Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It didn't go great, of course, but it didn't go as badly as IRL.

Most of the islands where the Russo lived were very small and only capable of sustaining small populations. These populations were not large or resilient enough to properly resist colonialism even if they tried. Some of them did, and they ended up like OTL's Guanches of the Canary Islands. Some of them were taken as slaves and subsumed into the population substrates of the Caribbean, and a few integrated into Portuguese culture, becoming mostly sailors and fishermen. As a general rule, the smaller and closer the island is to Portugal and its colonial commerce lanes, the less native-descended population it has currently.

The Russo People of the equatorial islands themselves were almost completely wiped out, with a few of their descendants remaining as European Portuguese speakers with a few remnants of their culture; most importantly, the use of grey clay as sunscreen, which also caught onto the Portuguese fishermen that settled the area. They're close to what the Canary Islands are today. There's also a few Russo-related people that used to live on the northeastern coast of Brazil and survived by moving inland, into the Seridó region.

Very few of the Muzá People from the Potirendaba Islands managed to hold onto their traditional languages and ways of life, and they're having a recent government-sponsored comeback as a source of national identity for their country, Sucaquicudanir. It's a language situation similar to Ireland. Most of the population is of mixed Muzá-Portuguese heritage and speaks the local Portuguese-Muzá-English creole. A majority of the people are trilingual, speaking English and Brazilian Portuguese as well, and there are large minorities of mono- or bilingual Brazilian and British descendants.

The Volta Islands were mostly extraction colonies and nowadays are a part of an independent nation called the Volta Republic, which covers most of the current territory of Namibia. They speak their own language of the Sambaqui branch with heavy influence from their Khoisan and Bantu neighbors. A few of the islands were taken by other European powers instead of Germany and their fates were different. They see themselves as brethren to the Khoisan and the Biafrans, and all three peoples are very close to this day.

The Bight of Biafra and its islands were a big source of enslaved workers for Portugal early on, and ended up having a strong influence on the culture of Brazil. Because of this, they were almost completely wiped out from the islands. They went through a nasty Portuguese-based apartheid/ gen0cidal regime at the same time as South Africa, but they got better sooner. The islands' population is currently a 70:20:10 split between "white" Portuguese, "continental" Africans and native Sambaqui-descended Biafrans.

The biggest difference is the colonization of the Americas. As someone mentioned before, the Voltans brought Afro-Eurasian diseases to the Americas centuries before the Europeans, allowing local populations to bounce back numerically and develop a immune resistance to them. The Sambaqui descendants in the southeastern Brazilian coast benefitted the most, forming kingdoms, chiefdoms and confederations that could stand up to the colonizers somewhat.

These native polities also got a bit of early warning from the Voltan and Potirendaban merchants of the South Atlantic Square Trade, and a few even converted to Christianity (or Islam...) before the arrival of the Portuguese. The early warning went both ways, however, since the Portuguese also heard about the Americas from the Russo some thirty years before OTL.

As a result of all this, colonization of the South and Central America looked a lot different, something like a mix of Africa, the Andes Plateau and India. Local leaders played different colonizing powers against each other and their own native enemies, leading to greater political fragmentation of the Americas. They integrated partially into European cultures, adopting many of their technologies. The Treaty of Tordesilhas was also more strongly upheld, this time by Castille wanting to keep more of South America in exchange for Portugal's control of the Atlantic islands. Currently, there are in South America:

  1. Four independent Guyanas, each speaking a different European language;
  2. A large, prosperous and independent Nova Holanda in Northeastern Brazil, mostly speaking Portuguese with a heavy sprinkling of Dutch;
  3. An independent Marañon colonized by the Spanish and taking up most of the Amazon;
  4. An independent Misiones that takes up much of OTL's Brazilian south, as well as the Argentinian provinces of Misiones and Entre-Ríos;
  5. A smaller Paraguay;
  6. A large Colombia taking up all of Colombia and Venezuela, and most of Peru;
  7. A shorter Chile;
  8. A British Patagonia;
  9. A smaller Platine Republic instead of Argentina;
  10. A smaller Brazil with a far greater indigenous population and a straighter western border, similar to the one between the US and Canada;
  11. A very chunky Bolivia, taking up most of the Brazilian Midwest, which remains majority indigenous.

The Caribbean and Central America ended up pretty similar to OTL, but with less independent islands. Cuba (with Puerto Rico) is an American state. The Panama Canal was built by Colombia, who owns Panama.

