European factories and Armenians in Agra

The Taj Mahal is the first synonym that springs to mind when Agra is mentioned.  In the early days of colonial India, Bombay Madras and Calcutta were the usual cities of reference. However Agra holds a unique connection to the construction of the Taj Mahal.  This connection revolves around trade factories.  As a major Mughal cosmopolitan and one of the empire's capitals, Agra saw several early trade factories established by the English, Dutch and Portuguese.  Another power, the Armenians, also established trade routes and nodes in Agra (and other parts of India) but didn't pursue colonial ambitions. 

The first trade factory in Agra, then known as Akbarabad, was established in 1614 by EIC agent William Edwards.  He was tasked with overseeing indigo purchases and trade between the Mughal Empire and England.  Additionally, he was responsible for reporting on tensions between the Portuguese and Mughals, which he submitted directly to London.  Agra was chosen as the principal Mughal capital, home to Emperor Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim or Jehangir.  The indigo-growing belt between Agra and Bayana (in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district) further solidified Agra's status as a European trade hub, attracting the Dutch shortly after four years in 1618.  Both European powers arrived from Surat, expanding their trade networks and influencing Emperors Jehangir and Shah Jahan while keeping a watchful eye on their Portuguese rivals. 

Back in Europe, the politics of the Habsburg dynasty's succession led Portugal to fight against the Dutch.  While they were closer to England diplomatically, they were fierce competitors in Asia for trade.  Ultimately, both England and the Dutch wanted to expel the Portuguese from trading in India or at least significantly reduce their presence there, which eventually happened.  However, Agra even had Portuguese influence, albeit through Jesuit missions sent from Goa, long before the arrival of English and Dutch traders.  Between the 1580s and 1635, and then from 1636 onwards, the Portuguese were permitted to conduct their religious missions in Agra, using religious tools to establish complete dominance.  Their disruptive behaviour caused considerable unrest in Hooghly, prompting Shah Jahan to seize their trade centres and relocate the troublemakers to Agra.  He ordered the demolition of their church in 1635, subsequently favouring the trade incentives offered by England and the Dutch.  Consequently, Portuguese influence in Agra waned, leading to the complete control of English and Dutch traders. 

Another European (formerly Asian) player who influenced Indian town trade markets without any colonial ambitions was Armenia.  Its geography has witnessed some of history's most dramatic shifts.  For centuries during antiquity, it thrived as an independent kingdom.  Later, during the Byzantine era, it was partitioned.  In the Middle Ages, it re-emerged as the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia.  Subsequently, it was submerged by the Mamluks, Timurids, various Turkmen clans, the Ottomans and Iranians. Finally, it was recognised as the First Republic of Armenia in 1918.  However, when Armenians first arrived in the subcontinent, they were predominantly from Isfahan's New Julfa, the Armenian quarter.  The larger Armenian realm was divided between the Ottomans and Safavids.  Their initial destinations included Surat and Agra, later moving on to Lahore, Ahmedabad, Burhanpur, Masulipatam (Machilipatnam), Madras (Chennai), Calcutta (Kolkata), Murshidabad and Dhaka. 

In the 16th century, Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar invited Armenians to trade in Agra.  This was to share profits from the indigo business between the Mughals and Safavids.  Unlike Europeans, Armenians were strictly traders and avoided military conflicts with local rulers.  While some served as mercenaries or freelancers in Mughal armies, they never established a large group to dominate beyond their trading base.  Although they didn't exert military pressure in Indian cities, they engaged in fierce commercial competition with Europeans, particularly in Agra. 

Following the capital's shift from Agra to Delhi, trading patterns underwent significant changes.  Having been discredited at the Mughal court, the Portuguese opted to permanently leave Agra, redirecting their focus to coastal territories.  While the Dutch maintained a lodge in Agra for several years, they ultimately gained more strength along the coast.  As the costs of maintaining the lodge became prohibitive, they closed it in Agra by 1648.  The Armenians, disinclined towards military engagement, positioned themselves between the Dutch and English, relying heavily on court favours. Consequently, they too shifted to ports. However, the English employed native and even Armenian brokers for their business, so even after the capital moved to Delhi, their brokerage and coastal profits remained largely unaffected.

In 1835, Agra became a British Presidency, shortly before being reorganised into the North West Provinces.  The era of factories had long passed, and while it was now a British territory, European factories and the Armenian church had vanished. Today, these factories could likely be found between Paliwal Park and Nehru Nagar Gardens in Civil Lines.

The map below recreates Akbarabad (Agra), as sketched by Ishwar Prakash Gupta between 1981 and 1986. It depicts the city as it appeared in 1658, highlighting 'Padri Tola', a neighbourhood comprising Armenian caravan sarais, Jesuit and Portuguese churches, and approximate locations of Dutch and English factories near the Jamuna (or Yamuna) river. 

The United Provinces (Dutch Republic) were a Protestant republican confederation striving for independence.  Meanwhile, the Spanish Netherlands remained Catholic and under Habsburg rule.  By 1603, the Dutch Republic, though not yet formally recognised, was already functioning independently in the north.  The southern provinces (Spanish Netherlands) remained loyal to Spain, creating a divided battleground in the Low Countries during the Eighty Years' War.  Simultaneously, their trade in India was exploited by multiple European powers. This map is sourced from the Educational Technology Clearinghouse at the University of South Florida, 2009. 

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Armenia wasn't a truly independent kingdom or nation as it once was.  Divided between the Safavid Empire of Iran and the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, Isfahan, the city, became the main centre for Armenians.  From there, Armenian traders travelled to India for trade. This map is based on Herman Moll's original work from 1732. 

Astrakhan and Indians

India during the 18th century was a complex landscape of rising and declining powers, divided among the Mughals, Marathas, Sikhs, and the Europeans. As the subcontinent saw an expansion of European trade factories, commercial activities extended beyond India's borders. While it may seem that only the Europeans controlled the establishment of trade centers, a small fraction of Indian merchants also set up bases far from home, including on the Caspian Sea coast in the Russian town of Astrakhan.

Astrakhan, a major trading hub on the northern side of the Caspian Sea, was once part of the Kalmyk Khanate—a remnant tracing its lineage back to the Great Mongol Empire. It flourished, in part, due to Indian merchants. However, unlike the European East India Companies, which established formal trade factories, Indian merchants in Astrakhan were welcomed as traders alongside other ethnic groups such as Iranians and Armenians. Central Asia and Iran, then a mosaic of Khanates, were on the brink of being overwhelmed by Russian territorial expansion. However, for the time being, they remained independent, providing opportunities for merchants to thrive, amass wealth, and, in turn, contribute to the prosperity of local rulers. In this chapter of Indian history, the Persian Shahs played a crucial role.

The earliest arrival of Indians in Astrakhan dates back to the 1640s, originating from Persia. Under the rule of Shah Soltan Mohammad Mirza, Indian merchants in Persia endured a tumultuous period of oppression at the hands of Persian authorities. Initially, the Kalmyks were hostile to the Russians but eventually became their allies, assisting them in battles against the Turks, Turkmens, and Tatars. Consequently, when it came to protecting Indian merchants, the Russians offered overwhelming support, helping them trade in various settlements beyond the Ural Mountains. Astrakhan, being a key seaport, became a welcoming entry point for Indians, who later traveled to other parts of Russia, setting up businesses while assimilating into Russian customs and traditions. Names such as Sutur, Lahori Baniya, Malchand, Haji Mulla, and Ram Chand became well-known in cities like Astrakhan, Moscow, Terek, Saratov, Arzamas, Suzdal, and Yaroslavl.

