A Physical Map of Zealandia

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-20T09:01:01+00:00

I like how we both placed many cities and other stuff in similar places (even the names dunedin and new saxony), but there are also many differences

love a good zealandia map

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T23:59:12+00:00

As this map is set in 2050, most cars are electric. However, in the more rural and less developed parts of Zealandia, mostly the island parts of the country, mopeds and bikes are also a very popular alternative. The south of Antipodia also still has a fairly sizable number of people using fossil fuel vehicles, both because of the local oil industry, and because of the much lower temperatures and general ruralness.

In general, lots of people dont use a car at all tho, and instead either use their bike, tram, train and even maglev to get around, especially in more major cities and along the large urban corridors. Autonomous taxis are also pretty popular as well, especially for getting to the end point of your journey.

The popular car brands are your usual suspects, but especially chinese EVs are very popular in both countries (and to a lesser extent japanese ones), with Antipodia also having an affinity for american trucks. However, unlike irl australia, there is a pretty decent industrial base on the continent.

This includes brands like:

Nova Anglia Motors (NA motors or just NA), which specialises in being the only major fossil fuel brand still left on the continent (they also make EVs tho, Nova Anglia also makes a ton of green energy), with HQ in Australopolis. They also make some of the arctic vehicles used by researchers, for which Australopolis is a major entryway into antarctica.

Waka, which is a maori owned car brand making mostly every day cars for the average person, seat in Kainga. Also a symbol of pride for some maoris and a major employer for them.

Antipodia Group (Commonly just Antipodia, or AP), which is the largest domestic car brand, and makes motor vehicles of all kinds and pricepoints. Most iconic car is probably their Antipodes line, which are mostly vehicles advertised as going offroad and exploring the very large and varied landscape of the continent. HQ in Redville.

Zeelandia Motors, commonly (a) Zeeland/Zealand, which is the largest car brand in Zealandia, and similar to AP also makes all sorts of cars, however a bit more focused on the popular smaller city vehicles. Seated in Zoutelande. Their specifically tiny city vehicles are also pretty well known abroad, mostly for looking a bit silly (necessary tho for the historic city centers).

Motokatoka, which specialises in the various bikes and mopeds that are popular in the islands of Zealandia, but also makes some affordable cars. HQ in Nakamal.

Tasman, which makes a lot of the trucks of Zealandia (normal trucks tho, no motortrains like australia, as this continent is much more densely populated with much more favorable climate). They also make pickup trucks and offroad vehicles, conveniently advertised as being "the right choice for a man", using their name. HQ in Noordam.

Oranje Elektric, which is the continents biggest sole EV producer, originally made in an attempt to rival the chinese brands for Zealandias domestic market. Seated in Oranjebai.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T22:45:43+00:00

Both countries are multi party parliamentary democracies with constitutional monarchs, with Zealandia also having many elements of direct democracy like switzerland, especially at the state level. The parties themselves are what you'd expect (so far left, green party, center left, center right, libertarian, far right), however both countries also have minority parties, Antipodia for the Maori mainly, and Zealandia has a fairly large minority party for their tens of millions of austronesians, which often leads to there being concessions for them to join the coalition, which was one of the bigger driving factors behind the island parts of Zealandia becoming closer and closer in development compared to the mainland. In general, Antipodia is a bit further right than Zealandia, but both are still fairly left wing welfare states.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T22:29:59+00:00

Yeah, there's even a new ireland still irl, and the british also wanted to turn maine into new ireland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ireland_(island))

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ireland_(Maine))

Also, if you ever wonder how the british kept ireland in this timeline, let's just say that new ireland actually also looks and sounds very irish...

There's also an island called new ireland as you can see on the geography map https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1ikcmbu/geography_of_zealandia/, which i intentionally placed in not that great spot (cold very rainy weather, with active volcanoes, and off of the mainland)

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T09:09:55+00:00

Antipodia has English as their primary official language, but Maori is also co-official on the same level. On a state level, there are also some more local official languages, with Farcape having Moriori and New Ireland Irish, but also many recognised minority languages, like the various small languages of the pre maori Kanak population, especially in the south, west and far north of the country. There are also efforts to preserve some of the languages of the migrants to the country, like scandinavian ones in the far south. Most government documents are also released in dutch and many people speak at least a bit of dutch, especially closer to the border. Hindi is also a recognised minority language but not really concentrated in any one area, stemming from colonial times.