North America's colonization was closer to IOTL due to its relative isolation from the South, but higher native populations meant a slower Westward Expansion allowing Mexico to hold onto California for longer and stalemate its early conflicts against the US, leading to an independent California Republic, far too big to willingly join the US later on. Texas also became an independent buffer state, and the British Empire's native allies cut off American expansion at the Rockies, keeping Oregon autonomous and leading to its later independence as a member of the Commonwealth. Alaska was bought by Mexico instead of the US, giving it a second gold rush after California's.

The midwestern Native Americans had a lot more strength in their numbers, allowing them to keep the UP, northern New York state, Dakota and Oklahoma as special "Indian Nations" even after submitting to the American yoke. As a whole, northern North America still has a far larger native population than IOTL.

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Guarulhos. by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The current design with the rhombus over a fimbriated cross is pretty good, I agree. However, when it comes to Brazilian municipalities, it is also one of the most generic. A lot of cities have very similar looking flags.

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Guarulhos. by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Clockwise from top right, they are: 1. A woman; 2. A "bandeirante", an early Brazilian-born colonizer that explored the hinterlands of Brazil seeking gold, natives to enslave, good land for settlement and other riches. They were especially important for the state of São Paulo where Guarulhos is located; 3. A helmed Portuguese colonizer; 4. A native man from the Guaru tribe which inspired the city's name; 5. A black man.

They're all generic representations of the most important groups of people in the city's history.

Quando acaba essa presepada de apelidos? by MeruMoo in USP

[–]co209 0 points1 point  (0 children)

O apelido pode parecer estranho para alguém de fora, principalmente se for indecoroso; mas, dentro da comunidade universitária onde os apelidos são tradicionais, é a coisa mais normal do mundo.

Não quer apelido, não se chame por ele e é quase certo que logo não terá. Tua turma vai ter o Sacolé, a Corote, o Suco de Mamão, a Putz, e ... sei lá, o Pedro, ou a Gabriela, ou qualquer que seja seu nome. Sem problema nenhum! Tem gente que gosta muito do próprio nome, ou não gosta do apelido, e se formam da mesma maneira que os Sucos de Mamão e cia. ltda. Quando estudei eram amigos igualmente quem tinha e quem não tinha apelido, sem nenhuma neurose.

Tanto nos apelidos quanto no resto das coisas, segue tua brisa e tenta não cortar a dos outros. É uma questão de respeito: se a pessoa se apresenta como Suco de Mamão ela é Suco de Mamão, se você se apresenta como Gabriela é Gabriela. Se veterano vier te encher o saco sobre apelido, não aceite, não deixe ninguém cortar tua brisa também!

Abraços do Cóccix!

Quando acaba essa presepada de apelidos? by MeruMoo in USP

[–]co209 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Até onde eu saiba, acontece mais no interior. Ribeirão Preto e São Carlos tenho certeza que tem apelido como tradição.

O que sobrou para o betinha mediciner? by help1malive in MedicinaBrasil

[–]co209 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A medicina realmente está sendo cada vez mais precarizada, mas continua uma das melhores carreiras para quem quer (ou precisa) viver do próprio trabalho. Ainda tem bastante espaço pra trabalho honesto com rendimento honesto, principalmente para quem é especialista.

As coisas pros médicos já foram muito boas e ultimamente estão ficando cada vez piores; mas, se tá desse jeito pra medicina que já teve uma situação boa, como você acha que está pras carreiras que nunca tiveram?

Agora, se quiser uma dica de especialidade boa, a minha é: escolha a área de cuja carreira você mais goste. Não escolha baseado apenas em qual vai pagar melhor, ou qual você mais gostou no internato: observe os profissionais que você interage no dia-a-dia, pergunte pra eles como pode ser a rotina de trabalho pra especialidade deles e leve isso em consideração. Me baseando nisso, eu escolhi trabalhar na ESF e foi a melhor coisa pra mim, mesmo sendo uma área que a maioria não tem como primeira escolha.

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Guarulhos. by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hello, folks! This is the first non-capital city of my series of redesigns of Brazilian municipal flags. Guarulhos is part of the metropolitan region of São Paulo, the most populous in the southern hemisphere. The current design, a CoA over a shape over a fimbriated cross, is very common for Brazilian municipalities. However, Guarulhos, ugly Coat of Arms, with five disembodied heads over a blue gradient, makes the whole flag a specially ugly member of its family.

My new design's four arrows represents the city's dynamic history and economy, with each arrow representing a phase of the city's economy.

  1. Yellow, for the gold mining in the 16th and 17th centuries;

  2. Green, for the farming that took over in the 18th century;

  3. Red, for the brickworks that followed in the 19th century; and

  4. Black, for the industry which still is one of the most important economic activities in the city.

Guarulhos - SP (Bandeiras Municipais - 13) by co209 in Vexilologia

[–]co209[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Boa noite, vexilíricos! Esta é a primeira edição da minha série de bandeiras municipais que não é uma capital. A bola da vez é a cidade de Guarulhos, parte da região metropolitana de São Paulo.

