provinces to the defeated English!
That's quite a number of people you have there. Poor Medewiwin by the way.
Thanks for calculating the population province by province to give us these totals, that must have taken some time
I know - the poor Midewiwin - only 6,000 souls or so in the entire mix! I think the evil English and French infected then with all those northern European diseases way back when, and their populations never recovered. Typical rude European explorers - not like the respectful Islamic ones from the Sultanate!
And my pleasure on the people calculation. I was curious!
Sultan Isma’il V
In 1814 the court in Granada received word that the Native Tribes of America had sent a declaration of war.
The Iroquois, Huron and Cherokee launched a war with the expressed aim of recovering the province of Oneida, which the Sultanate had obtained from the English years earlier. The war was, of course, a fiasco for the Native Tribes. The Initial engagements were easily won by the Sultan’s armies.
The Sultan had dispatched General ibn Ya’far to the Bay Colony to lead the armies there - his skill and speed allowed him to follow up each battle with the tribes and completely force the dispersion of the Native armies.
Within a few months the towns and villages of the Iroquois and Cherokee were under the control of the Sultanate; a few months later the last villages of the Huron were captured.
In the peace that followed, the Sultan asked only for the loyalty of the various leaders of the Native Tribes. Each agreed, and entered into ties of vassalization with the Sultan.
In this same year, the newly freed nation on Tlaxcalteca declared war on the Sultanate in contravention of the alliance that existed between the two states. This war was ended quickly by General ibn Ya’far, and the king of Tlaxcalteca was forced to swear loyalty to the sultan.
In both of these American wars the Sultan was content with accepting the vassalization of the tribes rather than expand the territory of the Sultanate. The reason is quite simple; he had his eye focused on larger issues in Europe.
It is apparent from our records from this time that the Sultan and his military advisors were convinced that the French were behind the attack in the America. Since the arrival of the French in the Americas they had protected and sponsored the tribes of the Iroquois and Huron. The Iroquois and Huron had acted as allies of the French in the various colonial wars between the kingdoms of France and Great Britain; after the revolution and independence of the USA from Great Britain, the tribes had continued to be buffer states and allies of the French against the new nation.
While the French connection to Tlaxcalteca is more tenuously established in the records that survive, it is not impossible that French traders and diplomats coming up by sea from Panama were involved in pushing the native tribes throughout the Americas into war with the Sultanate. The records that exist certainly suggest that in the north they used the idea of regaining land lost to spur the Iroquois to action, and in the south the “spontaneous” conversion to Islam by several provinces of the old Aztlan Empire seem to be referenced, if somewhat obscurely.
In any event, it is clear that the Sultan discussed with the Diwan the issue.
In 1816 the French managed to convince a large number of Christian European state to revive the use of the Diplomatic Ultimatum against the Sultanate. Their demands were beyond exorbitant - the surrender of more money than the treasury of Granada held, the surrender of most of the tax revenues of the state for 30 years, the same for overseas revenue and the reduction of the army to nothing more than a palace guard. The Sultan was nonplussed - unlike his ancestors he did not have the messenger killed; rather he sent a blunt message of rejection to the French.
The French king, Louis XVII had managed to involve himself in a desperate war with the Bohemian Emperor, Austria, Spain and a few minor European states.
In these circumstances, the Sultan declared that the most effective method of rejecting the French ultimatum was to send a Declaration of War.
With this declaration of war of course the Sultan was proving which state was capable of issuing and following up on ultimatums. But there were larger issues at play, too. Sultan Isma’il’s immediate predecessors on the throne had long pursued an expansion into France. With al-Andalus and Italy firmly in their control, the connection of these two peninsulas via a land bridge along the southern shores of France made military sense. While it cannot be firmly established, it has been speculated that the Nasrid Sultanate was attempting to recreate in it's own way the Western Roman Empire. The additional of France would have been entirely consistent with that objective - al-Andalus, northern Africa, Italy and Gaul were the core territories of the Western Roman Empire and the first three were held firmly in the grasp of the Sultanate at this time.
The pursuit of France also ensured that the Mediterranean was an Islamic lake to all intents and purposes - the small Duchies and Republics that held small ports along the shores were in no way able to complete against the naval might of the Sultanate.
Once the southern territories of France were controlled, the logic of expansion into the river valley was irrefutable. While the Alps, generally speaking, made a logical line of division between the Sultanate and the German state of Bavaria, Austria and Hungary, the Rhone provided an easily accessible route northward into the heart of France. The victories over the preceding years had brought the Sultanate with sight of Paris and deeply into French territory.
The French had also made alliances with many of the signatories of the recently rejected Ultimatum; declaring war against France allowed the Sultanate to address the broader audience. And finally, the one state that might have been able to bring comparable military forces against the Sultanate was the Bohemian Emperor, and he was leading the fight against France at this time.
