(For previous parts of the series, see here, here, and here)
Ok, I am the Prince/Princess of Dorne. What do I have to work with? Well, Dorne is geographically closest to the Free Cities, which is very useful for trade. In addition, Dorne also produces very good exports – exotic produce (olives, peppers, citrus fruits), wines, textiles (Dornish silks and satins), and fine horses.
What are my problems? Well, like the North, I have a low population and less fertile soil than the rest of Westeros. I’m also not geographically situated conveniently to the rest of Westeros compared to the Reach or the Riverlands.
So how do I deal with these problems?
Goal 1: The Water Must Flow
The first limit to growth that must be dealt with is the lack of water, which is worth diamonds in Dorne. Which means that I need a massive desert-greening campaign based around:
- the construction of artificial wadis protected by your hardier trees (acacias, eucalyptus, cacias, conifers, cedars, etc.). The wadis store water from rain, the trees prevent evaporation through shade, and then you can begin building irrigation canals out from the wadis.
- in the areas of Dorne prone to flash floods, the construction of diversion canals and dams centered on the existing seasonal rivers, once again protected by trees, and then linked up to irrigation canals.
- down the line, once I’ve got the money for it, divert the Torrentine east. The amount of potable water that is wasted by the river’s straight plunge into the sea is absurd, and if I can divert some or all of that water to spill down into that valley between Sandstone and Hellholt (properly guided through canals to prevent flooding), I can make a third of Dorne bloom (with no need for Aerys’ tunnels).
With more water, more land can be turned over to cultivation, as I’ll talk about next. However, this more water should remain under Princely control (by starting the process in House Martell’s own lands, and expanding outwards by lending money for construction in return for water rights), so that it can be used to improve political influence over the various lesser Houses.
Goal 2: The Earth Must Produce
Now that I’ve got more water to work with, it’s time to begin to improve the soil and bring it under cultivation, starting in “the eastern half of Dorne,” which “is largely barren scrub, it’s dry, stony soil, yielding little, even when irrigated.” (And that’s with the Greenblood). The first step is to improve the quality of the soil through the planting of hardy plants (lyme grass, sea couch grass, marram grass, and other anti-erosion plants used in coastal landscaping) that thrive on sand and salty soil (which also helps to lower the salinity in the soil), as well as those hardy trees described above to provide shade and prevent evaporation.
Together, these steps should begin to improve the quality of the soil so that the additional water acquired above can actually have a significant effect. In the mean time, one strategy for improving agricultural production in desert climates is to build saltwater-cooled greenhouses to spur the production of Dorne’s traditional export crops in coastal areas). It’s fairly easy to do, Dorne has no shortage of raw materials, and export production is key to prosperity in a country with a small population. Where possible, I should also be looking for staple crops that thrive on bad soil – has anyone invented the potato yet?
And the same time, I also need to make previously useless territory productive. To begin with: salt. Dorne’s got tons of it, it was historically immensely valuable, and there’s no reason why I couldn’t encourage House Gargalen to turn Salt Shore into a center of salt-production (especially if I can use evaporation processes to produce fresh water at the same time) that would leave Saltpans in the dust. Equally if not more importantly, there’s no way in hell the Red Mountains don’t have valuable minerals in them – mostly likely iron and copper. Set up some large-scale mining operations in the Red Mountains, and then set up smelting mills, foundries, and workshops near-by to produce ironwork and copperwork for export.
Goal 3: Trade, The Wealth of Nations
So, now that I’ve got my exports humming, it’s time to get into commerce to sell them and pay for all the improvements I’ve been making (note – these are going to have be done at the same time, as more production -> more trade -> cash for the improvements that drive production).
A Dornish State Bank is going to be useful here, although it’s not going to be anywhere the size of a Reach Land Bank or a Casterly Rock Bank or a Royal Bank of Westeros. Indeed, I may need to partner with the Iron Bank and see what kind of start-up capital I could get for a 49% stake in the State Bank and a limited-time monopoly as middle-men for Dornish overseas trade.
In addition to helping to finance my production-boosting campaign, one of the chief tasks of the Dornish State Bank will be to sponsor ship construction at Planky Town (which, btw, is going to need a city charter asap, as will Sunspear; I’m also going to want to build a port-city somewhere on the Yronwood lands to use as a bribe/counter to their power). Given my limited resources, I’ll need to build a fleet that can do double-duty as navy and merchant marine – sort of a floating, armed sovereign wealth fund.
In addition to attempting to engross, regrate, and forestall as much of the Narrow Seas trade as I can (trading on the fact that I can get to the Free Cities faster than anyone else, as long as no one builds a canal), it might not be a bad thing to do some pirate hunting in the Stepstones and build some naval bases so that I can start taking control of the crossing. Maybe sign a compact with Braavos and the Three Sisters limiting the tolls I can charge in return for recognition of Dornish control, pay a hefty share back to the Crown, but it’s still a mostly-free source of revenue I can use to fuel the State Bank. That it also gives an excuse to have a large, well-blooded navy is of no consequence.
Down the road, I probably also want to build a shipping canal that connects the Scourage to the Yronwood, massively cutting down on the time it takes those caravans to get to where they’re going, allowing for faster movement of metalworks to Plankytown for export, etc. (Also allowing me fast access to Yronwood if they ever decide to get troppy again). It’s not going to be anywhere near as productive as the Mander or Blue Fork Canal, but you need to do the best with what you’ve got.
Goal 4: Immigration, Urbanization, and Dornish Customs
The thing about new land and new industries and more commerce is that it all takes people and Dorne doesn’t have many of those. Now, once the land begins to produce, that’ll change, but that’ll take a few generations to kick off.
In the mean time, I’ll need to look to immigration – and Dorne is close-ish to Essos, and has some advantages in attracting immigrants. For one, we’re not a bunch of racist, religious-fanatic prudes like them in King’s Landing. For another, we’ve got our Dornish solidarity going.
So a good deal of the land I’ve just put into cultivation, the new towns and cities in the mining and manufacturing districts and the commercial hubs of the east, will go to attract new settlers – the Summer Islanders are great sailors and shipbuilders and archers, the Free Cities have excellent artisans and merchants (it would be great to get some of the Rhoynar to settle in their home away from home, maybe encourage the mother tongue and Rhoynish culture?). Getting them to come across might involve some Jon Snow-esque emancipation tactics, but maybe we can partner up with the Braavosi to do some plausibly-deniable slave-liberation too (don’t want to provoke a foreign war until I’ve got my population up and the Summer Islanders and the sandy Dornish can get together and start to talk about the Dothraki).
But one major draw, and one of the major ways I’m going to need to channel the discontent with the rapid urbanization and social change in general, is going to be an expanded version of Dornish solidarity – namely, it’s time for a social insurance system (might need some more Braavosi advisers to help with that) to provide protection against old age, disability, the loss of a spouse, etc. Here in Dorne, everyone looks out for everyone.
(Next up – the Westerlands).
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