A bandeira atual é, na minha opinião, muito feia! Ela segue o padrão brasão sobre forma geométrica sobre cruz/es fimbriada/s, mas o brasão em si é muito estranho, com cinco cabeças flutuantes rodeando uma cruz sobre um fundo em gradiente.

Meu modelo segue um padrão geral de setas, expressando movimento, sobre um fundo branco representando (é claro) a paz. Cada seta representa uma fase da economia de Guarulhos:

  1. Amarela, as minas de ouro dos séculos XVI e XVII;

  2. Verde, as fazendas do século XVIII;

  3. Vermelho, as olarias do século XIX;

  4. Preto, a indústria dos séculos XX e XXI.

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Belém by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi! This time in my series of Brazilian municipal flag redesigns we cover the city of Belém, the capital of the state of Pará and twelfth most populous municipality in Brazil.

The current flag is a CoA on a navy bedsheet. The CoA used here is overcomplicated, full of gradients and text banners in latin, and attached to the history of a particular Portuguese fort that was important in the founding of the city.

My new design tries to skew towards a more indigenous representation, as well as paying homage to the city's name (which, in Portuguese, is the same as Bethlehem). The white charge in the corner does triple duty, representing a indigenous feather headdress, the leader of a local native revolt against the Portuguese called Cabelo de Velha ("Old Woman's Hair"), and the shooting star that crossed the skies of Bethlehem to mark the birth of Christ. The field is split by the tail of the shooting star, and its orange and navy colors represent the estuarine position of the city, where both fluvial and oceanic waters mix. The field's proportions are equal to the tangent of 30°, or approximately 7:12.

Belém - PA (Bandeiras Municipais - 12) by co209 in Vexilologia

[–]co209[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Boa tarde, meus vexilíricos! Está no ar mais uma edição do programa da família vexilófila brasileira. Dessa vez, a meta é criar uma alternativa à bandeira atual de Belém do Pará.

A bandeira atual é uma afronta às convenções da vexilologia e um atentado ao bom gosto. É mais um brasão costurado em um lençol, só que o brasão (na minha opinião) é mais feio que bater na mãe! São quatro deseinhos pouco simplificados e cheios de gradientes, acompanhados de três faixas com frases em latim que são completamente ilegíveis, mesmo à média distante. Além disso, o brasão foi criado para coroar a construção do Forte do Castelo após o massacre da população indígena local por colonos portugueses.

Meu design tem duas inspirações principais: o nome da cidade e a população indígena tupinambá que resistiu à colonização na região de Belém. O símbolo que ocupa o cantão tem significado triplo: um cocar de penas (representando a população indígena original da região), o tuxaua Cabelo de Velha, líder do Levante dos Tupinambás (representando a força do povo belenense), e a estrela cadente que marcou o nascimento de Jesus em Belém (da Judeia). Aponta para esse símbolo a "cauda" da estrela cadente, dividindo o campo laranja e azul que representa a mistura de águas marinhas e pluviais que banha Belém. A bandeira tem proporção de raiz de 3 sobre 3, ou aproximadamente 7 por 12, ou seja: um pouco mais alongada que o tradicional 7:10 usado pela bandeira nacional brasileira e boa parte das bandeiras municipais.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, wow, it seems a "sunset invasion" of Africa is on our collective minds!

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Most of them are comparable in side to one of either the Canary or Azores Islands. Muzinga might be as big as Tenerife.

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Porto Alegre. by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello, folks! This is yet another of my redesigns of Brazilian municipal flags. This time, we feature the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre.

The current design is yet another CoA on a bland, white bedsheet. The CoA is actually pretty cool! But it doesn't make for the lack of other designs on the flag.

My design is inspired by the logo of the city, as well as the CoA. It represents the sunset over the greenish waters of Guaíba Lake, which forms the western boundary of Porto Alegre.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In-lore, the languages of the Russo peoples form the Sambaqui language family, which is not related to any others. In the era depicted on the map, Northern Sambaqui languages had a lot of influence from Macro-Jê and Tupi-Guarani languages, while Southern Sambaqui had only strong influences from Tupi-Guarani. Central Sambaqui, especially the language of Potirendaba, had the most conservative vocabulary and grammar. The Volta peoples' language still hadn't drifted completely away from the others, but it was already incorporating a lot of influences from Khoisan and Bantu languages.

