What was it about this place that saw so many enormous empires form out of nowhere and so quickly? Every other century there's some power that ends up controlling everything between the Oxus and the Nile while a similar outcome only happened maybe once or twice in Europe and maybe once every five hundred years in China.
Money
>>975289
Why did money carry the various Persian, Turkic, or Semitic empires in this area so far compared to other places?
The desert is ours. It is my home. Invaders come here, but they do not leave. They do not understand the desert; they do not understand how it gives life, and how it kills. So they die, and we grow stronger. The dead, now, the dead cannot pass on their newfound wisdom...so invaders keep coming, keep trying to take our lands and our wealth. But then, wealth flows through this land. And if our people have one thing, it is the love of wealth. It is sweeter than water, it is more powerful than the sword, for any sword can be turned aside with a gold coin. Gold will buy a thousand warriors...and a thousand warriors, why, they are the start of an empire!
>>975311
>Start campaign as Armenia
>"The desert is ours"
>>975309
Honestly I don't know enough about the area to say for sure, but the silk road and fertile farming lands made for a metric shitload of income AFAIK. Coupled with a lot of able bodies I'd assume they could go a fair ways. This is just my assumption however.
>>975325
>Start as Barbarian faction
>Bitching about Romans
>Got Entire Europe between you and Rome
>>975325
>>Start campaign as Armenia
>Phalanxes, legions, horse archers, cataphracts, even cataphract horse archers
>>975372
>>Start campaign as Selecuidia
>Phalanxes, war chariots, Roman tier Legions, Carthage tier, war elephants
>Get attacked by all your neighbors in the first few turns
Is there any better way than to just recruit a lot of phalanxes and focus on destroying one foe at a time?
>>975285
Fertile Cresent
>>975680
>Most retarded map I've ever seen.
Why?
>>975285
>Piedmont
lol what
>>975742
It just means foothills in French
>>975757
Oh ok, I thought this was some kind of really wacky EU4 map or some shit.
>>975742
Not really any different than using 'Levant'
>>975285
Holy shit this is a stupid map.
>>975815
What's wrong with it? Use your words.
>>975828
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khuzestan_Province#Etymology
>The southern half of the province—south, southwest of the Ahwaz Ridge, had come by the 17th century to be known—at least to the imperial Safavid chancery as Arabistan
Ask the imperial Safavid chancery
>>975828
Because that region genuinely was called arabistan
>>975828
That's an incredibly pedantic thing to pick on, but the name is appropriate for an area with no other obvious name that is inhabited solely by Arabs.
>>975820
Iraq is somehow half of Persia
Kurds are some how the same as Lurs
"Caucasus"
"Piedmont" (I know what it means)
"Gulf"
"Pontica"
Cyprus and Tarsus are now Levantine
"Clysma" (It's a fucking village)
Aseer is Yemen for some reason
The only good thing is Jazira
>>975873
You don't seem to have managed to read the title of the map. the colors don't represent nationstates.
>>975898
>You don't seem to have managed to read the title of the map. the colors don't represent nationstates.
I did, and I think his divisions are pretty retarded.
>>975873
>Iraq is somehow half of Persia
Persian Iraq was a thing
The rest are just nitpicking names that aren't meant to describe actual nations but zones of culture that tend to be defined by geography, urban centers, dominant ethnic groups or lifestyles, and trade relationships.
Asir is part of the same region that covers much of Yemen because it's following the mountain range that dominates that area with little regard to a border that only appeared in the last century.
>>975914
They're not divisions, they're zones
>>975915
>Western Anatolia is called Rum even though right now that place has fuck all to do with Rome
For a few hundred years that's what the area was understood to be, and where people would point if you asked them to find Rum on the map.
>>975915
>that place is called Arabistan because Arabs live there at this moment
It's called Arabistan because the local powers of the 16th century onwards called the general area Arabistan.
>>975962
Cultural/Historical zones of the middle east. The names are irrelevent
>>975828
oh, you know, Basra?
>>975918
>Persian Iraq was a thing
Yeah but not much links them.