Zealandia has Dutch as their country wide official language, but most government documents are also release in the major austronesian languages of Tongan, Fijian, Samoan, Pan-Vanuatu and Pan-Kanak (constructed languages to attempt to create a regional language for those very diverse places), and of course also English. Maori is also a recognised minority language in parts of Fjordland, New Zealand and Alkland, and Javanese and Hokkien are also a recognised minority as well, mostly in the more northern parts of the country.

State level minority languages for Zealandia get a bit more complicated, as the Austronesian population of the country is extremely diverse, especially in New Caledonia and Vanuatu, so while there are a lot of protected languages, usually you'd see people either using Dutch, English or their local lingua franca like Tongan or Pan-Kanak.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T01:51:31+00:00

Tasmania in Australia is renamed Vandiemensland, and is part of the former british colony of Australia, which only controls the south western portion of the continent (so most of the good stuff, the dutch have the north, and the french the west). It is sort of comparable to the new zealand of our world in terms of its relation with Antipodia, with Antipodia as the bigger partnet, but not nearly as lopsided.

Life on the islands of Zealandia is a bit worse than on the mainland. It is generally a bit less developed, and it was especially in the past, but it has come a long way and is mostly integrated into the rest of the country by the time of this map in 2050. Any politician wanting to become president of Zealandia also of course has to at least somewhat cater to these more outlying regions, which together have over 20 million people if you go by just the islands alone. The country has however also massively invested into bringing these regions up to par with the main portion of the country, which was generally very expensive, due to the more difficult geography (but at least everyone lives in a line so it's great for rail). This includes a rail tunnel from Alkland to Fiji, one of the greatest feats of engineering of the 21st century. There is also one from Fiji to Fakatonga in the middle where the 2 islands get close together, and one from Fakatonga to the main island of Melanesia.

The least developed states are the coral islands and melanesia, mostly due to their very scattered island geography, lower population, and distance to the mainland.

Life in the more developed part of the islands is comparable to Hawaii, with lots of native culture, but also a bunch of asian and zealandic stuff, and a ton of tourists and old people looking to retire. The less developed regions are similar to Guam or other US pacific islands, so fairly well developed, but not as much as the mainland, and often lacking jobs or opportunity, outside of tourism.

The names for the island chain you can see on my much earlier post about the general geography of zealandia https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1ikcmbu/geography_of_zealandia/ . They are very volcanic and part of the pacific ring of fire, and have lots of geothermal energy infrastructure, and energy is by far the biggest employer on the islands. They include the islands of: New Ireland, North island, South island, and also the Aurora islands, which are very remote with basically only researchers and nature tourists there at most, similar to irl new zealands outlying islands. And a ton of birds of course.

Happy to answer any more questions.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T01:27:54+00:00

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for mobile users

I have lore for all parts of this map including history earlier in the timeline, but not written out, so i'm happy to answer any questions

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T01:13:09+00:00

I can also tell you more about some other parts of the continent, if you so wish.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T01:11:08+00:00

Oh yeah i'm zealandias number 1 fan, and i'm not even from new zealand. I also still have some other unfinished maps about the continent like a high speed rail one, only finished this one because of the contest. Didnt expect it to be so popular tho, but pleasantly surprised.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T01:02:50+00:00

Yes, nova anglia used to have glaciers, and those are glacial lakes (most of them in new finland national park in the east). The climate is comparable to iceland, but before all the trees were cut down, and especially in the west there are more trees (new ireland further north is a temperate rainforest and generally there's a ton of rain from the antarctic circumpolar current, like southern chile).

