Top 5 Posts from August 2016

Most viewed map from August 2016.

Well summer is winding down so lets take a look again at what you all thought were the best articles in the waning days of the season:

1) World War II Was a Team Effort, Deal With It by Dale Cozort.

2) Technology in Alternate History by Rvbomally.

3) Map Monday: Colonization of Europe, 1855 by Falkanner by Matt Mitrovich.

4) New Releases 8/16/16 by Matt Mitrovich.

5) Map Monday: And Mighty Be Her Powers by SRegan by Matt Mitrovich.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Map Monday: And Mighty Be Her Powers by SRegan

My senior project in undergrad was a paper discussing the imperialist ambitions of certain members of the American Colonization Society (ACS), the organization that founded Liberia, and how they hoped to use colonies started by freed blacks to build an American colonial empire in Africa. So when I saw the below map by an already well-known alternate cartographer, I of course had to feature it:

This is "And Mighty Be Her Powers" by SRegan. The details of this scenario are rather vague. Essentially the ACS is just more successful in encouraging blacks to settle in Liberia. Perhaps there were more slave revolts since during my research Liberia saw its highest rates of immigration from the United States after slave revolts, since reprisals against blacks led to many free blacks to flee to Liberia to avoid violence from whites. Anywho, SRegan goes on to say that Liberia distances itself from America, changes its flag to the colors of the Republic of Maryland and is today a minor African power.

I really do love the idea of a well-off Liberia, especially when you factor in how rough the last few decades have been for it. The map itself is well done in the way I have come to expect from SRegan. I especially like how he worked in the Republic of Maryland, which is one of those obscure former nations that only alternate historians ever bring up anymore. There is a lot to love about this map and I am happy to feature it on Map Monday.

Honorable mentions this week go out to "Greater San Diego Area Map" by Doctor President, "TL-191: Yankee Spring" by Rvbomally and "The World of SRegan's Strong West Wind 20 Years After the Second War of Irish Expansion" by Bruce Munro.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger for Amazing Stories, a volunteer interviewer for SFFWorld and a Sidewise Awards for Alternate History judge. When not exploring alternate timelines he enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the day when travel between parallel universes becomes a reality. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube. Learn how you can support his alternate history projects on Patreon.

Flag Friday: Liberia

Originally posted on Sean Sherman's blog Other Times. Support an alternate historian by subscribing to his blog!

Liberia was established in 1822 by the American Colonization Society. It gained independence in 1847. Liberia was home to a number for freed slaves from America.

The Republic of Maryland was established near Liberia by the Maryland State Colonization Society. Draconian laws to limit the liberty of freed slaves in Maryland. These laws were used to coerce free blacks into moving to the colony or face the possibility re-enslavement. In 1854, the Republic of Maryland declared its independence and decided not to join Liberia. The Maryland State Colonization Society wanted to try to maintain its monopoly on trade.

In 1855, both Maryland and Liberia were attacked by an alliance of various local tribes. Both small nations coordinated their defenses and eventually merged into one state in 1859. At the end of the war eleven counties formed the new, larger Liberia. The colors of the Republic of Maryland's flag were chosen for the new flag of the nation. One of the reasons of the change in flag was to stop using the colors of the United States in an attempt for form their own identity. Eleven stripes on the flag represent the signatories of the Liberian Declaration of Independence. The American tradition of adding stars to a blue field as new territories were admitted was adopted.

In 1944, the collapse of the British government during the Second World War gave Liberia a chance to add three more stars (to 18) to its canton with the admission of Sierra Leone into the nation. While many of Britain's former colonies were turned into United Nations mandates after the Axis was finally defeated in 1947, the union of Sierra Leone to Liberia was allowed to stand.

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Sean Sherman has been a fan of alternate timelines ever since seeing Spock with a goatee.  By day he is a CPA, at night he explores the multiverse and shares his findings over at his blog, Other Times.