The Sultan ordered his armies into France, and ordered them to move with utmost speed in order to set sieges before the Bohemian armies could reach the provinces. IN most cases this succeeded. Elsewhere, the battles against the smaller states proceeded with ease.
Progress in Europe was matched by progress in the American and Africa. In the Americas the major French colonial armies were met and slowly destroyed. The Africa, the provinces and Songhai were easily captured.
In February of 1818, the decisive battle in against France was fought before the walls of Paris itself. The French armies had been pursued across the northern provinces of France and arrived before Paris with the hope of relieving the siege of the city before the pursuing Granadan forces arrived. Instead, the Sultan’s army under the command of General ibn Sulayman arrived as the French were beginning the attack on the besieging forces. In the ensuing battle the French were completely routed and the last hope of the French king for a military solution was eliminated.
Within a month of the Battle of Paris, the last fortified towns and cities in France had fallen or were on the verge of falling. The Swiss, last undefeated ally of the French, who had proven to be most elusive in their valleys and hills, were eliminated from this war for all intents and purposes at the same time.
With the defeat of the Swiss, the Sultan sent peace offers to the allies of France. All the offers were accepted. In Europe, Dauphine and Switzerland offered tribute and vassalization. In Africa, Songhai offered a vast treasure and control of most of their cities, forts and mines.
The French king, on the other hand, suffered hugely from his involvement in wars with the two most powerful European states of the time. The Bohemian Emperor had required the surrender of land north of Paris; now he, too, overlooked Paris from the heights of his new towns in France. However, the Sultan’s offer of peace was more demanding that this.
King Louis could not refuse, and did not.
The acquisition of so many cities and towns boosted the Sultanate’s prestige but also caused the further deterioration of the Sultanate’s reputation. The Sultan reportedly dismissed this news - he believed that his own reputation and that of diplomats even then in training would eventually resolve this issue. And the power of the Sultanate's armies and navies was such that no state could reasonably assail it; even a combination of all the nations of Europe might not have been enough to overthrown the power of the Sultanate in this period.
Shortly after the end of the war with France, the Sharifate of Yemen declared war. The war ended quickly with the surrendering of Adan to the Sultanate.
In early 1820 the event that many modern researchers and analysis have pointed to as a key turning point between the late Renaissance/Early Industrial Period and the Modern Industrial Age happened. It did not, of course, change anything physical. But it represented a significant change in the mind-set of the age. In this year, the people of Rome threw off the last, lingering affection for the stateless Pope and turned to face the future as full members of the Sultanate of Granada.
Rome was physically and philosophically the continuation of the Ancient World into the period of this study. It brought with it the Republican and then Imperial associations of Rome. It was the seat of one of the ancient Bishops of the world under the Roman Empire, and the locus of knowledge that carried much of Western Europe through the collapse in the west of the Roman Empire. It was a symbol of Christian power that, long after it had been occupied and annexed by the Sultanate, sill maintained a hold on the imagination of the fractured West. The abandonment of that memory and that heritage is seen as the most sure sign that the Christian history of the Mediterranean was passing into memory as the world prepared to move into the Industrial Age.
The Islamic tide that had been at one point threatened to overwhelm Europe and then had been pushed almost completely off the continent had returned, and that tide was poised at the cusp of the new Age to overwhelm the France and cross the Rhine into German land under the leadership of a renewed Islam under the Nasrid Caliphs and Sultans of Granada.
The history of Granada in the Industrial Age is waiting to be told.
[End of Game - Praise to Allah]
(Author’s note - an appendix showing the state of Granada as it moved into the Industrial Age will be found in the following pages.)
In 1814 the court in Granada received word that the Native Tribes of America had sent a declaration of war.
The Iroquois, Huron and Cherokee launched a war with the expressed aim of recovering the province of Oneida, which the Sultanate had obtained from the English years earlier. The war was, of course, a fiasco for the Native Tribes. The Initial engagements were easily won by the Sultan’s armies.
The Sultan had dispatched General ibn Ya’far to the Bay Colony to lead the armies there - his skill and speed allowed him to follow up each battle with the tribes and completely force the dispersion of the Native armies.
Within a few months the towns and villages of the Iroquois and Cherokee were under the control of the Sultanate; a few months later the last villages of the Huron were captured.
In the peace that followed, the Sultan asked only for the loyalty of the various leaders of the Native Tribes. Each agreed, and entered into ties of vassalization with the Sultan.
In this same year, the newly freed nation on Tlaxcalteca declared war on the Sultanate in contravention of the alliance that existed between the two states. This war was ended quickly by General ibn Ya’far, and the king of Tlaxcalteca was forced to swear loyalty to the sultan.