The route from Persia to Astrakhan typically involved traveling across the Caspian Sea—then known by various names such as Darya-ye Mazandaran, Darya-ye Gilan, or Bahr-el-Khazar in Persian and Arabic. Asan Bek, a Persian envoy, played a key role in introducing Indians to the lands north of the Caucasus (Qafqaz) in 1641, the same period when the Taj Mahal was under construction in Mughal Agra under Emperor Shah Jahan. Interestingly, Indians never traded alone; they often partnered with Caucasian agents to engage in commerce with Russians, Tatars, and Armenians. This, in essence, was the foundation of Indian trade in the Caucasus and Russian cities. Yet, like any chapter in history, this one also had its share of intrigue and drama.

In the world of trade and commerce, few things are as fascinating as the stories of merchants who dared to break laws, challenge norms, and still find ways to succeed. The 17th century was a different world—one with laws that seem strange and even unreasonable by today's standards. One such law was enforced by Tsar Michael I (1613–1645), who declared smoking and snuffing a moral sin. As a result, the import and export of tobacco were banned under Eastern Orthodox principles, which viewed smoking as a violation of religious morality. Any experimentation with tobacco was illegal, with punishments ranging from whipping to the death penalty.

Sutur, an Indian merchant, boldly defied this sacred law and, sometime in the 1640s, was arrested for trading tobacco—either in Moscow or Yaroslavl. However, his imprisonment was short-lived, as his trading ventures had significantly benefited the Russian economy. In the past, he had facilitated the arrival of 25 other Indian merchants, boosting trade and enriching the Tsar's treasury. So close was his relationship with the Tsar that in another incident—when he was arrested in the Persian city of Tabriz for unknown reasons and imprisoned for eight months—it was Russian influence that secured his release. But how did a foreigner manage to evade strict legal consequences in a foreign land? Perhaps Sutur held secrets about the Tsar, or maybe he had left an indelible impression on both Russian and Persian authorities. There are countless possibilities.

In 1722, an Indian merchant named Anbu Ram approached Tsar Peter the Great and was granted the right to resolve internal disputes among Indian merchants according to their own customs and traditions. This marked a significant breakthrough for the Indian settlers, as the ability to practice their traditions in a foreign land was a rare privilege in the 18th century. This decision fostered trade and expanded the Indian trade network as far as Arkhangelsk, on the shores of the White Sea—the northernmost point Indians could reach in Russia. With Peter the Great’s blessings, Indian merchants gained greater autonomy, enabling them to practice their customs freely. Over time, their presence grew, with more than 400 Indian families settling in Kizlyar, a village along the Terek River in Dagestan, approximately 120 kilometers north of the Georgian border. 

The Indian trading posts in the Russian Empire were closed in 1840, coinciding with the expansion of British colonial rule in India. This may have been influenced by British apprehensions about growing Russian influence in the subcontinent. However, even before this closure, Indian merchants had spread across various regions of Russia, integrating into local society. Many Indian traders married Russian women, settled permanently, and embraced Russian customs and traditions. Over time, this cultural fusion gave rise to individuals with blended identities, bearing names such as Talaram Alimchandov and Ramdas Dzhasuev. The tradition of Indian men marrying Russian women has continued through the centuries and remains prevalent today.

The bond between Russia and India only grew stronger in the following decades. In the 20th century, Russia supported India in various conflicts, strategic expansions, and diplomatic efforts, further cementing the relationship between the two nations. This deep-rooted connection has contributed to the lasting friendship between Russia and India, fostering cultural and social exchanges that continue to thrive.

Courland and Livonia 1850

The three Baltic States everyone is aware of are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The formation of these three nations started loosely by the 13th century, and over the course multiple border changes shaped the history of Baltic States, but there are two of these entities whose names are now wiped out from people's general conscience. Courland and Livonia. 

But these aren't the only ones whose identity are lost, especially when it comes to European countries. Names such as Prussia, Yugoslavia, Bessarabia, the giant Soviet Union or USSR are the bigger names, but entities such as Courland and Livonia are harder to remember as their history didn't reach that stretch of drama as compared to others. Interestingly, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia once even had overseas colonies in the Gambia River, at the settlements of St. Andrew's Island (Kunta Kinteh Island, Gambia) between 1651 to 1661 and another one at the Tobago Island between 1654 to 1659. What is even more interesting, is that the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was itself a vassal state to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that was later made part of the greater Polish Kingdom, later to be united as Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or Rzeczpospolita in the local Polish language. Courland and Semigallia remained a vassal state till finally merging in the Commonwealth in 1725. And after another seven decades, it was immersed into the Russian Empire. In 1918, formally the Republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania started to exist which finally got independence in 1991. 

Livonia, on the other hand, was a historical region that swung between Russian and Swedish influences. The Kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden had scooped into the Baltic during the period of 17th century at the time when western European players were gearing up for trans-continental trade ventures. Denmark had its control over islands in the Baltic, that are now part of Estonia, while Swedish Kingdom had spread through Lapland and northern Estonia. By 1640s, Livonia was formally part of the Swedish Kingdom and the term was mostly associated to a military order - a religious society that existed across Europe and the Levant. In fact, both Livonia and Courland were part of the Teutonic Order existing between 1260 to 1410, across the whole of Baltic coast covering territories of Pomerelia, Prussia, Gotland, Samogitia, Courland, Livonia, Zemgale and Estonia that will be today's northern Poland, part of Sweden and the Baltic nations. In fact, an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order was formed as the Livonian Order between 1237 to 1561. After the fall of the Teutonic Order, there was also several attempts in retaining the independence of the Livonian Confederation, spread across today's Estonia and Latvia for nearly a century before it fell to the Swedish Kingdom in 1561. 

But the fascinating part is the emergence of such smaller territories as colonisers and how did it even start from this part of Europe? The credit goes to Jacob Kettler, a Courland born German Baltic Duke under whom Courland and Semigallia remained virtually independent of the Polish clutches, between 1642 to 1682. One of the many striking features of colonisation was to form unions of two bigger kingdoms to form even a bigger empire. Denmark did that with Norway, Spain with Portugal, Austria with Hungary, Poland with Lithuania etc. These unions are basically empires but having dual ownership - over security, defence, trade, economy, marriages and perhaps everything that needs a kingdom to run. But these unions did create trouble especially for those who never wished to see one. Jacob Kettler made sure to get Courland a little edge over the others, hence took an expedition to remote regions which, surprisingly, made it one of the fastest growing European colonisers. But as bigger players entered the competition, Kettler suffered immense defeat and a crushing end to his colonial dreams. After all, it was impossible for a semi-independent Duchy to compete against the gigantic French and the Dutch and the Spanish and the English and their various Companies they were running. 

In 1812, just for less than a year, Courland saw a French occupation just for five months because of which Russian administration is shifted from its capital Kuldīga to Riga. This occupation was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had annexed under French territories the extent of the entire central and western Europe and sled into the Polish-Lithuanian Union giving expedition's charge to X Corps. This led to the Siege of Riga, which was the capital of the Livonian Governate, and the joint alliance of the French and Prussian forces pushed back Russians for roughly five months, after which the Russians took over and drove off the French from the Baltic, restricting them beyond River Niemen. But for these five months, a temporary French government was established combining Courland, Semigallia and the District of Pilten (all part of today's Latvia). 

