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We have limited context for the maps in ASOIAF, and one of my hobbies is cartography, a fascinating and artful form of science which has essentially defined our world since Ptolemy. It's also critical for properly envisioning fictional universes, and GRRM has always done this right, by presenting the cartography in traditional styles. The shape of Westeros for example is clearly not totally accurate; it is instead based on the shape of medieval maps. This probably implies that the shape of the map is such that all places are at a correct distance from each other, regardless of latitude and longitude. That is to say, the map conveys traveler's information, as Roman maps did, with less shape information.
This allows us to obtain, however, certain characteristics of various territories despite the fact that their portrayal is inaccurate. There is also certainly a location that distances are measured from -- Oldtown, being the headquarters of the Maesters. Thus we should expect the map to properly give distance between any location on it and Oldtown, within the knowledge of the Maesters. Any other distance will be very inaccurate; what is known accurately, however, is that the wall is 300 miles long. If we scale the most common very large map official map using the fact that the size of the wall represents the equivalent of 300 miles with the distortion appropriate for the Gnomonic projection -- an Azimuthal traveler's map centred at Oldtown -- which would meet with the advanced knowledge of the Maesters, the likelihood of their focusing the map on where the order is headquartered, and the interest in distance being the most important feature. Thus, straight lines correspond to great circle routes.
Some initial information reveals itself about the area of particularly interesting features, mostly islands.
Firstly, this kind of scaling suggests that The Arbor is the same size as Sardinia. When you think about the history of Sardinia in European politics, the Redwyne wealth and enormous galley fleet become both obvious and reasonable. Such an island with a climate made rainier by exposure to the prevailing winds from the western ocean will be like Madeira writ large.
Secondly, we find that Dragonstone is not at all a small island. It is comparable in size to Ruegen, in northern Germany, on the lower end, and on the high end, to Rhodes in Greece. It is a respectable principality in its own right and explains nicely the size in strength of men and the wealth that allowed the Targaryen to support their dragons for a hundred years, no easy proposition, and fund the conquest. The Driftmark is thus probably about the size of Gotland, as well.
The Three Sisters north of the Vale are another example--they are mentioned as having made attempts at various times to become an independent Kingdom. Longsister is also about the size of Gotland, Sweetsister is comparable in size to Dragonstone (and Ruegen), and Littlesister is around the size of the Isle of Man; one could indeed plausibly call that an independent state by medieval standards.
Now, on to the problematic Iron Islands, which seem much too small for the influence that they have. In fact, Harlaw is about the size of Zealand in Denmark, Old Wyk is comparable to Soqotra, Blacktyde is around the size of the Isle of Man, and Great Wyk is approximately 6,000 square miles, on the low end the size of the Island of Flores in Indonesia and on the high end the size of New Caledonia. So the land-mass of the Iron Islands equates in size to the modern day Kingdom of Belgium.
By extension the Reach is somewhere between the size of Turkey and Bolivia, probably about on the same scale as Egypt -- with the climate of France, but at its most likely figure, one and a half times the size. Since modern France is much larger than Medieval France, we could probably extrapolate from this that the Reach-men may raise an army from two to three times the size of medieval France in Knights and Men-at-Arms, comparable to that of Hungary before its destruction, if you as I do tend to accept the Hungarian army estimates as the Pannonian plain was of great fertility.
This would further extend to the estimate that the populated portions of the conquests of Aegon correspond to around the size of the conquests of Tamburlane. Aegon, by land territory, exceeds Tamburlane by half again through the inclusion of the lightly peopled but vast middle and northern regions of the North. With this inclusion, Aegon the conqueror unified an area roughly the same size as the Western Han in 2 AD when they dominated the Tarim Basin protectorates.
As an addendum, this makes the total pre-conquest holdings of the Targaryen, including their vassals the Velaryon and the Celtigar, collectively about the size in territorial landmass of the Balearic Islands (somewhat larger most likely), with a similar focus on grazing rather than full farming. In the early 1300s under King Sanç was able to provide 20 large galleys of war to the Aragonese expeditions to Sardinia and the old Taifa of the Balearic islands had defended itself with several thousand men during the ultimately successful Christian attempts at conquest. I choose that example as being both medieval and the Balearics having no large cities like Rhodes which could increase to considerable proportions the size of the Army of the Conqueror. Based on the context of the relatively small initial force that founded the Aegonfort and landed in Westeros proper and the need to establish allies on land to support the dragons properly, it's quite certain that the comparison holds better than one to the Rhodian Republic of Antiquity. We may therefore suppose that Aegon the Conqueror landed with twenty warships and, including troops conveyed by hired vessels, two to four thousand of his own bannermen in the Crownlands; of course, "taxing" the trade into the Blackwater made the Targaryen, Velaryon and Celtigar extremely rich, so the strength was certainly augmented by sellswords and sellsails.