In both of these American wars the Sultan was content with accepting the vassalization of the tribes rather than expand the territory of the Sultanate. The reason is quite simple; he had his eye focused on larger issues in Europe.
It is apparent from our records from this time that the Sultan and his military advisors were convinced that the French were behind the attack in the America. Since the arrival of the French in the Americas they had protected and sponsored the tribes of the Iroquois and Huron. The Iroquois and Huron had acted as allies of the French in the various colonial wars between the kingdoms of France and Great Britain; after the revolution and independence of the USA from Great Britain, the tribes had continued to be buffer states and allies of the French against the new nation.
While the French connection to Tlaxcalteca is more tenuously established in the records that survive, it is not impossible that French traders and diplomats coming up by sea from Panama were involved in pushing the native tribes throughout the Americas into war with the Sultanate. The records that exist certainly suggest that in the north they used the idea of regaining land lost to spur the Iroquois to action, and in the south the “spontaneous” conversion to Islam by several provinces of the old Aztlan Empire seem to be referenced, if somewhat obscurely.
In any event, it is clear that the Sultan discussed with the Diwan the issue.
In 1816 the French managed to convince a large number of Christian European state to revive the use of the Diplomatic Ultimatum against the Sultanate. Their demands were beyond exorbitant - the surrender of more money than the treasury of Granada held, the surrender of most of the tax revenues of the state for 30 years, the same for overseas revenue and the reduction of the army to nothing more than a palace guard. The Sultan was nonplussed - unlike his ancestors he did not have the messenger killed; rather he sent a blunt message of rejection to the French.
The French king, Louis XVII had managed to involve himself in a desperate war with the Bohemian Emperor, Austria, Spain and a few minor European states.
In these circumstances, the Sultan declared that the most effective method of rejecting the French ultimatum was to send a Declaration of War.
With this declaration of war of course the Sultan was proving which state was capable of issuing and following up on ultimatums. But there were larger issues at play, too. Sultan Isma’il’s immediate predecessors on the throne had long pursued an expansion into France. With al-Andalus and Italy firmly in their control, the connection of these two peninsulas via a land bridge along the southern shores of France made military sense. While it cannot be firmly established, it has been speculated that the Nasrid Sultanate was attempting to recreate in it's own way the Western Roman Empire. The additional of France would have been entirely consistent with that objective - al-Andalus, northern Africa, Italy and Gaul were the core territories of the Western Roman Empire and the first three were held firmly in the grasp of the Sultanate at this time.
The pursuit of France also ensured that the Mediterranean was an Islamic lake to all intents and purposes - the small Duchies and Republics that held small ports along the shores were in no way able to complete against the naval might of the Sultanate.
Once the southern territories of France were controlled, the logic of expansion into the river valley was irrefutable. While the Alps, generally speaking, made a logical line of division between the Sultanate and the German state of Bavaria, Austria and Hungary, the Rhone provided an easily accessible route northward into the heart of France. The victories over the preceding years had brought the Sultanate with sight of Paris and deeply into French territory.
The French had also made alliances with many of the signatories of the recently rejected Ultimatum; declaring war against France allowed the Sultanate to address the broader audience. And finally, the one state that might have been able to bring comparable military forces against the Sultanate was the Bohemian Emperor, and he was leading the fight against France at this time.
The Sultan ordered his armies into France, and ordered them to move with utmost speed in order to set sieges before the Bohemian armies could reach the provinces. IN most cases this succeeded. Elsewhere, the battles against the smaller states proceeded with ease.
Progress in Europe was matched by progress in the American and Africa. In the Americas the major French colonial armies were met and slowly destroyed. The Africa, the provinces and Songhai were easily captured.
In February of 1818, the decisive battle in against France was fought before the walls of Paris itself. The French armies had been pursued across the northern provinces of France and arrived before Paris with the hope of relieving the siege of the city before the pursuing Granadan forces arrived. Instead, the Sultan’s army under the command of General ibn Sulayman arrived as the French were beginning the attack on the besieging forces. In the ensuing battle the French were completely routed and the last hope of the French king for a military solution was eliminated.
Within a month of the Battle of Paris, the last fortified towns and cities in France had fallen or were on the verge of falling. The Swiss, last undefeated ally of the French, who had proven to be most elusive in their valleys and hills, were eliminated from this war for all intents and purposes at the same time.
With the defeat of the Swiss, the Sultan sent peace offers to the allies of France. All the offers were accepted. In Europe, Dauphine and Switzerland offered tribute and vassalization. In Africa, Songhai offered a vast treasure and control of most of their cities, forts and mines.
