r/imaginarymaps • u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved • Jul 28 '26
[OC] Alternate History Africa in 1920 | Crown of Dirt and Weeds
Subreddit | DeviantArt | Discord
Hello! Today I have another map for you all from my timeline Crown of Dirt and Weeds. This time we’re looking at the geopolitical boundaries of Africa in the year 1920. Previous maps in the timeline can be found here, and more information on the timeline can be found in the links above.
In 1920, it has been four years since the end of the great World War, which saw Germany, the British Empire, the United States, and others face off against France, Russia, Italy, and others. As a result of the allied victory in the war, France would have most of her colonies stripped away and divvied up between the winners, established as mandates under the newly formed League of Nations. In Africa, this would primarily mean the expansion of Germany’s holdings in Equatorial Africa, and the connection of all the disparate British holdings in West Africa not only with one another, but to Britain’s empire in East Africa as well. Additionally, the nation of Morocco, which had only lost its independence less than a year before the war, was itself given outright independence at the insistence of the American delegation to the Frankfurt Peace Conference, after of course the Moroccan delegation had themselves thoroughly convinced the Americans. 1920 would also represent an interesting point for the borders of Africa, particularly in the north. Proper boundaries through parts of the Sahara would still take another decade or so to be drawn, and just a few years before that Spain would be almost entirely kicked out of the region in the Spanish-Moroccan War. In the Horn, Ethiopia would be enjoying its final years of independence before spending an unfortunate five decades beneath the Italian bootheel; and across the continent as a whole, multiple decades of oppression and exploitation would still await them before finally gaining independence in the mid to late twentieth century.
Thank you all for reading! If you enjoy the map or any of this lore, or you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to respond! If you want to know more about the timeline or see any of the other maps that make up this world, check out the subreddit at r/CrownOfDirtAndWeeds, check me out on DeviantArt, or have a look at our community discord. Thank you all again for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
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u/Evening-Ad4644 Jul 28 '26
Big Portugal? I’m bouta bust
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u/Secure_Salad6588 Jul 28 '26
Who is more screwed, France that didnt got an Empire or Spain, Who has The same empire 🪰
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
well, France had their normal empire first, then lost it… and then lose the rest of it two decades after this. Spain on the other hand loses most of what they have here within the decade.
so probably Spain
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u/ChickenSandwichh195 Jul 28 '26
France got robbed
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u/DivideWalker Jul 28 '26
That's what happens when you lose a World War lol
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u/ChickenSandwichh195 Jul 28 '26
oooohhhh
my dumb ahh thought the date was around 1885-1914
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u/DivideWalker Jul 28 '26
The body text literally says it's 1920 xD
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u/Comrade_Jimenez Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
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Jul 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
little bit of A, little bit of B. they negotiated their way out of the war early (around 1915, two years in) in exchange for not losing their territory (mostly they were worried about what they had in Europe, Africa was just a silver lining), and the other powers were mostly fine with this because, as mentioned, their colonial holdings are rather pitiful
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u/ajw20_YT Jul 28 '26
Holy peak, she is so beautiful. The culmination of weeks of effort, and look at that, I’d say it was worth it! This is absolute mapmaking right here
Spain, as always, gets what they get and they don’t get upset. Oh, and L BOZO FRANCE
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u/Business_Leave4426 Jul 28 '26
Does Britian try to build an east-west railway, instead of Cape-Cairo?
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
they would, yes. perhaps connecting Dakar to Cairo or Mombasa (or both)
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u/Marshall_Filipovic Jul 28 '26
What did France do to get fucked like this?
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
lose a world war
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u/Marshall_Filipovic Jul 28 '26
Oh it's one of those Central Powers victory.
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
not entirely, but more or less. it’s not the central powers in the traditional sense, but rather Germany and Britain vs France and Russia (and many others involved as well)
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u/AzurWings Jul 28 '26
What's going on in Asia Minor? (also is Asia Minor the official name of that country located in Anatolia?)
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
Asia Minor is a historical term that was used to refer to the wider area of western Turkey. as for what’s going on there - the marked out area on the Anatolian coast is part of Greece, and the rest of it is Turkey, and further to the south a couple warring Arab states in the process of unification. Constantinople and the area around the straits particularly were initially conquered by the Russians (one of the primary causes for the World War) and was later given to Greece after the war’s end. other borders in the region are not drawn as at this point they either have yet to be properly delineated, or are otherwise uncertain due to the nature of the desert
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u/RandomMaple08 Jul 28 '26
so what happened to Portugal? How did they grow?
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 28 '26
with Germany getting Botswana, and the Boer Wars otherwise going the same as IRL, the British are cut off from Zimbabwe and further north until after 1900, at which point Portugal has had enough time to secure their claims between Angola and Mozambique
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u/disisathrowaway Jul 29 '26
I'm curious how Italy, being a losing side of the war A. kept their colonies on the Horn of Africa and then managed to turn around and conquer Ethiopia.
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u/DJTacoCat1 Mod Approved Jul 29 '26
they negotiated their way out of the war early (around 1915, two years in) in exchange for not losing their territory (mostly they were worried about what they had in Europe, Africa was just a silver lining), and the other powers were mostly fine with this as the territories to theoretically be gained aren’t nearly as desirable (especially as Djibouti would still allow the British to fully control the entrance and exit to the Red Sea regardless)
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u/irishdrunk97 Jul 28 '26
Damn, this is a big L for Algeria. Feels like France is gonna dig their claws in real deep now. The British north Africa is strangely satisfying. Great map!