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United 7Kingdom vs United Free Cities minus Braavos, who's richer ?


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Braavos is excluded because adding them would make the result too obvious. So it's Westeros minus land beyond the wall vs Pentos,Myr,Lys,Tyrosh,Norvos,Lorath,Qohor and Volantis plus its branch cities. Also including areas surrounding those cities i.e  Flatlands and great forest of Qohor. GDP wise, who has higher number ? Which one is richer in your opinion ?

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2 hours ago, Daendrew said:

With Westeros 3m dragons in debt, I'd go with the Free Cities :)

They are richer and more populated than Westeros to begin with.

They are not more populated than Westeros. They are 9 city states of varying size. Cities like Tyrosh and Lorath may well be of approximately Lannisport size, while the likes of Lys, Pentos etc. are likely in the Oldtown range.

Volantis seems to have around twice the population of King's Landing, while Braavos is known to be smaller than Volantis, but more powerful militarily. So I'd put Braavos at around 750k in population.

In any case, the Free Cities have a combined population larger than that of the 5 Westerosi cities, sure, but they don't have anything close to the rural population that Westeros has. Overall I would give Westeros a higher population than the combined Free Cities.

In terms of wealth, however, it is a more difficult comparison. Westeros often seems to be underestimated in these discussions. With 200 warships and 1000 merchant ships House Redwynne alone is likely wealthier than some entire cities. Certainly Lord Redwynne is wealthier than Xharo Xoan Daxos's entire Merchant Guild of Thirteen (of which Xaro is only one of the Thirteen members by the way). All Thirteen combined only have about 1000 ships. In fact, Lord Redwynne has as many ships as the most powerful of the Three Merchant Guilds in Qarth, the Ancient Guild of Spicers, which has 1200 ships.

And Redwynne is at best only the third or fourth wealthiest lord in Westeros, with the Hightowers and Lannisters far ahead of him, and the Tyrells perhaps above him too. Maybe even others we don't know about yet.

Anyway, on the population front I would give it to Westeros. On the wealth front it is more difficult. For all we know there is more gold in Casterly Rock than all the assets of the Iron Bank combined. But I guess the Free Cities with their trade revenues could conceivably generate more wealth than Westeros. I would not be surprised, however, if it swings the other way around, with Westeros being the wealthier of the two.

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8 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

In any case, the Free Cities have a combined population larger than that of the 5 Westerosi cities, sure, but they don't have anything close to the rural population that Westeros has.

When is that mentioned?

We know of a further three towns in the vicinity of Volantis, which would be regarded as cities in Westeros.

Yet years of expansion under the tigers gave Volantis control over several lesser cities, most notable amongst them the great river "towns" of Volon Therys, Valysar, and Selhorys (each larger and more populous than King's Landing or Oldtown).

There may well be other 'towns' like this throughout Essos.

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Isn't the Iron Bank sending representatives to Westeros in the last few books calling in all of its' debts?

So even if you discount Braavos in your calculations, the amount of debt owed by the nobility of Westeros in itself might be enough to impoverish the realm as a whole.

Whither the IB is doing the same on Essos .... is any ones guess.

So, a little bit in the black might be enough to offset the overwhelming red in the Westerosi accounts.

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