By the end of the First World War, the Baltic was virtually independent of Russia and the German occupation was gaining momentum. Independent councils for Estland or Esthonia or Estonia, Riga, Courland and Livonia were being shaped to work in tandem with the Prussian monarch, making the Russian influence obsolete in the Baltic. And so in November 1918, the three independent republics were born - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

But the independency remained for a short number of decades, when in 1940 Soviet occupancy covered the entire Baltic. The three nations were given SSR - Soviet Socialist Republics - status and thus, the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs continued for just one year when Nazi Germany expanded its wings all across Europe. Estonia (Estland), Latvia (Lettland), Lithuania (Litauen) and central Belarus (Weißruthenein) together forming Ostland administrative block that existed till 1945 till the dissolution of the Second World War leading to reoccupation by the Soviet Union. It's interesting that all these nations got independence twice from occupancy at the end of both the World Wars. 

With the formation of these full-sovereigns, the identity of names Courland, Livonia and others got wiped out and except for the natives and history enthusiasts, possibly very few people even understand their significance. But interestingly, the former colony on Tobago island carries the legacy by naming a waterbody near the island - the Courland Bay, part of the larger Caribbean Sea. Below here is a recreated map of the times when Courland, Livonia were part of the greater Russian Empire. 

Bulgaria 1860s

Bulgaria's map has changed drastically throughout history and the name 'Bulgar' is probably one of the oldest names in the world that has retained since the medieval era. Historically, for the most of its time, Bulgaria remained as one of the largest vilayets of the Ottoman Empire for five centuries between 1422 to 1908 but political boundaries kept changing even after that. As an independent monarchy, Bulgaria's boundaries changed massively from its largest extension as the First Bulgarian Empire whose borders expanded till the outer stretch of Romania, to a tiny coast of Albania and the northern boundary of Istanbul. In the 10th century AD, the ruling Krum's dynasty expanded it even further into the heartland of Greece, thus making it one of the largest medieval European kingdoms. 

As the dynasties change, the rising Byzantines and Mongol invasions raided the Second Bulgarian Empire in the 12th century that went on till the arrival of the 1300s. By the 1300s, the Byzantine Empire or the Latin Empire had shrunk down to the borders of today's Istanbul and northern Türkiye while the next major imperial giant neighbouring Bulgaria was the Empire of Hungary, stretching between toda's Hungary to Romania and major parts of Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia. And thus, in the 1360s, the settlement of Vidin (or Widin) was occupied by the Hungarians, thus marking the first trace of the Magyars on the Bulgarian borders. By the late 1300s, the Ottomans had expanded and engulfed the warring Bulgarian states that continued till the 20th century, marking the largest political turbulence in the country for centuries. 

But Bulgaria wasn't a single entity in the Ottoman Empire. For a brief period between 1864 to 1878, what today Bulgaria is, was divided into the vilayets of Danube (Dunavska Oblast / Vilayet-i Tuna), Edirne or Adrianople (Vilayet-i Edirne) and Salonica (Vilayet-i Selanik) and parts of Romania. Post 1878, these provinces were reorganised to form the vilayets of Ottoman Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. By this time, the following were the different vilayets of the Ottoman Empire as listed here:

• Bosnia
• Montenegro
• Roumelia
• Janina
• Morea
• Livadia
• Thessaly or Trikhala
• Selanik
• Edirne
• Danube or Bulgaria
• Wallachia
• Moldavia

Region-wise, the entire Balkans was divided into five broad historic regions - Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Roumelia and Romania (or Roumania). What is interesting is that the boundaries of Bulgaria extended from Widdin (Vidin, in today's Bulgaria) and Lescovatz (Leskovac, in today's Serbia) in the west to the Balkan Mountains in the south and stretching the Dobrudaha (Dobrudja, divided into Romania and Bulgaria's coast) region and the towns of Toutcha (Tulcea, in today's Romania) and Matchin (in today's Mǎcin) in far northeast. The Danube River marked the northern boundary. Such waas the geography of Bulgaria that was about to change in the next century. 

The capital of Bulgaria today is Sofia, or how it was used traditionally as Serdica or Sredets. The Ottomans favoured the name Sofya and it has always been integral to Bulgarian culture and history. But an 1873 map by J. David Williams marks a territory called 'Turkish Servia (Serbia)' which isn't really a province, but the region extends from Nish or Nissa (Niš, in Serbia) in the north to Koja Balkan Mountains and the town of Ikhtiman (Ihtiman, in Bulgaria) in the east, to the city of Pristina in the west and Kurbetska Mountains in the south and the territory is highlighted majorly as it consists the city of Sofia, spelled as Sophia. But what could have been the reason that the cartographer marked something as 'Turkish Serbia' and placed Sofia in it? Because historically, there never existed a territory such as 'Turkish Serbia' that had a Serbian occupation on Sofia. 

The answer to this question is the entity of Niš eyalet, a primary level administrative entity before the introduction of the vilayets under the Ottoman Empire that in the above map is mentioned as 'Turkish Servia'. It is thus, Sofia was made part of the 'Turkish Servia (or Serbia)', an entity that was divided into four sanjaks (districts) : Niš, Sofia, Samokov and Kyustendil. In fact, the whole of Bulgaria was part of the larger Rumelia eyalet, and the cities of Edirne, Sofia and Monastir (Bitola, in North Macedonia) held capitals for various times between 1362 to 1867.  

It was only in the 1880s that a singular entity of Bulgaria whose borders are similar to what it is today, was formed as the Principality of Bulgaria along with the Principality of Rumelia. The independent Tsardom of Bulgaria was established in 1908, thus freeing itself permanently from the Turkish shadows and while the borders still kept changing, in the coming decades many Bulgarian cities got rid of its Turkish legacies as well. Kirca Ali became Kardhazli, Şumnu became Shumen, Ortaköy became Ivailovgrad, Eski Cuma changed to Targovishte, Rusčuk is now Rousse, Kazanlik changed to Kotel, Karnabad became Karnobat etc. Bulgaria's map once again expanded to the coastline of Greece (Western Thrace), the whole lot of Macedonia region and the coast of Romania. This was the Balkan Wars that the joint force of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece ate up the whole European portion of the Ottoman Empire, thus defeating it and pushing out of Europe for good (although Bulgaria lost in the Second Balkan War). In 1919, by the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Bulgaria cedes Western Thrace to Greece, Dobruja to Romania, Bosilegrad, Tsaribrod (Dimitrovgrad) and Strumitsa (Strumica) to Serbia (later, Yugoslavia). In 1940, during the Second World War, the Axis Bulgaria regained Southern Dobruja from Romania and the occupied territories of Greece, Macedonia and Serbia which were taken away again by the Allied (Soviet) powers between 1944 to 1947. And in between this, on 15th September 1946, the People's Republic of Bulgaria (Narodna Republika Bãlgarija) was born with its current borders and capital reinstated at Sofia. 

CATALONIA

One of the most politically charged regions in today's Europe is Catalonia, officially an autonomous region of Spain. However, this post won't delve into the current political scenario but rather highlight important historical milestones that led Catalonia to a point of conflict with the Spanish government. This post aims to scratch the surface of the starting point of discontent between the two parties and help those who don't have much idea on the subject understand.