The French king, on the other hand, suffered hugely from his involvement in wars with the two most powerful European states of the time. The Bohemian Emperor had required the surrender of land north of Paris; now he, too, overlooked Paris from the heights of his new towns in France. However, the Sultan’s offer of peace was more demanding that this.
“King of the French. You land, your cities and towns, your harbors, your fields and farms are mine, and through mine, they are Allah’s. Indeed your life is in my hands.
What madness possessed you to send your Ultimatum of Surrender to the Sultan of Granada and the Caliph of Allah? To what end was this done? Was there sanity in your purpose? Or were you possessed by the evil djinns to one end - to bring about the destruction of your house and kingdom?
If it was the djinns, then Allah be praised. For they succeeded in bring you to the edge of ruin. Is your life forfeit? No - as the Caliph of Allah I am required to bring you the sword but only to bring you to peace. And so Peace is what I offer you. Here is my Ultimatum of Surrender.
You will surrender your American colonies that border the Iroquois and Huron - you are a meddlesome disturber of the peace, stirring the Native Tribes up to war for your own pleasure and profit. I will protect them until they can be brought into the House of Peace. To do that I will remove them from your reach.
You will surrender the town, cities and harbors of Champagne and Normandie to the House of Peace. The people there, whom you have sacrificed on the altar of your vanity, much as the Aztlan sacrifice people on their altars of blood, will be welcomed into the House of Peace. And from the fortified places in these provinces we will watch you in all your lands - and when you raise the sword again against your fellow man, you will be brought low again and again - as many times as it takes for you to learn that the House of War is full of pain and destruction, while the House of Peace is a place of prosperity and wealth.”
- ultimatum from Sultan Isma’il V to King Louis XVII, 1818
What madness possessed you to send your Ultimatum of Surrender to the Sultan of Granada and the Caliph of Allah? To what end was this done? Was there sanity in your purpose? Or were you possessed by the evil djinns to one end - to bring about the destruction of your house and kingdom?
If it was the djinns, then Allah be praised. For they succeeded in bring you to the edge of ruin. Is your life forfeit? No - as the Caliph of Allah I am required to bring you the sword but only to bring you to peace. And so Peace is what I offer you. Here is my Ultimatum of Surrender.
You will surrender your American colonies that border the Iroquois and Huron - you are a meddlesome disturber of the peace, stirring the Native Tribes up to war for your own pleasure and profit. I will protect them until they can be brought into the House of Peace. To do that I will remove them from your reach.
You will surrender the town, cities and harbors of Champagne and Normandie to the House of Peace. The people there, whom you have sacrificed on the altar of your vanity, much as the Aztlan sacrifice people on their altars of blood, will be welcomed into the House of Peace. And from the fortified places in these provinces we will watch you in all your lands - and when you raise the sword again against your fellow man, you will be brought low again and again - as many times as it takes for you to learn that the House of War is full of pain and destruction, while the House of Peace is a place of prosperity and wealth.”
- ultimatum from Sultan Isma’il V to King Louis XVII, 1818
King Louis could not refuse, and did not.
The acquisition of so many cities and towns boosted the Sultanate’s prestige but also caused the further deterioration of the Sultanate’s reputation. The Sultan reportedly dismissed this news - he believed that his own reputation and that of diplomats even then in training would eventually resolve this issue. And the power of the Sultanate's armies and navies was such that no state could reasonably assail it; even a combination of all the nations of Europe might not have been enough to overthrown the power of the Sultanate in this period.
Shortly after the end of the war with France, the Sharifate of Yemen declared war. The war ended quickly with the surrendering of Adan to the Sultanate.
In early 1820 the event that many modern researchers and analysis have pointed to as a key turning point between the late Renaissance/Early Industrial Period and the Modern Industrial Age happened. It did not, of course, change anything physical. But it represented a significant change in the mind-set of the age. In this year, the people of Rome threw off the last, lingering affection for the stateless Pope and turned to face the future as full members of the Sultanate of Granada.
Rome was physically and philosophically the continuation of the Ancient World into the period of this study. It brought with it the Republican and then Imperial associations of Rome. It was the seat of one of the ancient Bishops of the world under the Roman Empire, and the locus of knowledge that carried much of Western Europe through the collapse in the west of the Roman Empire. It was a symbol of Christian power that, long after it had been occupied and annexed by the Sultanate, sill maintained a hold on the imagination of the fractured West. The abandonment of that memory and that heritage is seen as the most sure sign that the Christian history of the Mediterranean was passing into memory as the world prepared to move into the Industrial Age.
The Islamic tide that had been at one point threatened to overwhelm Europe and then had been pushed almost completely off the continent had returned, and that tide was poised at the cusp of the new Age to overwhelm the France and cross the Rhine into German land under the leadership of a renewed Islam under the Nasrid Caliphs and Sultans of Granada.
