Muhammad Abdulaziz was never a smart man-but he was an ambitious one. Growing up in New Cairo, he breathed the sea and always wanted to explore the Mediterranean. After scraping enough funds to hire a small fleet of boats, a crew of men, and an ancient atlas of the Mediterranean, he set off on a quest- a quest to find Al-Uroppa, also known as Europe. The United Arab Federation did not exactly know how to find Europe, they only knew it was close by and that traders coming east from Jerusalem whispered of a new Caesar in the mystical city of Rome every once and so often. He had a very crude knowledge of how to run a ship, but his career as a sailor assisted him.

On the day he had planned for so long, him and his ragtag crew took off to find Europe. After many days of sailing, he came across a small island. "This is the land of Sicily!" he proclaimed, as he met with the local arabic-speaking inhabitants of the island. He sent a letter back marking his discoveries to the United Arab Federation government who made deals with the local population, to invite them into the Egypt province of the United Arab Federation, a deal that was accepted by the natives.

After a few more days of (confused) sailing, he came across a massive shoreline dotted with olive groves. "Huzzah!" Abdulaziz exclaimed, "I have discovered Al-Yunan, the land of olives!" Al-Yunan was better known as Greece- but in fact, he discovered something else that most of the United Arab Federation has already known for some time- an uncontrolled region of the Cyrenaica Island, which was mostly occupied by the kingdom of Mechili. He sent a letter back to the United Arab Federation government, who rushed to occupy the region and set up new communities with the Arabic-speaking natives.

Muhammad Abdulaziz would die of scurvy on the trip home without ever knowing that he actually discovered Europe- but his "discoveries" led the United Arab Federation to a better future.

Meanwhile, local Arabic communities down the Nile, near 5th of November City have voted to join Egypt and the United Arab Federation- just like those across the Nile, they are incredibly agrarian communities who produce a lot of food.

EXPANSION MAP (expanded provinces in blue)

ABSTRACT