In the 4th century BC, when the Carthaginian Empire was spreading on the southern coast of Iberia, minor Greek settlements were the first to occur on the Catalonian coast. The colony of Emporion (Empúries) was the first one on the list, which started from a small island in the Bay of Roses but gradually moved towards the mainland. The current city of Roses was found a bit later after Emporion's establishment, by the name of Rhode. Both these settlements were important Greek settlements on the Catalonian coast that minted coins and maintained a healthy trade and commerce facility. This was followed by Iberian migration of groups such as Indigetes, Laietans, Ilergetes, Ausetanis, Lacetanis, Ceretanis, Bergestanis, etc. These pre-Roman tribes were soon to be absorbed into the Empire by the 2nd century BC when it spread only in mainland Italy, the islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, northern Albania, and the eastern coast of Iberia. The conquest of Catalonia by the Romans was a result of the various Punic Wars fought between the Carthaginian and Roman Empires between 264 to 146 BC; while the former controlled coasts of Iberia and Northern Africa. These forces fought against the Iberian tribes ultimately leading to Roman victory over the Iberians in 202 BC.

The forever capital of Catalonia, the city of Barcelona, was first established as a Roman settlement in 15 BC by the name Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino, considered the most immediate antecedent of the current Barcelona. Apart from the various names it got, the one unique alteration that the Muslims gave it in the 8th century AD was Barjelunah, a part of various Arabic spellings Iberian settlements got.

The period of the Crisis of the Third Century (235 to 284 AD) was when the Roman Empire faced tremendous military and political instability in Europe that resulted in several territorial changes such as the annexation of Palmyrene and Gallic territories, thus adding Levant, Turkey, Egypt in the east, and France, England, and Low Countries in the west to the Roman Empire. This period, apart from affecting Catalan settlements such as Barcino (Barcelona), Tarraco (Tarragona), Gerunda (Gerona), brought Christianity to Catalonia as well. But the fallout of the Romans in the 5th century AD was subsequently followed by the rise of the Visigoths who arrived as the allies of Romans, later to take over the Iberian Peninsula until the arrival of the Muslims in the 8th century.

Between 711 to 1492, Iberia (known as Al Andalus in Arabic) was under the rise and fall of several Islamic empires. Starting from the Umayyads, followed by Emirate and Caliphate of Cordoba till the 10th century, and then the periods of smaller taifas, Almoravid, Almohad and Nasrid (Caliphate of Grenada) dynasties, almost 8 centuries of Islamic rule in Iberia were toppled by the Christian Reconquista, to bring back Iberia from Islamic to Christian rule. None of them covered regions of Catalonia. In fact, it was the Frankish conquests (especially under the Carolingian Empire) during the medieval period where Catalonia was created as a buffer zone (part of the Marcae Hispaniae or Hispanic March) between the various Islamic dynasties and the Kingdom of France. But Catalonia was at this time not a singular unified unit but a conglomeration of small Catalan-speaking counties that existed between 878 AD to 1487. The various counties are listed below:

1. Ribagorça
2. Pallars Jussa
3. Pallars Sobira
4. Urgell
5. Cerdanya
6. Osona
7. Barcelona
8. Girona
9. Empúries
10. Besalu
11. Vallespir
12. Conflent (today in France)
13. Capcir (today in France)
14. Donasac (Donazac, today in France)
15. Fenolleda (Fenouillèdes, today in France)
16. Peratertusès (today in France)
17. Rossello (today in France)

While Muslim dynasties, with the exception of the Umayyad and Cordoba Caliphates, did not expand into Catalan counties, diplomacy and treaties between Barcelona and the taifa of Zaragoza played a crucial role in maintaining order between Catalonia and the Muslims. Catalan nobles preserved peace with the Muslims by negotiating treaties that involved the latter paying taxes to avoid attacks on Muslim territories. However, in the second half of the 11th century, the taifas began to lose power, and Muslims were absorbed into the larger Kingdom of Aragon (1035 to 1707). Muslims migrated and sought refuge in the valley of the Segre River, forming the western boundary of present-day Catalonia.

During the reign of Ramon Berenguer IV (1131 to 1162), the Count of Barcelona, the Crown of Aragon was established, stretching from the kingdoms of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Provence, and the Principality of Catalonia to the Lordship of Montpellier and the County of Gevaudan in the west. It covered the kingdoms of Sardinia, Sicily, and Naples in the central regions and the Duchies of Neopatras and Athens in the east. In today's terms, the Crown of Aragon encompassed parts of Spain, France, Andorra, Italy, Malta, and Greece. During this period, the Catalan counties united to form the Principality of Catalonia, which endured until the 18th-19th centuries. In 1258, Catalonia was officially recognized as part of the Aragon Crown by France in the Treaty of Corbeil, renouncing feudal overlordship claims. The General Court of Catalonia was established in 1283, and in 1359, the local executive body Generalidat, later named Diputació del General del Principal de Cataluña, was formed. The explicit mention of the 'Principality of Catalonia' (Principatus Cathalonie) occurred in 1362, primarily as a destination for the possessions of the Count of Barcelona.

In the 17th century, between 1640 and 1652, the Generalidat declared a free Catalan Republic (República Catalan Lliure) under the French King Louis XIII, who proclaimed himself as the Count of Barcelona. This declaration followed the Reaper's War or Guerra del Segadors, also known as the Catalan Revolt, against economic and cultural blockades imposed by the Spanish Crown under Philip IV. The subsequent power struggle involved various non-Catalan forces, including monarchs of France, Spain, and Austria, leading to changes in Catalonia's destiny. After the Reaper's War, Catalonia obtained recognition of its rights from the Habsburg Kings of Spain, but certain Catalan-speaking territories north of the Pyrenees were ceded to France, including Roussillon, Conflent, Vallespir, Capcir, and the northern half of Cerdanya.

The contest for supremacy over Catalonia between Spain and France persisted over the centuries. In 1714, Philip V of Spain imposed Spanish administration across Catalonia after they sided against him during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), marking the formal rejection of Catalan autonomy. Since then, Catalans have resisted Spanish monarchy, facing ongoing challenges. The Napoleonic Wars, spanning from Canada to the Caribbean, Africa, India, Australia, and Malaya, had repercussions on Catalonia as the French Empire annexed the region between 1808 and 1813.

The city of Barcelona holds significance not only for Catalonia but also has historical connections beyond the European realm. Another major settlement named Barcelona was established in Venezuela in 1671. In the 19th century, the Province of Barcelona in Venezuela bordered the Caribbean Sea to the north, with the provinces of Caracas, Guayana, and Cumana to its west, south, and east, respectively. In Brazil, a small settlement named Barcelona exists in the state of Rio Grande de Norte in the Northeast region, not far from Venezuela. An interesting Barcelona also exists in the Philippines on Mindanao Island, originally known by its native name, Danlog.

The narrative provides an overview of Catalonia's history, geopolitical changes, and connections to other regions, offering a comprehensive understanding of its evolution over the centuries.

Sykes-Picot Agreement - the reshaping of the Middle East 1916

The collapse of empires often leads to international powers converging to determine the fate of the region, dividing it into countries and territories that become perpetual battlegrounds, resulting in the loss of millions of innocent lives. These interventions typically benefit the interests of major colonial powers, particularly Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and imperial Russia. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85, for instance, orchestrated the 'Scramble for Africa,' dividing the continent among various imperial colonizers and contributing to ongoing conflicts in independent African nations like South Sudan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Similar arbitrary line-drawing occurred in South Asia by the British, resulting in the partition of India and Pakistan, leading to enduring conflicts. In the Middle East, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 shaped the region's future, setting the stage for conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict.

