(1.9) More Natural Harbors
Paradox has significantly buffed natural harbors in 1.9, making them ideal states for building tall due to strong trade, MAPI, and convoy bonuses. However currently natural harbours are clustered in Northern Europe, New England, Bangladesh, and Japan.
This mod thus expands the list of states benefiting from the natural harbor trait, allowing for more balanced and historically immersive game play. I have curated the list based on wikipedia geography pages, present day shipping volumes, strategic locations, as well as historical fantasy reasons (namely Venice and Istanbul).
This mod conflicts with other mods that seek to modify map data.
Complete list of additions:
## South America
– 🇧🇷 **São Paulo (Santos):** Island-sheltered estuary; dredged sandbar enabled coffee boom—Latin America’s busiest port today.
– 🇨🇴 **Antioquia (Cartagena Bay):** Nearly sealed, fortified bay; treasure-fleet hub, still vital Colombian harbor.
– 🇪🇨 **Ecuador (Guayaquil):** Wide Guayas estuary; cacao boom port, Ecuador’s maritime lifeline.
– 🇺🇾 **Uruguay (Montevideo):** Deep semicircular bay; top coaling/naval stop, lively entrepôt.
– 🇦🇷 **Buenos Aires:** Shallow estuary transformed by dredged docks; became grain-and-meat export giant.
– 🇧🇷 **Rio de Janeiro (Guanabara):** Vast, narrow-gated bay; imperial Brazil’s anchor and enduring naval/commercial hub.
## Europe
– 🇪🇸 **Galicia (Rías):** Deep fjord-like inlets (Ferrol, Vigo); secure naval and trade shelters.
– 🇫🇷 **Brittany (Brest):** Huge roadstead behind strait; France’s principal Atlantic naval base.
– 🇹🇷 **East Thrace (Golden Horn):** Long, calm Bosphorus inlet; core of Istanbul’s shipping for centuries.
– 🇵🇹 **Estremadura (Tagus/Lisbon):** Wide, deep estuary; made Lisbon Atlantic trade hub.
– 🇮🇹 **Piedmont (Genoa):** Gulf enhanced by moles; historic maritime republic, 19th-c. steamship port.
– 🇲🇪 **Montenegro (Bay of Kotor):** Fjord-like, narrow entrance; legendary natural shelter.
– 🇮🇹 **Venice (Lagoon):** Shallow but defensible lagoon; medieval maritime powerhouse—trait for historical flavor.
## Africa
– 🇲🇿 **Mozambique (Nacala):** >50 m-deep enclosed bay; underused until rail, geography unmatched.
– 🇿🇦 **Western Cape (Saldanha):** Vast, deep inlet; little 19th-c. use—geographic “what-if.”
– 🇿🇦 **Zululand (Durban):** Lagoon harbor; dredged sandbar, busiest South-African port by 1900.
– 🇰🇪 **Kenya (Kilindini/Mombasa):** Deep inlet behind island; railway 1901 made it East Africa’s gateway.
– 🇩🇯 **“Eritrea” (Tadjoura/Djibouti):** Deep Red-Sea gulf; French port 1888, strategic shelter for Ethiopia trade.
## East Asia
– 🇨🇳 **Suzhou (Shanghai Harbor):** Treaty-port since 1842; deep, ice-free Yangtze estuary made it East Asia’s top port—and today the busiest worldwide.
– 🇨🇳 **West Guangdong (Zhanjiang):** Calm, deep bay sheltered by peninsulas; leased by France in 1898, later grew into a major modern port.
– 🇨🇳 **Shandong (Kiautschou Bay/Qingdao):** Spacious, well-protected inlet; Germany built Qingdao in 1898, now one of China’s busiest harbors.
– 🇨🇳 **Fujian (Amoy/Xiamen):** Deep bay ringed by islets; treaty-port tea hub since 1842; still a top-ten Chinese port.
– 🇨🇳 **Zhejiang (Hangzhou Bay/Ningbo):** Sheltered channels of Ningbo-Zhoushan; ice-free, deep, rivals Shanghai in traffic.
– 🇰🇷 **Yeongnam (Busan Bay):** Deep water encircled by hills/islands; opened 1876, became Korea’s primary—now global—container port.
## North America
– 🇨🇦 **Northern Columbia (Vancouver/Burrard Inlet):** Deep, fjord-like, ice-free; rail in 1887 made it Canada’s Pacific gateway.
– 🇺🇸 **Southern Columbia (Seattle/Elliott Bay):** Naturally deep, sheltered; lumber and Klondike trade spurred rise as key West-Coast port.
– 🇺🇸 **California (San Francisco Bay):** Vast inland harbor via Golden Gate; Gold Rush turned it into a global seaport.
– 🇺🇸 **Florida (Tampa Bay):** Broad estuary; dredged 1890s, Spanish-American War staging point, now Florida’s largest port.
– 🇺🇸 **South Carolina (Charleston):** Narrow-mouthed estuary; rice/cotton exports and Civil-War strategic value.
– 🇲🇽 **Jalisco (Manzanillo):** Protected Pacific bay; rail in 1889, now Mexico’s busiest port.
– 🇲🇽 **Guerrero (Acapulco):** Almost land-locked cove; Manila-Galleon refuge, famed natural shelter.
– 🇭🇳 **Honduras (Puerto Cortés):** Lagoon harbor; rail-linked banana boom made it Central America’s chief port.
## India
– 🇮🇳 **Northern Circars (Visakhapatnam):** Headland-shielded deep harbor; built 1933, east-coast’s busiest and cyclone-safe.
## Southeast Asia
– 🇮🇩 **East Java (Surabaya):** Madura Strait’s calm estuary; Dutch naval and sugar-export hub.
– 🇸🇬 **Malaya (Singapore):** Deep, island-guarded anchorage on world crossroads; free port since 1819, still top global hub.
– 🇦🇺 **New South Wales (Sydney):** Port Jackson deep ria; foundation of Australia’s leading colonial port.
– 🇻🇳 **Mekong (Cam Ranh):** Narrow-mouthed deep bay; prized naval anchorage despite limited trade.