He seems to pick and choose between geography, culture and history at arbitrary points with no real consistency. Balochis and Kuwaitis are in the same "zone" but cypriots and rhodians aren't. Aleppo is for some reason separated from the Levant and put in with Khuzestan. I just don't get it.
>>976000
Modern, which is also labeled on the bottom right legend of the map.
>>975873
>Iraq is somehow half of Persia
Iraq-i Ajam, a real thing
>Kurds are some how the same as Lurs
Yea, this is a bad one. Kirmansah should be Kurdish though, albeit they practice a different sect
>"Caucasus"
Should be Albion
>"Piedmont" (I know what it means)
Meh
>"Gulf"
Thats what the tribed called, or just "sea"
>"Pontica"
Yes, and? Is historical, albeit exaggerated borders
>Cyprus and Tarsus are now Levantine
Makes sense historically, look at who controlled Cyprus/Tarsus through the ages as well as ethnic groups
There are arabs on cyprus btw
>"Clysma" (It's a fucking village)
AFAIK different sort of arabic is spoken there vs. egyptian arabic
>Aseer is Yemen for some reason
maybe b/c there are 7ers there? yemen is divided north/south for a reason
>>976038
It's called the Black Sea Region
>>976065
The Black Sea Region is a geographic region of modern Turkey, not the entire coastline of the Black Sea itself.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_Region
>>976271
Primary Cultural and Historical Zones. This is not a map saying 'the same people who speak the same language and live the same way live in these precisely demarcated states.'
>>976319
I'm not the same anon.
It's a map of modern zones that have been influenced by a shared or intertwined culture or history. It's really not that hard to get, but I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with it.
Wow, seldom has so simple and clear a map caused so much asspain as ITT. Anyone else have any maps that trigger autists?
>>976065
This guy is right, stop the argument
>>975285
To answer the actual OP question, it's because one does not have to actually conquer more than just a handful of major cities to control the whole region. Conquering France usually meant conquering Paris, but also the baronies, duchies, and counties as well one by one. Iraq, however, can be conquered by just taking Baghdad. Historically speaking of course. This is because of how centralized government structures were in the region. Taxes funneled to a regional capital like Damascus or Merv and then filtered back out in the form of wages, tributes, or bribes that brought the tribes and villages of the countryside in line. Only in certain mountainous regions like northern and southern Iran, Lebanon, Cilicia, or the Caucasus do local powers deciding to hold out on their own have a chance of succeeding being somewhat more self-sufficient and defensible in the event of invasion while being able to siphon all taxes and tribute through a local capital.
This is what makes the region so prone to nomadic empires taking huge swathes of territory from an otherwise highly developed and urbanized landscape that would normally take decades in Europe or China. Rather than take down hundreds of tiny fortresses a horde can merely surround the major capital of a petty kingdom, choke it of its taxation, and make it capitulate within weeks if not days which then brings most of the rest of the kingdom into the fold once the tax spines are re-established with some minor intimidation or bribery.
>>975372
>Start campaign as Germania
>JUST-tier units
>>976478
Isn't soda the term used everywhere and those others just occasional quirks depending on where you are
>>977317
Michigan here and nobody calls it "soda", it's uniformly called "pop" throughout the state.
Dunno what's up with those cheeseheads across the lake.
>>977242
Not sure 100%, this is a rough visualization, obviously there are more factors involved, but the humid region of the southern coast, western Persia and the Tigris and Euphrates flood plains are all quite close together and have access to other regions.
Another question is why Northern Europe with its large contiguous agriculturally productive terrain divided into different nations, the low countries, France and Germany in particular. I think this is due to larger denser forests in Europe and multiple major rivers criss crossing the continent as opposed to just the Tigris and Euphrates.
>>975285
>>977453 here, meant to link to OP
also europe river map
>>975309
Trade from the Indian subcontinent and other parts of Asia.
>>977453
>Another question is why Northern Europe with its large contiguous agriculturally productive terrain divided into different nations, the low countries, France and Germany in particular.
Some of it had to do with the staggered progression of clearing the northern plains combined with the division of Charlemagne's empire among his sons
>>975285
>karaman is a thing
>konya is not karaman