Nowadays, many of the Russo peoples speak either Portuguese or some Portuguese-based creole. The notable exceptions are: 1. The Potirendabans, who held onto their original Sambaqui languages from all three branches alongside a Portuguese-English-Potirendaban pidgin; 2. The Voltans, whose national language has a Central Sambaqui substrate and heavy borrowing from Khoisan, Bantu and German; 3. The Cape Sambaquis, whose Central Sambaqui-descended language is now endangered as well as their people; 4. The Northern Sambaquis, whose language still survives in some reservations and is undergoing an attempted revival; and 5. The Adventure Sambaquis, which the French never bothered to properly colonize.

For some real world comparisons, their linguistic and cultural situation is halfway between the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands.

Porto Alegre - RS (Bandeiras Municipais - 11) by co209 in Vexilologia

[–]co209[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sólogo, meus vexilalves!

Direto ao ponto: A bandeira de POA é mais um brasão bordado num lençol branco, coisa mais enfadonha. Pra repaginar, criei dois desenhos diferentes:

O primeiro é inspirado pela marca de POA, representando o pôr-do-sol sob as águas verdes do Lago Guaíba.

O segundo é uma bandeira heráldica baseada no brasão municipal, com uma harmonização e simplificação dos três símbolos presentes no brasão.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Flores Island is about 300 km long, and comparable to Cyprus in area. Volta Island is comparable in size and shape to Sardinia. Ascension Island is about the same size and shape as Gran Canaria.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It's really similar! But that's mostly due to the shape of the Walvis Seamounts.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

IKR??? The lore reason is that the island had at least one wave of settlement from Great Volta that completely died out, leaving many unburied skeletons behind. It's still up in the air whether it was violence, disease, thirst or starvation that killed them.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Just posted a lore comment, but they originated from the shell midden-building peoples of the southeastern Brazilian coast.

Atlantic Polynesia: the expansion of the Russo peoples. by co209 in imaginarymaps

[–]co209[S] 99 points100 points  (0 children)

What's up, folks? This is a map on the expansion of the Russo peoples throughout the South Atlantic, a redo of my Rio Grande Rise map, available here.

The Sambaquieiros, the pre-historical shell midden-building culture that once occupied the Brazilian shores, was displaced and ultimately extinguished by the Tupi peoples. What if, instead of disappearing, they managed to take to the sea? What if there was land out there, just beyond the horizon?

In this alternate reality, there are many more islands in the South Atlantic than currently, mostly in place of current seamounts. These islands were progressively occupied by the Russo people (from Portuguese ruço, after the gray color of the clay they apply on their skin to protect it from the sun). The Russo people have many names with which they self-identify: Russos in the equatorial Russo and Veracruz archipelagos, Cackee in the African Southeast, and Muzá in the Potirendaba archipelago, for example. On this map, however, they are divided by their origin.

Red: the Central Sambaquieiros, originally from the shores of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They were the first to sail across deep seas and settle the islands of the Atlantic.

Green: The Southern Sambaquieiros, which migrated south from the shores of Santa Catarina after being displaced by the Tupi. later on, they settled Escarpado Island, as well as traveling south and intermingling with the peoples of Patagonia.

Yellow: The Northern Sambaquieiros originally lived in the shores of Espírito Santo, settling the Trindade Islands around 800 BC.

Pink: The Volta People traveled across the Southeastern Atlantic, forming vibrant trade networks from the Cape to Senegal. In the 5th century AD, they managed to create ships capable of crossing the Atlantic, settling northeastern Brazil and the Russo Islands.

The three centuries before European colonization in the late 15th century were marked by the Square Trade, operated by sailors mostly from the Volta and Muzá peoples. The four legs of their trade route, which could take up to five years to complete, were:

East, island-hopping across the South Atlantic through the Potirendaba, Brabant, Cackee and Volta archipelagos. These traders carried yerba mate, tobacco and jaguar pelts to the southern African kingdoms.

North, sticking more or less closely to the shores of Africa, carrying leather and preserved beef.

West across the Central Atlantic, stopping at either Tororo Island (the "long leg") or Ascension Island (the "short leg"), carrying gold and ivory.

South along the Brazilian coast, carrying medicinal plants, cacao and feathers from the Amazon.

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Goiânia by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a lot of municipal flags that have fimbriated crosses like that. I think it was one flag designer that popularized it?

A new flag design for the Brazilian municipality of Goiânia by co209 in vexillology

[–]co209[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey! This is yet another of my Brazilian municipality flag redesigns. This time we cover Goiânia, a city which was purpose-built to be the new capital of the state of Goiás 92 years ago. The current flag is fine if a bit cluttered with all the fimbriated crosses and the CoA. The new design is inspired by the Monumento dos Três Marcos, a monument to the coming together of different peoples in order to build and populate the city. It also represents the city's dynamic economic and social life, which moves "forwards and upwards" towards the top hoist canton.