Re: Renaming Europe (longish)


Patricia C. Wrede wrote:
I don't want to have to nudge European history until 1492. It's going to be
enough trouble to figure out four centuries of alternate history; backing up
*another* 500 years or so is more than I really want to do.

OK, going at it sytematically:
In 1492, we have in the British Island:
England
Scotland
Ireland
Any different form of Union between two or three of them might lead to
a different (from Our History) new name, but a revival of Anglo-Saxon
heptarchy names looks very improbable. Unless they are revived in a
literary way first - like Shakespeare writing a huge piece about
Wessex, Mercia etc. I like the Arthurian Logres, hut con´t see how it
might fit in.
Hm - assuming neither Britain notr Britannia catches on, what about a
combination name like Anglia-Scotia or
Angloscotia.

Yes, I know the last one is incorrect technically, as it would probably
rather refer to the Anglophone part of Scotland, but a) common language
is not necessarily "technically correct" and b) if you still have
Stuart kings of Englandsometime in your timeline, it sounds quite
fitting.

France in 1492 is France and (barring very extraordinary circumstances)
will be France, the Kingdom of the Franks, until *1789, at least. After
a revolution, there might be a new name like Gallic Republic. AFAIK, in
the 1790s there was the popular political legend that the Germanic
aristocrats were finally deposed and at last the (Romano-)Gaulish
common population restored to power. IIRC, it was Napoleon who (as a
fan of Charlemagne) ended that idea in official and semi-official
publications.
So, Gaul or Gallia might work fine.

In 1492, "Spain" was a rathzer new term for Castile and Aragon
combined. Especially after the comparably short-lived inclusion of
Portugal (~1580s to 1640s), an even-more-encompassing Iberia sounds
historically plausible.
An independent Portugal might feel that its name, referring to the
county of Porto City, sounds "too smallish" and adopt the use of
Lusitania.

In 1492, the Netherlands were Burgundian and bound to become Spanish.
If you are ready to have their war of independence differ a bit/a lot,
the BeNeLux area of today might still be known as Burgundy, more
formally, as Lower Burgundy. AFAIK for many Spaniards, the people of
..nl and .be were commonly known as Flemings, so a (technically
incorrect) use of *Great Flanders sounds very possible.

I am afraid that after 1492, not much can happen to make Denmark,
Norway and Sweden change their name. Unless pseudo-classical names like
Suecia and Dacia (yes, like Roman Romania) are used or Scandinavia
becomes the name of an united kingdom.

For another potential seafaring nation, the Guelph territories in Lower
Saxony/Hanover might have a different history after 1492 and become a
minor player overseas. Originally, Lower Saxony was more a cultural or
geographical term than a political/dynasitcal one, and Hanover was just
a smallish residence city. The part it was in was named Calenberg and
the technical term for the whole Duchy, later Electorate was
Brunswick-(Lunenburg-)something, depending on the branch residence.

A good map showing the names and borders in Europe apperas at:

http://www.euratlas.com/big/big1500.htm

Concerning "America", that name is highly coincidentally and basically
depends on one mapmaker deciding to honor Vespucci. A (perhaps
misleading) option might even be Atlantis, as many (including Bacon)
thought that the Americas were what Plato had described.

Concerning "Europe" .- what about The Occident? If North America is
mostly colonized by Europeans, it might become the Far Occident opposed
to the Near Occident east of the Atlantic. Or, even more exotic
sounding, Hither Occident (Europe) and Farther Occident (Americas).

Jörg

.

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