I noticed while comparing Conan's world to real-world physical maps that, if you ignore the maps of later authors (such as the one in the Mongoose book) and approach it without preconceptions, Hyborean geography seems to map very closely to the real-world. It seems to me that REH was quite clearly using the real world as his model, and later cartographers have sadly ignored this.
Eg: I've been looking at Zamora. Most maps seem to place it somewhere over the modern Ukraine or even further east. But Zamora is bounded by the Kezankian mts to the east, and the Balkhana to the south. Looking at a real world map it became immediately obvious that Zamora must coincide with real-world Romania: the Carpathians are the Kezankians, the Balkans are the Balkhanas - Howard didn't exactly go in for unnecessary obfuscation with his namings!
I was wondering if there are any good sites for further research along these lines? What Hyborean geography (as written by REH, not secondary sources) is irreconcilable with the real-world, given a change in sea level? The only thing I can think of that might well be is his apparently having west Africa beneath the waves; especially the Atlas mts in north Africa. I'm wondering if even this might be reconcilable by putting the Black Coast roughly where the modern African coast is, and letting the Pictish coast be further west than commonly thought, so the mountainous parts of Britain would be in Cimmeria not in Pictland, and the mountains of Scotland would probably mark the Cimmerian-Vanir border...
Eg: I've been looking at Zamora. Most maps seem to place it somewhere over the modern Ukraine or even further east. But Zamora is bounded by the Kezankian mts to the east, and the Balkhana to the south. Looking at a real world map it became immediately obvious that Zamora must coincide with real-world Romania: the Carpathians are the Kezankians, the Balkans are the Balkhanas - Howard didn't exactly go in for unnecessary obfuscation with his namings!
I was wondering if there are any good sites for further research along these lines? What Hyborean geography (as written by REH, not secondary sources) is irreconcilable with the real-world, given a change in sea level? The only thing I can think of that might well be is his apparently having west Africa beneath the waves; especially the Atlas mts in north Africa. I'm wondering if even this might be reconcilable by putting the Black Coast roughly where the modern African coast is, and letting the Pictish coast be further west than commonly thought, so the mountainous parts of Britain would be in Cimmeria not in Pictland, and the mountains of Scotland would probably mark the Cimmerian-Vanir border...