This allows us to obtain, however, certain characteristics of various territories despite the fact that their portrayal is inaccurate. There is also certainly a location that distances are measured from -- Oldtown, being the headquarters of the Maesters. Thus we should expect the map to properly give distance between any location on it and Oldtown, within the knowledge of the Maesters. Any other distance will be very inaccurate; what is known accurately, however, is that the wall is 300 miles long. If we scale the most common very large map official map using the fact that the size of the wall represents the equivalent of 300 miles with the distortion appropriate for the Gnomonic projection -- an Azimuthal traveler's map centred at Oldtown -- which would meet with the advanced knowledge of the Maesters, the likelihood of their focusing the map on where the order is headquartered, and the interest in distance being the most important feature. Thus, straight lines correspond to great circle routes.
Some initial information reveals itself about the area of particularly interesting features, mostly islands.
Firstly, this kind of scaling suggests that The Arbor is the same size as Sardinia. When you think about the history of Sardinia in European politics, the Redwyne wealth and enormous galley fleet become both obvious and reasonable. Such an island with a climate made rainier by exposure to the prevailing winds from the western ocean will be like Madeira writ large.
Secondly, we find that Dragonstone is not at all a small island. It is comparable in size to Ruegen, in northern Germany, on the lower end, and on the high end, to Rhodes in Greece. It is a respectable principality in its own right and explains nicely the size in strength of men and the wealth that allowed the Targaryen to support their dragons for a hundred years, no easy proposition, and fund the conquest. The Driftmark is thus probably about the size of Gotland, as well.
The Three Sisters north of the Vale are another example--they are mentioned as having made attempts at various times to become an independent Kingdom. Longsister is also about the size of Gotland, Sweetsister is comparable in size to Dragonstone (and Ruegen), and Littlesister is around the size of the Isle of Man; one could indeed plausibly call that an independent state by medieval standards.
Now, on to the problematic Iron Islands, which seem much too small for the influence that they have. In fact, Harlaw is about the size of Zealand in Denmark, Old Wyk is comparable to Soqotra, Blacktyde is around the size of the Isle of Man, and Great Wyk is approximately 6,000 square miles, on the low end the size of the Island of Flores in Indonesia and on the high end the size of New Caledonia. So the land-mass of the Iron Islands equates in size to the modern day Kingdom of Belgium.
By extension the Reach is somewhere between the size of Turkey and Bolivia, probably about on the same scale as Egypt -- with the climate of France, but at its most likely figure, one and a half times the size. Since modern France is much larger than Medieval France, we could probably extrapolate from this that the Reach-men may raise an army from two to three times the size of medieval France in Knights and Men-at-Arms, comparable to that of Hungary before its destruction, if you as I do tend to accept the Hungarian army estimates as the Pannonian plain was of great fertility.
This would further extend to the estimate that the populated portions of the conquests of Aegon correspond to around the size of the conquests of Tamburlane. Aegon, by land territory, exceeds Tamburlane by half again through the inclusion of the lightly peopled but vast middle and northern regions of the North. With this inclusion, Aegon the conqueror unified an area roughly the same size as the Western Han in 2 AD when they dominated the Tarim Basin protectorates.
As an addendum, this makes the total pre-conquest holdings of the Targaryen, including their vassals the Velaryon and the Celtigar, collectively about the size in territorial landmass of the Balearic Islands (somewhat larger most likely), with a similar focus on grazing rather than full farming. In the early 1300s under King Sanç was able to provide 20 large galleys of war to the Aragonese expeditions to Sardinia and the old Taifa of the Balearic islands had defended itself with several thousand men during the ultimately successful Christian attempts at conquest. I choose that example as being both medieval and the Balearics having no large cities like Rhodes which could increase to considerable proportions the size of the Army of the Conqueror. Based on the context of the relatively small initial force that founded the Aegonfort and landed in Westeros proper and the need to establish allies on land to support the dragons properly, it's quite certain that the comparison holds better than one to the Rhodian Republic of Antiquity. We may therefore suppose that Aegon the Conqueror landed with twenty warships and, including troops conveyed by hired vessels, two to four thousand of his own bannermen in the Crownlands; of course, "taxing" the trade into the Blackwater made the Targaryen, Velaryon and Celtigar extremely rich, so the strength was certainly augmented by sellswords and sellsails.