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>> B.C. circa 1800 can be described as 'patchwork of sovereign micro-ethnic groups in rugged terrain So was Appalachia at that time. So too were the expanses
by sandworm101 5y ago
>> B.C. circa 1800 can be described as 'patchwork of sovereign micro-ethnic groups in rugged terrain
So was Appalachia at that time. So too were the expanses of Russia. So too was even Ireland. Pretty much every 17/1800s settled territory without a nearby railroad was composed of tightly-knit micro-ethic groupings. That doesn't meant they were not also part of a larger nation.
- geenew 5y agoRoads and canals do fine for knitting together a nation in the cultural and political sense of the word, and for enforcing/dispensing all the fruits of central government. Europe in the early 1800s was less homogeneous than today, perhaps, but it's strange to claim that areas without nearby rail service were a 'patchwork of sovereign micro-ethnic groups'.
- sandworm101 5y agoAnd in places like BC, the water network linked everyone.
- geenew 5y agoIt didn't link everyone into centrally run sovereign nation states, though, which I thought was what we were talking about.
- closewith 5y agoThat's definitely not true of Ireland in the 19th or even 18th century. Nothing could be farther from the truth - Ireland at that time was a centrally (and externally) managed state much closer to a modern state than anything described in this thread.