The Ottoman Empire, which originated in the 13th century in the Black Sea Region of present-day Turkey under Osman I, expanded across three continents. However, it faced challenges, including alliances with Austria and Germany in World War I and the Armenian genocide. After the war, the fate of Turkey was decided by the British and French, represented by Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot. They divided the Asian remnants of the Ottoman Empire into spheres of influence, with French control over parts of Syria and Iraq, and British influence in Palestine, Transjordan, and Iraq.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 shaped the geopolitical landscape, and although territories remained relatively calm for decades, conflicts resurfaced, notably during World War II, leading to the creation of the State of Israel. The post-World War II era saw the ongoing repercussions of these decisions, particularly the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The issue of Israel's claim to the region has been a persistent problem, leading to an international sphere of influence for Palestine. The Greater Armenian region in eastern Turkey and parts of Kurdistan fell under Russian influence. The Lausanne Agreement of 1923 replaced the previous Treaty of Sèvres, defining the modern borders of Turkey.

The technological and governance superiority of Western powers allowed them to influence and control countries' destinies after the dissolution of their parent empires. International laws and the complexities of restoring territories prevent countries from reverting to their former borders, resulting in disorder, anarchy, and societal disturbances, leading to unstable governments.

Germany stands out as the only recent example of successful reunification, occurring in 1990 between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. However, for many other regions, the possibility of unification or border realignment seems unlikely, perpetuating unrest and instability. The events in the Levant, including Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine, cannot be reversed, emphasizing the enduring impact of colonial decisions.

The map below depicts Turkey in 1916, delineating boundaries according to the Sykes-Picot agreement.

The Crown Dependencies

There is a distinction between Crown Colony and Crown Dependency and while most of the territories in the former category are independent, the three remaining in the latter are Isle of Man, Guernsey, and the Bailiwicks of Jersey, as part of the Channel Islands. But why are there still Crown dependencies that too just in the perimeter of the United Kingdom and why aren't they independent or part of the UK?

Crown Colonies were administrated directly by the British Crown and were appointed a British Governor-General to govern till the time the particular colony opted to have self-government or an interim Dominion status. But Crown Dependencies have their own governments and even get British representation, a feature lacking in the previous. The history of these islands dates back to the Roman era when the Isle of Man was known as Ynys Manau, Guernsey as Sarnia, and Jersey as Caesarea. 

The Isle of Man has nothing to do with the word 'man'; it's technically derived from a Celtic god called Manannán and its name changed through history. The ancient pre-Tudor era had its name as Ynys Manau and while under the Norse-Gaelic islands kingdom, it was part of the collective Suðreyjar between 849 to 1265 (Kingdom of Mann and the Isles). The island was previously under the influence of the Dál Riata Kingdom (498-850 AD) after which it was ruled by the Norse-Gaels (mixed hybrids of the Vikings and Gaels) who were scattered on the Scottish Hebrides and parts of Ireland. It was the year 1266 when for the first time, Isle of Man became part of the Kingdom of Scotland (by a treaty between Scotland and Norway) and thirty years later in 1290, it became part of the Fiefdom of England. Since then it has been part of various bargains, treaties, and gifts by consecutive English lords and rulers. In 1333, the island was declared as a separate kingdom after the English defeated the Scots at the Battle of Halidon Hill and King Edward III renounced all claims of the island to Sir William de Montacute, his most loyal servant. But in the year 1399 with the arrival of King Henry IV, the island's status changed as a feudal lordship to the English Crown, something that lasts even till date. In 1405, it was decided by King Henry IV that the King of Mann, Sir John Stanley would rule the island by paying annual homage to the King of England, thus ensuring stability on the island. Centuries later, in 1765, when the lordship of the island was revested into the British Crown, the Manx people refused to be part of the United Kingdom and continued to do the same. 

The Channel Islands consists of numerous populated and uninhabited islands close to France and their history has always been under the influence of Anglo-French politics. The islands are divided into two Bailiwicks - Jersey and Guernsey. While Jersey consists of one single unit, Guernsey on the other hand is a cluster of numerous islands such as Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, and Brecqhou (Brechou). The term Bailiwick is to be understood in the similar lines of kingdom, chiefdom, or a fiefdom where a chief officer is in control of a territory. For centuries the island of Guernsey swung between the French Dukedom of Normandy and England that lasted till 1215 when King John granted the islands self-government subject only to the loyalty to the English Crown. But still, there were frequent French raids and intermittent occupations but in 1487, Lady Anne de Beauchamp resigns French claims to the English Crown that includes Guernesey (Guernsey), Jersey, Serke (Sark), Erie (Herm) and Aureney (Alderney). Enter the 20th century and the Bailiwick was occupied by the German forces during the Second World War till 1945. 

The languages of these islands are primarily English with the local dialect, giving the shape to Manx English on the Isle of Man while the Norman dialect of French is spoken on the Channel Islands. Below here are the current maps of the Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey. 

Wales 1690

On an early 16th-century recreation of a Ptolemaic map of the British Isles, a singular name Albion denoted what today are the countries of England, Wales and Scotland. There is no mention of Wales or any other region other than Albion. In contrast, the region Wales is denoted by a few rivers, such as Tisobius, Touerobi, Strucia, and the territory of Octapitarum Pino (St. David's Head). On another Ptolemaic map recreation from the same century, cities such as Brannogenium (Leintwardine), Luentinum (in Carmanthershire), Maridunum (Carmarthen), Bullęum and regions such as Demetæ, Silures, Ordouices are mentioned. But on the actual maps of the 17th century, one could clearly see cities such as Pēbroke (Pembroke), St. David (St. David's Head), Aberwi (Aberystwyth) and St. Asaph and the island of Anglesey. But a distinct name, 'Wales,' was still missing, although, in ancient Roman times, the country was denoted by Britannia Secunda'. 

Although the name 'Wales' or 'Walles' does appear on the late 17th century maps, it doesn't mean the term wasn't used before. But since Wales and England were collectively known as the Kingdom of England between the 13th century to the year of the Union, 1707, most maps skipped showing Wales on them. Post-1707, maps in various European languages printed Wales as per their pronunciations - Pays de Galles, Wallia, Kembre, Gales, Valisa, Cymru, an Bhreatain Bheag, Bretyn, A'Chuimrigh, Kembra, Galles, Vels, Galler etc. What's more fascinating is most of these names are nowhere closer to the word 'Wales', then how come it's pronounced so differently across the globe? 

The answer is simple; like many other countries, Cymru is Wales in Welsh. The word 'Wales' derives from Old English Wealh which denotes the Britons. That's why the origin of Britons is located in today's Wales. The word wealh and wala were used to denote foreigners and added by a prefix of the land they migrated to, an ethnicity was named. Gaulwalas became people from Gaul (France), Rumwalas from Romania etc. 

'Fellow countrymen' in Brythonic or British translates as Cymru (derivatives: Cymry, Cymraes etc.). The name evolved into Cambria, and today's English counties of Cumberland and Cumbria derive their names from here. Also, the word 'Welsh' is known as Cymraeg in the local dialect, and since the lingua franca of the modern world is majorly English, the country, region and languages are known to the world as Wales and Welsh. 

Below is a recreated map of Wales dating 1690, created initially by John Overton. The shires of the then Wales are as follows:

1. Penbrokshire
2. Carmarthenshire
3. Glamorganshire
4. Brecnokshire
5. Monmouthshire
6. Cardiganshire
7. Radnorshire
8. Montgomeryshire
9. Merionithshire
10. Carnarvanshire
11. Anglesey
12. Flintshire

Crimean Tartary 1659 - part of today's Ukraine

Its 2022, and a war is going on between Russia and Ukraine. But the issue between the two nations isn't anything new and is part of various geopolitical tensions across the globe. The earliest conquest of Kyiv (or Kiev) was in the 12th century, by the forces of Andrey Yuryevich 'Bogolyubskiy' of Vladimir-Suzdal, one of the major principalities succeeding Kievan Rus' during that time (1169). This was followed by another attack from Chernigov (1173), Galich-Vladimir (1201), the Cuman-Kipchak (a medieval confederation of Cuman-Kipchak realm that expanded by Ukraine to Kazakhstan, allies of Ryurik Rostislavich (1203) and finally, the Mongols (1241). The name 'Ukraine' is pretty modern and even during the medieval era, the territory was scattered among various Slavic entities, breaking and annexing to the larger Rus' (or Russian) politics. Being an European geopolitical unit, the concepts of 'colony' was unknown to Ukraine (and every other European entities) and hence various 'nation-states' or 'territories' circled around this region. 