The history of Granada in the Industrial Age is waiting to be told.
[End of Game - Praise to Allah]
(Author’s note - an appendix showing the state of Granada as it moved into the Industrial Age will be found in the following pages.)
Rule Rome, rule the Mediterranean.
No, not really. It is a relic, a useless one. Usually with a angry Pope excommunicating everyone.
No, not really. It is a relic, a useless one. Usually with a angry Pope excommunicating everyone.
A nice conclusion to the game; France humbled and Rome irrevocably yours. The Sultanate dominates the Old World and the New.
Quite some change from those early hectic days!
Quite some change from those early hectic days!
That war against the native American tribes cost you virtually no soldiers and the siege of Niagara was laughable. What were they thinking when declaring war?
I must commend you on that letter to the arrogant French king, nice work.
I'll eagerly await the epilogue.
I must commend you on that letter to the arrogant French king, nice work.
I'll eagerly await the epilogue.
Excellent AAR. I was glad to have caught it early and watched it grow from a silly attempt at conquering some Italian islands to establishing the most powerful Sultanate in the known world.
A truly stupendous AAR. I've greatly enjoyed witnessing Granada growing into the behemoth it now is. A very fitting ending, and the comparisons to a new Western Roman Empire are so very apt. I doff my hat to you.
Granada is berber in MM?
and , it's nice to end sometimes ...
that sort of ultimatums is very costly:
and , it's nice to end sometimes ...
that sort of ultimatums is very costly:
One of the best AAR's I've ever seen, and the ending was extremely appropriate. If you ever choose to start another, I'll be certain to follow it.
Appendix:
The Sultanate of Granada in 1821 - Final Facts & Figures
THE SULTANS AND PEOPLE OF GRANADA
Sultan Isma’il V, Caliph of Allah and Protector of the Holy Cities is the sultan who took the Sultanate firmly into the Industrial Age. He was, more than most of his predecessors on the Pomegranate Throne, an extremely capable Administrator and Diplomat; he was also a brilliant Military Strategist for all that he never took the field (no Sultan had for many generations.)
In his rule, he was ably assisted by three advisors:
The House of Nasr has a long history in al-Andalus. Prior to the period covered by this History, the House of Nasr had seemed intent on bringing about its own ruin. Sons conspired against fathers, brothers against each other, and even fathers against sons. Members of the family made alliances with many of the Christian states of Iberia, all with the aim on enriching themselves and all with the result of impoverishing an ever-shrinking Emirate (the state was too small and powerless to rightly be called a “Sultanate” at that time.
In the early 1400s, when this History begins, it seemed as is the Nasrids were intent on continuing this trend. Mysterious deaths, Regency Councils, alternating Emirs from different lines of the family - all of these threatened at every moment to upset the ship of state. But, by the Accession of Yusuf VIII in 1458, the family has managed to pull itself out of the tailspin in which it seemed to be trapped. Long stable reigns, marriages with all the various Islamic houses and strong and sustained expansion happened under the Sultans following Yusuf VIII on the throne.
Finally, the Sultans ensured that Granada remained true to a multicultural vision. Even in the late 1300s, the Sultanate was known as a place that welcomed men of all nationalities. Although the court (and the Nasrids) never abandoned their Berber heritage (indeed, the constant intermarrying with the house of the Sultans of Morocco ensured a continual stream of Berber and Moroccan women and household servants to Granada, and of course this strong Berber connection helped immensely in the inheritance and absorption of the Moroccan throne by Muhammad XIV.)
Nonetheless, the Sultanate maintained its open-door policy, integrating not only Jewish families and their skilled children, but various cultures at it expanded across the Mediterranean basin. This willingness to accept. welcome and foster additional cultures into the dynamic fabric of Granadan culture accounts in large part for the ease with which the Sultanate integrated so many conquered cities, towns and people. Over the course of the period covered by the History, the various Sultans managed to add 189 provinces to the original three in al-Andalus.
[
GOVERNMENT INDICATORS
In 1744, the Sultanate under ‘Ali I adopted the Enlightened Despotism form of government. This is the form of government that was carried by Isma’il V forward into the Industrial Age. It served the Sultanate well, allowing it to govern a vast, globe-spanning Empire. The state at this point could be characterized as being highly centralized and innovative; one favoring the town over the nobility; supremely focused on defensive arts (although it was one of the most expansive nations in the history of global power politics at this point); ruthlessly focused on the quality of its armaments, soldiers and marines; and devoted to the freedoms of it’s people to explore, discover and bring knowledge to bear on the increasingly glory of the state.
And in act, the Sultanate entered the Industrial Age as one of the states with the most advanced ideas on Governance.