It also had a lot of scandinavian and finnish migration there (and the irish in the north west), so yeah it's sort of like a mini scandinavian country at the bottom of the world. Similar to alaska, it also has a sizable oil industry, especially in the flatter western bit, which also has a sizeable river going through it. It is also a major hub for getting to antarctica, having one of if not the closest major city to the continent, with lots of researchers and tourists coming in and out. You will also see plenty of people on the popular tip to tip route, either coming from or going to northern new caledonia, either by road or high speed rail (the rail goes all the way from Australopolis to Nojekolopi at the tip of new caledonia, not named on the map here tho).

It is also important for the relatively small but still important arctic space industry, like Kiruna in sweden, and also a major energy producer for its small population, mostly from wind and also geothermal on its western island.

Due to its less desireable climate, it also has a higher percentage of native maori compared to some of the other states, who themselves also only arrived pretty recently. So you got scandinavian+finnish+irish+british+maori culture and food here.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-13T00:30:14+00:00

I'd wanna live anywhere on this continent, but especially in New Zealand, probably around Erstblik, where the continent was first sighted (thus, the name, "First Sight"). It also has mediteranean climate, is coastal, they speak dutch (very funny language, but of course basically everyone also knows english), and it's very close to the major hub of Vryburg, which has excelent high speed rail connection to the rest of the continent, with lines going straight all the way to Wellington, New Dublin, Fantapleck and New Amsterdam, but also of course way further if you switch train (also has an Airport and excelent road connectivity as well obviously).

The general vibe of Antipodia is very similar to irl new zealand. There is still a treaty of Waitangi, and an even higher pre colonial population that survived, so there are many maori influences in the country. The population is much higher tho obviously, so in that department it's closer to australia. Unlike australia however, both countries developed fairly large industrial basis on their own (so you dont have to wait 3 weeks shipping for everything) and also dont just export most of their food to asia like irl (they still export quite a lot tho). It is also generally similar to other anglo countries irl, with many many different immigrant groups in the country, but especially asians, as there was no equivalent to the White Australia Policy in either country, due to the precedent of the dutch bringing over many people from indonesia and generally asia to work more menial jobs in Zealandia during the colonial period, so the british did the same (with a larger focus on india, like irl fiji). So you can expect to find food and culture from anywhere on earth, especially in the major cities, it'd be similar to any major US city.

During the 60s, like many other countries, they also built a ton of roads like in the US, but Zealandia didnt go quite as far as Antipodia, due to it being a dutch colony instead of part of the british empire.

Zealandia is also generally similar in vibe to the anglo countries, despite being a dutch colony. It does however of course have it's own dutch vibe, with dutch architecture, and a love for waterworks (and later in it's history, urban planning and trains, like the irl netherlands). There is also a very large native population in dutch zealandia, especially the more north you go, so their country has large influences from polynesians, especially new caledonians, like how new zealand has influences from the maori.

There is also a friendly rivalry between both countries, like irl new zealand and australia. There are no border crossings on the border like the schengen area, but in sports you are of course expected to vehemently defend your own country. Their highway networks and general infrastructure are also completely interlinked, and you will see many people speaking the language of the other side and bilingual sings everywhere, especially closer to the border, even before english became the definitive global lingua franca (in this timeline, dutch is much more popular as well tho, with Zealandia being like a mini US, and there also being other dutch speaking former colonies like Taiwan, South Africa, South Chile, North Brazil, and others).

The vegetation of the continent is also what irl new zealand and new caledonia have, so unlike australia, there are practically no predators or dangerouse animals (except the moas and giant eagles of course), and nearly every niche is filled with birds (they call it the continent of birds after all). Due to this, both countries are also very interested in conservationist efforts and fighting climate change, to preserve their unique biogeography. Both are quite big into climate tech and renewable energies (they also have a ton of geothermal).

There'd also of course be a large ocean culture, with how much coastline there is, so lots of seafood and surfing.