The first entity to talk about wrt Ukraine would be the 'Hetmanate' or Zaporizhian Host, between the 17th-18th centuries. While the western Ukraine was part of the larger Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (a gigantic conglomerate of various sub-entities covering what today is Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and parts of Ukraine, Latvia and Russia). Situated on the banks of River Dnieper, the town of Zaporizhzhia is in today's eastern Ukraine and the Cossack forces originating from the region were known as the Zaporizhian Host or Hetmanate (a 19th century coined term, though). The Cossacks have been always a military unit attached to eastern Slavic culture and had their base around various rivers such as Dnieper, Don, Terek, Ural - that comprised river basins from Ukraine to the borders of today's Kazakhstan. 

Throughout modern maps, the term that has been mostly used to denote Ukrainian lands were Tartary or Crimea (and various spellings attached to it). Crimea was well known even during ancient era and has been denoted as Taurica or Taurida - it's ancient name that stuck even throughout modern history. The ancient settlement of Chersonesus can also be seen on the map and the term Chersonesus Taurica was interchangeably used to denote the whole of Crimea or even the southern Ukrainian coast, at times. A medieval entity called Repubblica di Ginova or the Republic of Genoa had it's territories scattered around the Genonese coast of Italy, Corsica, northwestern Sardinia, the Dodecanese and adjacent islands of Turkey-Greece and a slice of Crimea that was labelled as Gazaria. This existed till the 19th century and the name Gazaria is marked on several maps. On the mainland Ukraine, the ethnic tribe Circassians can be seen marked as Cabardi - originating basically from the Caucasus (Georgia-Armenia) but are now spread throughout the world. And lastly, the usual ethnic tribe of the Cumans are mentioned as Cumani - an extremely integral Slavic entity stretching from Ukraine to Mongolia. 

The chief cities marked on old maps in Ukraine were Carcolagua (Canköy / Dzhankoy), Oslan, Negropoli (Perekop), Porteti, Nubarum, Caniow (Kaniv), Swerskut etc. It is to be noted that the cities of Ukraine and Crimea hadn't been Russified as they are today. Mainland Ukraine (the southern region) was denoted as Tartaria Przecopelis, while the western portion was marked as Ducatus Severiensis (The Duchy of Severiensis). Soon, the mainland Ukraine would be seen as Tartarie Precopsie or Crismee. On a 1659 dated map of Europe sketched by Joan Blaeu (1596-1673), mention of a certain Ograina appears, marking one of the earliest variations to modern-day Ukraine. On another map dating 1708 (by Nicolas Sanson), a small portion called Okraina is seen while the southern coast is labeled as Petite Tartarie (Little Tartary). Proceeding, the city of Kiev is mentioned as Kiow or Kyow. 

Another entity known as Kiev Governorate existed from 1796 to 1925 which is clearly shown on various maps as a narrow strip of land with Poland in the west, the Crimean Tartary in the south and Russian territory of Bielogorod (or Belgorod) Governorate in the east. Formerly, Ukrainian territories swung between the Ottoman dictatorship for a while before finally incorporating into the Russian Empire. Today's conflicted regions - Donetsk and Luhansk - have forever been part of the Crimean Tartary, mentioned under Tatares Nogais - referring to the Nogais tribe spread throughout the Caucasus and eastern European countries. 

By the 19th century, one can see a fully-formed Ukraine in its current shape under the Russian Empire. Cities such as Kiev, Jitomir (Zhytomyr), Ekaterinoslav (Dnipro), Nikolaev (Mykolaiv), Simferopol, Kharkov, etc. can be seen clearly. Jumping to the 20th century when maps would show both the boundaries of the USSR (or Soviet Union) and the internal SSRs, a fully-shaped Ukraine is marked with more Soviet named towns such as: 

• Vernoleninsk (Nikolaev/Mykolaiv)
• Olviopol (Pervomaisk)
• Zinovevsk (Kirova)
• Dmitrievsk (Dmitrievsk Makeevka/Makiivka)
• Dnepropetrovsk (Dnipro)
• Krym (Crimea)
• Aleksandrovsk (Zaporozh'e)
• Stalin (Donetsk)
• Pavlograd (Pavlohrad)
• Vorochilovgrad (Lugansk/Luhansk) etc. 

A series of Turkish originated names (majorly of Crimea) have also changed during the course of history. Some of the notable changes are:

• Aqmeçit (Chornomorske)
• Kurman-Kumelĉi (Krasnohvardiyske)
• Albat (Kuibysheve)
• Büyük Onlar (Oktiabrske)
• Yañı Küçükköy (Parkove)
• Curçı (Pervomaiske)
• Aqşeyh (Rozdolne)
• İçki (Sovietskyi)
• İslâm Terek (Kirovske)
• Dolossı (Sovietske)
• Ermeni Bazar (Armiansk)
• Karasubazar (Bilohirsk)

While the Ukrainian SSR was a known republic of the Soviet Union, there were few temporary SSRs that existed in today's Ukraine. The PMSSR (Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic) or Transnistria existed for a short-term between 1990 to 1991. The Odessa Soviet Republic was another one that expanded around the Odessa region in 1918 for about 3 months. The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Russian SFSR (1921-45) and later, the Ukrainian SSR (1991-92). The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic existed between predominantly Moldova and parts of Ukraine between 1924 to 1940. 

On 19th February 1954, Crimea was transferred from the Russian SFSR to Ukraine. This was after the ethnic cleansing of the Crimean Tatars under Joseph Stalin in 1944 where the Tatar people were forcibly deported to Central Asia, thus making Crimea more 'Russian' than it ever was. Yet, Crimea was transferred to show a friendship status between the Russians and the Ukrainians and thus, the exchange was confirmed in 1954. But the 2014 Russian claim on Crimea and the current ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine points to another direction where while the transfer was taking place in the 1950s, there was also a dumping of millions of Russians into these regions, making the whole surrounding of Russia as more Russian than ever. Similar population transfer could be observed in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 1940s. 

On 16th July 1990, Ukraine declared state sovereignty and on 24th August 1991, it gained independence. Today, as on 15th March 2022, the conflict still goes on and the map of Ukraine is once again disrupted from being out-of-conflict to highly disturbed with Russian forces attacking and capturing different establishments of the country. Hence, the map here is of 1659, originally sketched by Joan Blaeu. 

Gibraltar

Perhaps the most famous reason for which Gibraltar is known is the ancient Rock of Gibraltar that dates back to the Jurassic era. It was also known to the Antiquity world as one of the Pillars of Hercules, a site that was marked as the southern tip of the known world in medieval cartography (referring to the Hereford mappa mundi). The Arab name (that is still used in the Arabic world) Jabal Tariq was kept after the 8th century Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad. Since then it had been part of several Islamic empires that spread across the Iberian peninsula right from the beginning of the Islamic conquests to the 15th century. The name Gibraltar is a corrupt English translation of Jabal Tarik or Jebel el Tarik. 