FINANCIAL INDICATORS
The Sultanate derived it’s extensive income from a variety of sources: Provincial and Civic Taxes, Income from Production, and Trade Income via the domination of the Trade Centers it controlled around the Mediterranean. It also earned significant income through the importation and distribution of Gold and Silver as well as other overseas territories.
The Sultan used these sources of income to sponsor a vast research infrastructure across the Sultanate. This also allowed the Sultanate to support a vast army and navy, as well as the growth of colonies and missionary efforts.
Top Civic and Provincial Tax Income Sources
Top Sources of Production Income
Top Sources of Overseas Tariff Income
The Sultanate’s support of research into Trade technologies helped increase profits and return on its global trade.
The Tax, Production, Trade and Tariff income all helped push the wealth of Granada and the Sultanate to truly spectacular heights. It is said that visitors to the court of the Sultan were left not only dazzled by the gold, jewels, architecture, gardens and fountains, but also left twice as wealthy as they arrived from the gifts showered by the Sultan and the wealthy members of society in Granada.
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1753/1178endingincome.jpg[/
[IMG]http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5516/1179largestincomes.jpg
MILITARY STATISTICS
The Sultanate sponsored a vast research effort in Military Technology. At periods of this History, the Sultanate led the pack of European countries in this space; at other times if was desperately attempting to catch up, even going as far as hiring specialists from Christian Europe to help. Under Sultan Isma’il V, the Sultanate kept its leading position, and entered the Industrial Age with not only a massive army, but a massively advanced and capable military science behind this force.
The hundreds of corps of soldiers, cavalry and cannon dwarfed the numbers available to any other individual nation. Each of these types of military forces were supported by advanced technology (in its time) and were equiped to both attack, defend and move rapidly to take advantage of shifting realities on the battlefield.
The Sultanate was also blessed with several families that produced talented commanders throughout most of its history. The Generals and Naval Commanders serving Sultan Isma’il are listed below.
Finally, the years of peace and prosperity in the Granadan House of Peace allowed a vast pool of manpower to be created and leveraged by the Sultan to keep his armies staffed and prepared. The Top Recruiting & Manpower provinces are shown below.
In short, the Sultanate was able, over the course of these 400 years of our History, to leverage its sophisticated and slightly advanced position in the late 1300s, and by constant care and nurturing, turn an imperiled Emirate on the edge of al-Andalus into the leading state by the 1800s. Showing how this was accomplished has been the goal of this History; but many things are not known and unknowable - we only have the evidence left by Sultanate as it entered the Industrial Age as the leading global power.
The Sultanate of Granada in 1821 - Final Facts & Figures
THE SULTANS AND PEOPLE OF GRANADA
Sultan Isma’il V, Caliph of Allah and Protector of the Holy Cities is the sultan who took the Sultanate firmly into the Industrial Age. He was, more than most of his predecessors on the Pomegranate Throne, an extremely capable Administrator and Diplomat; he was also a brilliant Military Strategist for all that he never took the field (no Sultan had for many generations.)
In his rule, he was ably assisted by three advisors:
- Ja’far ibn Abi Hafs, the preeminent jurist of his day
- Faruq ibn Yahya, a man known throughout the Sultanate for his advanced thinking on issues of good governance
- Dawud ibn Muhammad, the son of a leading Diplomat who managed to capture the Sultan’s attention and keep a difficult position in trying times
The House of Nasr has a long history in al-Andalus. Prior to the period covered by this History, the House of Nasr had seemed intent on bringing about its own ruin. Sons conspired against fathers, brothers against each other, and even fathers against sons. Members of the family made alliances with many of the Christian states of Iberia, all with the aim on enriching themselves and all with the result of impoverishing an ever-shrinking Emirate (the state was too small and powerless to rightly be called a “Sultanate” at that time.
In the early 1400s, when this History begins, it seemed as is the Nasrids were intent on continuing this trend. Mysterious deaths, Regency Councils, alternating Emirs from different lines of the family - all of these threatened at every moment to upset the ship of state. But, by the Accession of Yusuf VIII in 1458, the family has managed to pull itself out of the tailspin in which it seemed to be trapped. Long stable reigns, marriages with all the various Islamic houses and strong and sustained expansion happened under the Sultans following Yusuf VIII on the throne.
Finally, the Sultans ensured that Granada remained true to a multicultural vision. Even in the late 1300s, the Sultanate was known as a place that welcomed men of all nationalities. Although the court (and the Nasrids) never abandoned their Berber heritage (indeed, the constant intermarrying with the house of the Sultans of Morocco ensured a continual stream of Berber and Moroccan women and household servants to Granada, and of course this strong Berber connection helped immensely in the inheritance and absorption of the Moroccan throne by Muhammad XIV.)