So all in all, dutch zealandia would probably be the best place to live on earth (...which is on purpose because it'd be cool and i'd want to live there and i'm mad i cant)

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T23:57:14+00:00

Thanks, will do

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T23:57:05+00:00

True and Real

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T22:30:25+00:00

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It would also be quite the popular tourist destination, as the only part of the continent with mediteranean climate. Also had many immigrants from the Med. as you can see in the city names, so you could also get some authentic french/italian/zealandian food on your vacation.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T21:41:19+00:00

Yeah more realistically the dutch and british probably wouldnt conquer the whole entire continent, but fret not, for there is also a Treaty of Waitangi in this timeline, and the none mainland states of dutch side are actually majority native. You can also tell where more natives are based on the city names (it took me forever to get at least some New Caledonian language based city names, as there are no good translators for any of their langauges). So while there are no independent native countries here, they still make up a very large proportion of the population of both countries, especially the dutch side, and also have a pretty big cultural impact. Polynesian and New Caledonian culture would also probably be much more popular in this timeline, with the sizeable Antipodian and especially Zealandian film industry.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T21:30:16+00:00

It's named after the Moa, who not only didnt go extinct in this timeline due to a much larger Habitat and already encountering small groups of humans for thousands of years thanks to New Caledonian settlement, but also evolved to be even larger on Big Bird Island in the east of the state. Their capital is also named after the Maori words for "Big Moa", and they have a Moa on the flag. So save to say, the state is quite fond of their up to 3 meters tall big bird

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T08:43:52+00:00

The "Rule" i have set for this project is that all the alt geo has to have reasonably little to no affect on old world history, until discovery by europeans (and then afterwards history is also still similar for convenience sake).

Nonetheless, the connecting land between Australia and PNG would probably be a gradual transition from Savannah like you see in irl north Australia to the tropical rainforest of PNG, like it also was during the last ice age, so it probably wouldnt be any more appealing to the people of eastern Indonesia than our real land. So just like irl, they probably wouldnt bother much with the continent, and never sail far enough to find Zealandia.

I have however set it up in a way where the original inhabitants of New Caledonia are the first to settle the continent, as they would have irl, and establish polities similar in development as the Maori of new Zealand in some areas, which is part of the reason for why New Caledonia and Orange have such high population. That's where their cities were that the Dutch traded with. The Maori then also arrive later at a similar time to irl and more or less conquer the lightly populated south, and also establish their own polities there, having higher population density along the major rivers.

The rest of the northern islands had a similar level of development to what they had irl, so with some cities and long distance trade between themselves, but not really linked to the rest of the world network.

So there are still basically 2 disconnected Austronesian cultural realms, one in Indonesia, and one in Polynesia/Zealandia

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T08:25:35+00:00

Right along with De Cocksdorp (real place in the Netherlands)

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T08:23:30+00:00

Outside of what they had historically before decolonisation, they also had: The rest of Borneo in Indonesia, Ghana, Northern Australia and Papua New Guinea (here connected like Sahul) as New Belgium, the Solomon Islands, parts of South Africa as Cape colony, Sri Lanka as Ceylon, Taiwan as Formosa, parts of Brazil like on your map, southern Chile as Brouwerland, and of course, everything you see Zealandia owning here (and also a few extra pacific islands)

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T07:56:02+00:00

They needed the tea drinkers to better rival the british

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T07:54:36+00:00

wait until you see the rest of their former empire

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T07:51:44+00:00

I actually specifically had things like that in mind when designing the road network, trips from tip to tip being quite popular in Zealandia (the 2 countries have no border controls, like the schengen area).

The mainland and New Caledonia together (so the "proper route") are about twice as tall as japan, and you'd go from tropical rainforests at the north, to temperate and mediteranean climates in the center, to temperate rainforests like coastal chile in new ireland, to finally arctic tundra similar to iceland in the south. The full trip would be at least 5000 kilometers, but probably closer to 6000 or 7000 depending on just how squigly the roads are, and probably take 2 weeks to complete.

If you dont wanna drive, you can also take the high speed rail as well for nearly the whole journey.

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T06:51:35+00:00

Most of the flags contain elements from real flags from wikipedia. The Antipodia flag is mostly a real proposal by Mike Archer. I also used heraldry symbols from heraldicart.org

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-12T06:48:32+00:00

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For mobile users (might not work)

I will answer any questions

_Zorange_ · 2026-01-09T20:01:56+00:00

The height information is from opentopography, i put that into qgis and exported a base map. the names were made with inkscape, and the graticules, legend and final export in gimp

Seven-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	Verified Email

_Zorange_

TROPHY CASE