In 1462, the territory was conquered by the Kingdom of Castile (Reino de Castilla) from the Berber kingdom of the Marinid Sultanate and after three centuries (in 1704), it was occupied by its current possessors, the British. Talking about its name through history, one can find a certain Calbe Mons marked on a 1525 dated map by Joannes Regiomantanus (1436-1476). The name 'Gibraltar' or 'Gibralter' started appearing mostly since the beginning of the 17th century on various European maps. The reason for the establishment of an English presence miles away from their homeland was to counter the ongoing piracy on the Barbary coast (referring to the coast of Morocco; traditionally known as homeland to the Amazigh/Mazices/Mazax people) that hindered in trading among various European powers. Also, the Spanish regime had neglected to protect pirate attacks and hence Gibraltar, the largest port between mainland Iberia and Africa, was under the radar. 

During the war of the Spanish Succession in the 18th century, Spain and Great Britain were rivals to each other. Gibraltar is literally the opening of mainland Europe to the Mediterranean from the western side of the continent and also inlet to the north African coast. Countering the African powers at Gibraltar would also be crucial as they would then led into the conquest of Africa, which had already started by then. And it was the British fleet that pioneered the contest of supremacy over the region and with a joint effort of the Dutch, gained control of Gibraltar. In 1706, Gibraltar was declared as a free port to all traders and in 1713, under the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain formally acceded Gibraltar to the United Kingdom. 

But like any other situations, Spain did try to take over the port in the succeeding years. Battles were fought in 1726, 1779-1783, etc. by Spanish forces to take over the territory, but in vain. During the Great War, since Gibraltar being a Crown Colony, hence an Allied power, massive tunnels were dug out under the Rock of Gibraltar that led in the North African invasion by the French forces. 

Twice a referendum were held out in the colony (1968 and 2002) to let the Gibraltarians vouched to stay in the UK rather than joining mainland Spain. 

Below here is a recreated map of Gibraltar dated 1851, originally sketched by J&F Tallis. 

Emirate of Sicily (831-1091)

Post 1870 is the era of unified Italy that didn't disintegrate further. But going back in history, a small slice of Italian region was under a non-European regime, the Muslims. Islamic expansion of Spain and Portugal is well-known but there was a century-old Muslim Emirate on the Italian island of Sicily that lasted between 831-1091 AD. After the fall of the Umayyad Dynasty in 1031 AD, several individual Emirates spurred across the Mediterranean, particularly in Italy, although the first Islamic touch to Sicily occurred in the 7th century AD. 

In 827 AD, the earliest Arab conquest of Sicily launched by the Aghlabid Emirs (under the Abbasid Dynasty) from the Tunisian coast. This was also the time when the Emirate of Cordoba (Imarat Qurtubah) had expanded on the Iberian peninsula, the western Europe was dominated by the expanding Frankish Empire while the eastern part had the supremacy of the Byzantine Empire. During the late 11th century, when the Sicilian Normans (under the bigger factions of the Byzantines and Lombards) conquered and annexed the Kingdom of Sicily, Malta, southern Italy and parts of Ifriqiya (north Africa), still the Norman Christians and the Fatimids peacefully co-existed and made Sicily an important trade centre. 

But while the Muslims were on the island, they did try to rename certain places in accordance to the Arabic pronunciations. This pattern is common wherever an imperial power takes control of a political entity, to symbolise their dominance and mark their legacy. At present, there exist no Islamised place name anywhere in either Iberia or Italy. But till the time they did, here are a couple of spelling changes that was brought on by the Arabs with respect to the islands of Sicily and Malta. 

• Shanta Filibb (Agira)
• Qal'at al-Nisa (Caltanissetta)
• Qasr Yanih (Enna)
• Al Yaj (Acireale)
• Qataniyyah (Catania)
• Siracusa (Syracuse)
• Al-Qamur (Alcamo)
• Balarm (Palermo)
• Marsa Aliyy (Marsala)
• Imarat Siqliya (Emirate of Sicily)
• Maltah (Malta)

It's interesting to note that Sicily was attacked by the Aghlabid Emirs inspite of the ongoing peace treaty signed between the Byzantines and the Aghlabids. The reasoning Emirs give was the conquering of various Islamic merchants by the Byzantines, thus defying the peace treaty in the first place. The invasion to Sicily was to destabilise the maritime trade of the Mediterranean and the island was captured in a matter of few days. As the raid continued, reinforcements added to the Byzantines from the neighbouring Aegean ports in Greece while Muslim forces added from Al-Andalusia (Islamic Iberia), leading to the capture of Palermo (Balarm) that became the capital of the Muslim province. With the arrival of the Islamic rule on Sicily, the island was administrated as a part of northern African governance where Muslims and Christians (and Jews) existed together. It is to be noted that the Muslim majority population that resided on the coasts of northern Africa were now also a minority under an Islamic Caliphate on a Christian land. 

The Aghlabid dynasty was proceeded by the Fatimid clan followed by the Kalbid dynasty that ruled till 1053. And although the Kalbids tried to maintain Sicily as an independent Muslim stronghold in the Mediterranean, the bulk of Ifriqiya's naval power was shifted around Egypt, leaving Sicily vulnerable to Byzantine attacks. This was also a period of chaos on the island where every local Muslim power wanted to have an autonomy, the advantage of which was taken by a strong northern European clan, the Normans. The Normans were also ruling southern Italy and in 1053, they raided Sicily while the Arabs were busy conflicting among themselves on the north African coast. 

In the initial conquest of Sicily by the Normans, the Muslims and Christians did exist cordially, although many chose to migrate to the Muslim heartland of Africa. As time progressed, the tension between the two communities worsened and it came to a point when in 1199, Pope Innocent III declared Muslims of Sicily as 'hostile'. The last migration of Muslims from Sicily took place in 1266, ending their 400 year-rule. 

Below here is a recreated map of the Emirate of Sicily with Arab names marked in green. The above article is based on the topic 'Muslim Italy: Rise and fall of Islam in Italy' originally written by Firas AlKhateeb. 

A medieval geopolitical entity known as The Mongol Empire

At the death of Genghiz Khan, the Mongol Empire stretched throughout 11 nations (of today's era) - Mongolia, North Korea, Kazakhstan, China, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and parts of Russia, Iran and Afghanistan. If one observes that history is proof of an interesting fact about multi-cultural empires that were once spread across various ethnicities, are now squared up as a single nation, losing all its previous powers and remaining as just a sovereign state. The Roman Empire originated from Italy and spread across the Mediterranean coast, covering a total number of 53 nations (roughly) of the modern world, today simply concentrated as the 9th largest metropolitan city of Europe. Going further back in time, Alexander the Great's empire touched roughly 19 nations of today's times, and yet Macedonia is landlocked between Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Kosovo. Moreover, its official name changed from the Republic of Macedonia to North Macedonia in 2019 since Macedonia itself is a region spread across several Balkan nations. The Ottoman Empire can be counted as another example that once stretched from the Balkan to the Levant and northern Africa, today's Turkey is a single entity, although not as powerless as other counterparts. 

An exception to this pattern would be Russia. The Russian Empire once stretched from Finland to Siberia and covered entire Central Asia with the predecessor state of the USSR. Although it broke up in 1991 into 15 Republics, Russia still is the largest country in the world area wise. Talking about the Mongol Empire, which was technically not the usual empire with provinces or an administrative structure like that of the Romans or the Russians, the country today is landlocked between Russia and China and is barred from any multi-ethnocentric atmosphere that it had created several millennia ago. Although the Mongol Empire's existence was largely between 1206 to 1368 (a total of 162 years), its successor descendants of the Timurid Dynasty and the Mughal Empire existed for another 137 and 332, a total of 469 years roughly. Although the Mughal Empire was famished in 1858 by the British on the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal lineage continued even after India's independence in 1947, and ended only with the surrender of Hyderabad's Nizam - a Muslim Princely State formed during the downfall of the Mughals - to the Indian Army in September 1948. 