Nonetheless, the Sultanate maintained its open-door policy, integrating not only Jewish families and their skilled children, but various cultures at it expanded across the Mediterranean basin. This willingness to accept. welcome and foster additional cultures into the dynamic fabric of Granadan culture accounts in large part for the ease with which the Sultanate integrated so many conquered cities, towns and people. Over the course of the period covered by the History, the various Sultans managed to add 189 provinces to the original three in al-Andalus.
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GOVERNMENT INDICATORS
In 1744, the Sultanate under ‘Ali I adopted the Enlightened Despotism form of government. This is the form of government that was carried by Isma’il V forward into the Industrial Age. It served the Sultanate well, allowing it to govern a vast, globe-spanning Empire. The state at this point could be characterized as being highly centralized and innovative; one favoring the town over the nobility; supremely focused on defensive arts (although it was one of the most expansive nations in the history of global power politics at this point); ruthlessly focused on the quality of its armaments, soldiers and marines; and devoted to the freedoms of it’s people to explore, discover and bring knowledge to bear on the increasingly glory of the state.
And in act, the Sultanate entered the Industrial Age as one of the states with the most advanced ideas on Governance.
FINANCIAL INDICATORS
The Sultanate derived it’s extensive income from a variety of sources: Provincial and Civic Taxes, Income from Production, and Trade Income via the domination of the Trade Centers it controlled around the Mediterranean. It also earned significant income through the importation and distribution of Gold and Silver as well as other overseas territories.
The Sultan used these sources of income to sponsor a vast research infrastructure across the Sultanate. This also allowed the Sultanate to support a vast army and navy, as well as the growth of colonies and missionary efforts.
Top Civic and Provincial Tax Income Sources
Top Sources of Production Income
Top Sources of Overseas Tariff Income
The Sultanate’s support of research into Trade technologies helped increase profits and return on its global trade.
The Tax, Production, Trade and Tariff income all helped push the wealth of Granada and the Sultanate to truly spectacular heights. It is said that visitors to the court of the Sultan were left not only dazzled by the gold, jewels, architecture, gardens and fountains, but also left twice as wealthy as they arrived from the gifts showered by the Sultan and the wealthy members of society in Granada.
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1753/1178endingincome.jpg[/
[IMG]http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5516/1179largestincomes.jpg
MILITARY STATISTICS
The Sultanate sponsored a vast research effort in Military Technology. At periods of this History, the Sultanate led the pack of European countries in this space; at other times if was desperately attempting to catch up, even going as far as hiring specialists from Christian Europe to help. Under Sultan Isma’il V, the Sultanate kept its leading position, and entered the Industrial Age with not only a massive army, but a massively advanced and capable military science behind this force.
The hundreds of corps of soldiers, cavalry and cannon dwarfed the numbers available to any other individual nation. Each of these types of military forces were supported by advanced technology (in its time) and were equiped to both attack, defend and move rapidly to take advantage of shifting realities on the battlefield.
The Sultanate was also blessed with several families that produced talented commanders throughout most of its history. The Generals and Naval Commanders serving Sultan Isma’il are listed below.
Finally, the years of peace and prosperity in the Granadan House of Peace allowed a vast pool of manpower to be created and leveraged by the Sultan to keep his armies staffed and prepared. The Top Recruiting & Manpower provinces are shown below.
In short, the Sultanate was able, over the course of these 400 years of our History, to leverage its sophisticated and slightly advanced position in the late 1300s, and by constant care and nurturing, turn an imperiled Emirate on the edge of al-Andalus into the leading state by the 1800s. Showing how this was accomplished has been the goal of this History; but many things are not known and unknowable - we only have the evidence left by Sultanate as it entered the Industrial Age as the leading global power.
That is one fragmented world! I like how Liguria is the most populous/manpower rich province .
And your sliders! So many notches to the wrong side of restricted policies. Fully plutocratic - does the Sultan bow to the whims of burghers so easily? (Or is the Sultan that scared of "Massive noble oppositions") ;p
. And your sliders! So many notches to the wrong side of restricted policies. Fully plutocratic - does the Sultan bow to the whims of burghers so easily? (Or is the Sultan that scared of "Massive noble oppositions") ;p
I was wondering what happened to the Pope this time around. In previous games he's managed to bully someone into giving him some land - once he popped up in the Canaries! But he seems to have become a wandering mendicant friar or something this time around. The College of Cardinals continued to meet under the watchful eye of the Sultan in Rome, and they kept electing someone. But, even less than the Patriarch in Constantinople (also appointed regularly by the Sultan), he seems to have disappeared from active involvement in the world. I think that helped accelerate the breakup of monolithic Catholicism in this game! But I was happy to take possession of Rome when he crossed me that last time!
