Map designers - southern Africa

[mzilikazi]

I am planning a series of scenarios around the history of southern Africa, and particularly the birth of Zimbabwe - from the 1870s through the Chimurenga (uprising) against the Brits in 1896 to the Boer War for the first; and from Rhodesia's Declaration of Independence (1963) through the second Chimurenga/Bush War (depending which side you were on), to the birth of Zimbabwe (1980) for the second. Have some great ideas, events etc in mind - but I cannot draw maps to save my life. All my efforts so far have been abysmal. Really really bad. If anyone knows where I could find a map on the web (I couldn't see one on the Apolyton archive) which would cover southern Africa from the Cape to somewhere north of the Zambezi (Zimbabwe's northern border with Zambia) would they be good enought to let me know. If anyone with more skill, talent and time than I have feels able to draw such a map - ideally a pretty large one - I would be eternally grateful.

Thanks for your ideas people.
[This message has been edited by mzilikazi (edited August 18, 1999).]

[Miner]

There is an excellent map of Southern Africa used in the Boer War scenario by ...
Allard or Hoefelt? can't remember who.
Anyway, the scenario I downloaded from Apolyton. I don't know if he provided the map as well, if not get the email address from the scenario and ask him for it.

[mzilikazi]

Miner - thanks for the tip; I shall have a look at this map. My only concern is that it may not cover the area far enough to the north of the Zambezi, but I shall definitely check it out.

Thanks

[mzilikazi]

Thanks for the info people... am reluctant to make a map myself, because all my attempts look like they have been done by a rather inept three-year-old wearing a blindfold, i.e. not very good. Believe me I have tried, and my talents do not lie in this area of life.

If Mercator or anyone else woudl be willing to take on this task, I would be monumentally grateful - but I must warn them that the time I have for the game, and even more so for design, is very short these days, so it could be many months before I have a scnario to share... if you enjoy maps, and are looking for inspiration, have a look at the area from Cape Town in the south up to Lusaka in the North. I had envisaged changing the terrain tiles - there will be no need for glacier and tundra terrain, which I had planned to change to "national park" and "Victoria Falls" terrain. National Park would give resources similar to buffalo, but 1 more trade arrow - and would be very sparingly used around western and north-eastern Zimbabwe, northern Botswana and parts of South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia. the Victoria falls terrain type would appear just once, in the north western corner of Zimbabwe. It would provide no food or resources, but a load of trade. Neither terrain type would be able to be "improved" in terms of irrigation or mining. I had also planned to change the mountains-iron terrain type to moutains-diamonds - just a name change, no change in effect. However, those are just my ideas... anyone who fancies doing the map, please do it exactly as you wish - and thank you!!

[Allard HS]

Hello Mzilikazi,

how are you and your brave warriors? Have you beaten Shaka yet?

My name is Allard Höfelt (the letter ö is alt-148) and yes I did a Boer War scenario from which you can use the map (which I created myself). You can load the scn file in the map editor, don't need the mp file individually, in case you didn't know. You can download the scenario at the CSC ( http://csc.apolyton.net ). The scenario is one of my best scenarios so far.

The map stretches from the Cape to about Walvis Baai. It would be good enough I think for a good representation of Zimbabwe, though the country is not entirely on the map. (was not the aim for the map).

I myself have considered many times a remake of my Boer War scenario, but have so far not yet found the time. I also often considered a Zulu War or Shaka scenario, but did not have the sufficient historical, geographical, demographical, etc. resources. I would really like someone to do it however.

I'm really interested in Southern Africa, not only because of a feeling of brotherhood with the Afrikaner people, since I am Dutch myself, (there are not too many dutch-speaking places around nowadays), but also because I have been there about 6 times by now, equalling about 8 months and know a lot of people, black, white, english, afrikaners, boers (I count the latter two separately) and its history.

Are you yourself from Zimbabwe? I've been there too for a few weeks. Beautiful and fascinating country, though I loved Botswana better. And historically S-Africa is more interesting imho.

[Fast_Eddie]

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Well cutting and pasting is working well for me right now.

[Allard HS]

[mzilikazi]

Hi Allard, thanks for your post... I am not from Zimbabwe; I was born in London, but my parents were born in Zimbabwe - although they came to England (where their parents were from0 during the Bush War. However, I have visited the country (and surrounding ones) many times and I am fascinated by its beauty, its past and its present - though I agree that South Africa is an equally interesting situation.

I haven't yet been able to check out the Boer war map - though I have a suspicion taht if it stops at Walvisbaai, it will not quite be what I had in mind. I am really keen to include the northern border of Zimbabwe with Zambia, which was a crucial area of conflict during the war for independence. I'll have a look - but thanks for the tip anyway.