But the Mongol Empire itself got disintegrated in the 14th century into various Khanates, an entity in the Islamic world on the lines of Sultanates and Caliphates, only to be later engulfed by the mighty Chinese Empire. Although there existed a couple of Sultanates under a single Caliph (mostly in the Indian subcontinent), the Khanates are synonyms only to the Mongol entities. The Mongol Empire was largely divided into four Khanates, populated by various ethnic Eurasian tribes - from Cumans in the west to the Nioutchs (Manchus) in the east. The Khanate of the Golden Horde (Ulug Ulus) encapsulated the western borders lying in today's European Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Caucasus. The Khanate of Turan (or Sibir) in Siberia and Golden Horde inhabited tribes such as the Kipchaks, the Kirghiz, Bulgars (originating near Kazan, Russia), Bashkirs, Ugrians and Samoyedes, all part of today's Russia. 

The Chagatai Khanate (Chagatai Ulus) was stretched throughout Turkestan and had key Mongol strongholds such as Samarkand, Tashkent and Bukhara that would occupy key positions in shaping the post-medieval Indian history as well. Mainland China, Mongolia and Manchuria consisted of the eastern wing having capitals shifted at various times at different locations. A special mention to the Karakoram here, as this was the capital of the Mongols between 1235 to 1260 and another geographical entity with the name Karakoram exist as a mountainous range spread across today's India, China and Pakistan, although the two names may have different etymologies. But it's interesting to know that even today, a part of the Mongol name exists as part of an entity unrelated to Mongolia or the Mongols. 

The Mongols were nomadic tribes, hence finding a definite political boundary of the empire is nearly impossible. Different sources state differently, but mostly between the 13th to 14th centuries, the frontiers of the empire touched the Delhi Sultanate of India in the south, the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, in the west, medieval European monarchies of Poland, Lithuania and the Russian Republic of Novgorod in far west. The Il Khanate of Iran (their territory was literally called Iranzamin) was another wing of the Mongols that stretched from Tigris-Euphrates valley (in the west) to the Indus in the east. The Timurids, successors to the Il Khanate, would be a Persian dynasty that would continue to stretch the Mongol bloodline, this time on the Indian subcontinent in the form of the Mughal Empire. 

The spread of Islam under the Mongols strengthened the Muslim presence in almost entire Asia. While Islam was the dominant religion in West, South, Central and North Asia, the East Indies and the Indo-China peninsula had maintained their Hindu-Buddhist lineage. The Deccan region and northeast hilly areas of India and the Rajput kingdoms around the Thar desert also added to the Hindu hegemony. As time would proceed, East Indies would slowly become the largest Islamic populated country in the world, now known as Indonesia. The Indo-China peninsula retained its non-Islamic state even to this day with various Burmese, Thai, Vietnamese, Lao and Khmer kingdoms which were either Buddhist or Hindu in nature. The Japanese forever retained their culture, ethnicity and religion, never to get influenced by any other empire or a political entity. 

Since the Mongols were nomadic tribes in nature, there wasn't a competition for a particular territory or a city, as compared to other Islamic kingdoms that aimed for capital to be conquered, thus resulting in ownership of the entire political administration of that region. But still, there were certain towns of key importance. Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, Karakoram, Khanbalig (modern-day Beijing), Astrakhan, Almaliq (in China) etc. are some examples. Then there was one Tangut, referring to the Tangut people that populated the area between Tibet and Mongolia (modern borders), terms such as Manzi and Cathay referring to China by various medieval travellers, and the various tribes of Mongolia-Manchuria belt such as the Khalkas, Niuches (Manchus), Tunguses, Keraits, Naimans etc.

Ending this post with a mention to the Tatars, a political entity heavily used by European mapmakers to denote the entire Central Asian powers. In fact, the name Tatary was used to denote these Khanates between the Caspian Sea and Lake Balkhash (in Kazakhstan) for several millennia, even though factually the Tatars (with respect to the ethnic location) were absorbed by Genghiz Khan in the 13th century. Another classic example of misinformed nomenclature by European cartographers to non-European lands. Below here is a recreation of a Mongol Empire map, originally sketched by a Dano-Frenchman Conrad Malte-Brun (1775-1826) in 1837. It's interesting to note how the dried Aral Sea is mentioned as Lake Kharism, while the longe-shaped Lake Balkhash is replaced with patches of lakes, the largest being Lake Tenghiz. Among establishments, it's noteworthy how the map-maker mentions Samarkand and Bukhara, but skips Tashkent, although the three have always been Uzbek strongholds. 

Switzerland 1695

Apart from the fact that Switzerland never took part in any major conflict, the country also holds a unique position of being one of those very few landlocked countries that never significantly changed its political boundaries ever since it gained a sovereign status. The original Swiss confederacies of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden with no central executive authority formed a Waldstätten in 1291. Still, under the suzerainty of the Habsburg hegemony, Switzerland saw its first sovereign status in 1649 according to the Treaty of Westphalia. At this time, it bordered Franche-Comté, the Duchies of Savoy and Milan, and the fragmented Holy Roman Empire. Switzerland was surrounded by a multilinguistic jigsaw of German, Italian and French-speaking powers, much before any of these nations would join as a single sovereign. 

In 1798, just at the dusk of the 18th century, Eine und Unteilbare Helvetische Republik (Helvetic Republic One and Indivisible) was formed which would now become a playground of occasional French occupation in the coming centuries. Numerous times the French would invade and occupy Switzerland till the early 19th century when in 1815 the Allied powers formally accepted Switzerland's neutrality, a political state that continued even during the two World Wars. 

One of the official names of Switzerland is the Helvetic Republic, a name originating back to the Roman era when Helvetii tribe marked the easternmost boundaries of Gaul, a Roman territory. But if post-Renaissance maps are observed, the name Seqvanor (denoting the Sequani tribe) appears instead of Helvetii, as per a recreation of Roman Europe by Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, an Italian engraver (1627-1691). The same creator mentions the name Svizzeri sandwiched between the French, German and Italian territories. On a 1700 dated map by Edward Wells (1667-1727), the name 'Switzerland' is clearly marked, landlocked between France, Italy and Germany. With little or no alterations, the Swiss frontiers and name remain unchanged to date. 

The Swiss attempt at colonisation and expansion was soon abandoned after a devastating defeat at the battle of Marignano (Melagnano, in today's Italy) in 1515, thus offering its territory for a constant neutral zone acting as a buffer between various European powers. Had this be the case with the other European powers, the face of European colonisation would have had a different history. Or possibly, if after every defeat in territorial expansion, the future plans of every European power was terminated, the age of colonisation would have never occurred. Apart from this, the only major territorial expansion took place in 1848 with the inclusion of Neuchâtel as a formal Swiss canton. During the 1815 session of Vienna Congress, the Swiss Confederation entered into an agreement of 'perpetual neutrality' and in 1920 this neutral state was given official status to the newly formed League of Nations, headquartered at Geneva. 

Below here is a recreated 1695 dated map of the Swiss Confederation, originally sketched by Alexis-Hubert Jallot, a French cartographer (1632-1712). The spellings are translated into English from the original labelling in French.