AllMyJames and Tweetybird - thanks for the kind words! And yes, your comments made me think back to when the poor Sultan and his band of a few thousand followers were adrift on the Mediterranean looking for lonely and frightened (and friendless) Christian states to welcome to the House of Peace. And, in reality, just staying away from Granada in the hope of not provoking the King of Castile - that really was one of the key points of staying away all that time! Definitely things changed!
I have to admit that I was really toying with the idea at one point of going East rather than West - (re)creating the most powerful Sultanate/Caliphate the world had even knows! But the hits that would have required to stability and the long list of super-poor provinces made me think twice about that. The rich lands of the Americas and the interior of Africa (lots of gold and jewels) beckoned. I do wish, though, that becoming Caliph somehow gave one the ability to demand obediance or vassalization from other Muslim countries and if they objected (which the would do, right?) you would get a CB on them! That would make it fun!
Hi FlorisDeVijfde! They were clearly (and probably) smoking something they should have kept for a more serene religious ceremony.
Thanks! As I advanced into France I couldn't help but start thinking of the Western Roman Empire.....and thanks for the doffing of the hat. That's very Scottish of you! :rofl:
Hi sprites! Yes, in MM (at elast Platinum 1.5) Granada is Berber. I had the option of changing cultures. I didn't have a clever enough Sultan at the first. Then I realized that I already accepted Andalusian as a culture, and so I decided not to take the hit for that change. And it worked out - I'm only guessing that it made relations better or more stable over time with Morocco and other North African states, but perhaps...
Yes, the Ultimatums (Ultimata?) are super costly! I can't think why you would accept unless literally the entire world was about to declare war as one and kill you!
Thanks dinofs. That's a totally cool thing to say! i've enjoyed the AAR you have written (and those of all the other people who've been kind enough to comment throughout this AAR.)
I looked back and realized that my first post was 27 Jan 2010 - this took almost 6 months to the day! Can you believe that. Well, I do have another idea for an AAR and it will be super hard! But I need to do a few other things first so I might lurk just for a bit on some AARs while I get caught up on work, personal life and let things percolate for just a bit! But I will definitely give this idea of mine a try - so I'll look for you there!
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That is one fragmented world! I like how Liguria is the most populous/manpower rich province
And your sliders! So many notches to the wrong side of restricted policies. Fully plutocratic - does the Sultan bow to the whims of burghers so easily? (Or is the Sultan that scared of "Massive noble oppositions") ;p
Hey axzhang! I don't know either about Liguria to be honest. The Genoans must have secret population growth sauce - you should know, shouldn't you since you understand the secret things going on there?
The Tunisians owned Genoa for a while, but I don't think it was anything to do with them. Unless the forbade all forms of fun except what happens behind closed doors. All I know is that when I got there, they had something like 800,000 inhabitants, and then it grew a bit more!
Yes - Fully Plutocratic was more the result of individual decisions opposing the nobles now and then, particularly after some ridiculous Noble Rebellion. I mean, who did those fools think they were. But of course, the Sultan had to deal with the pushy burghers and merchants of the towns - fortunately they usually could be bought off with a few ducats and some kinds words. The Sultan never gave into their demands, just reached into his somewhat extensive treasury and pulled out a few baubles of the "made in Mecca" variety and passed them around. They really are gullible, those nouveau riche! So much easier to deal with than uppity and uptight nobles. :rofl:
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Maybe with the Iberians pushed off to the hills of South America they had the chance to prosper....?
Also, with MMP you don't have to "Westernize" - you have to pull your sliders into good positions to represent cultural, trade and scientific opening and then, of course, choose to accept the changes and all the issues that come with it. But maybe it's easier? I don't think you have to have a leader with specific Adm traits of whatever to choose the Westernize choice. I think.....I'm not an expert in comparison between the two. Just looking at the Inca, the North American tribes, etc.
And, let's be honest, something happened to Russia - it managed to get into Scandinavia up there but it wasn't able to take out the Golden Horde, Kazan or even Siberia! How did that happen? They ROLLED over the HRE at one point in months!
:wacko:Maybe the example of the mighty Sultan in Granada gave them a role model to follow (and perhaps some neighbor bonuses?)
Quite an interesting finishing world map! As I already stated, its nice to see Scotland still hanging in there. Although I get the feeling that if the game had gone on for another few months they would have ended up annexed by a one province minor!
It is no surprise to see Granada topping most of the charts, truly she is the world power.
I look forward to it too. I will certainly be keeping watch for your next AAR.
It is no surprise to see Granada topping most of the charts, truly she is the world power.
I look forward to it too. I will certainly be keeping watch for your next AAR.