Macaronesian Curiosities and a Last Port to the New World

[BrabantianLion]

The Macaronesia, from the greek makáron = happiness, and nésoi = islands, is a collection of four archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the continents of Europe and Africa. In game they are in fact three archipelagos, with Cape Verde being its own region. The three provinces (Canaries, Madeira and Azores), as they are in the present patch (and have been since release) have some minor issues on naming that are, probably, the easiest to be fixed. It's high time they deserve some love.

Let's start with the Portuguese ones. The Azores, or, in portuguese, Açores. As we are going to see in the other ones, the three of them present english names, and do not present any city name, this one being the one of the province itself. I always fix them when I play Portugal or Castile, putting both the correct name for the province and the city. It's time these provinces receive the correct naming now.

"Açores" have "Angra do Heroísmo" as capital. In the game this island stands behind the letter A on the "Sea of Azores" name and the city positioning is more on the "Ponta Delgada" place.

And now to Madeira. In the game it seems like it's a lonely island on the Atlantic Ocean, but on the following picture you can see its islands sisters. This is also the only one of the three and don't have "The" on its name.

"Funchal" being its capital. And look how beautiful the Madeira Archipelago is.
Fun fact: Madeira means Wood in portuguese.

And now, to "Canarias", or "Islas Canarias". This was the last stop for refreshments the ships from Europe would get before their atlantic crossing. By city positioning, "Las Palmas" would likely be the one represented in here.

The Canaries have actually an interesting point. Both "Santa Cruz de Tenerife" and "Las Palmas de Gran Canaria" (There's also "Las Palmas de Mallorca", on the Balearic Isles) are considered as capital from this region.
Fun fact: The Canaries and mainland Africa are approximately 100km apart.

Province names in English, Portuguese and Spanish:
The Azores - Os Açores - Los Azores
Madeira - Madeira - Madera
The Canaries - (Ilhas) Canárias - (Islas) Canarias
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Not friday yet, but, I wish an awesome weekend onto you. And good conquests.

 

[Pełpeł]

Interesting. Do You have any information about development of those islands during game period? (apart from English wiki)
It'd seem, that The Canaries could be useful tool in hampering other nations colonization, or reaping monetary and development benefits due to being last replenishment post (I suppose that merchants could get filthy rich from selling supplies there)

 

[BrabantianLion]

Interesting. Do You have any information about development of those islands during game period? (apart from English wiki)
It'd seem, that The Canaries could be useful tool in hampering other nations colonization, or reaping monetary and development benefits due to being last replenishment post (I suppose that merchants could get filthy rich from selling supplies there)

Canaries would probably benefit from a modifier on trade.
from the spanish wiki: "Con el paso del tiempo se fue convirtiendo en uno de los puertos más importantes del Atlántico (distinción que aún conserva), ya que Canarias era paso ineludible para la flota que partía hacia América."

Also, I don't think I'll find english sources online, since it's a museum exposition in Brazil.
The travel of Empress Leopoldina, austrian-born Empress of Brazil, had on Sta. Cruz de Tenerife its last stop, and it happened years after the game end date, putting it obviously as an important port on the Atlantic Europe-Americas seaway.
In Portuguese: http://www.rodrigotrespach.com/2014/10/15/com-a-palavra-dona-leopoldina-imperatriz-do-brasil/
Video, in Portuguese, on the exposition:

In Spanish, you can read about the history of the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_de_Santa_Cruz_de_Tenerife#Historia

On the development, the Portuguese implemented an Hereditary Capitanies on these Atlantic Islands, that was later implemented in Brazil. Their success was not achieved in the Americas though.
In Portuguese: http://geoconceicao.blogspot.com.br/2012/07/capitanias-hereditarias.html



With google translate you can probably get the knick of it. Any doubts that may arise from reading it, feel free to ask.

 

[KD.]

You mention present-day capitals, but you should look into the 1444 capitals (or at least the most important cities). Las Palmas, Santa Cruz and Angra do Heroismo were all founded later in the 15th century.
If there's no information about the biggest towns in 1444, I think it would be better to keep the same name for province and capital, as is the case with many EU IV provinces.

 

[AirikrStrife]

Canaries could also be split into two provinces with an idependent Berber kingdom in the northern province