Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:00 am
Burma can buy what is produced in British India, but not overland through more than one commerce area. So if the commerces areas around the Burma commerce area contains at least one national region of a nation, then Burma can access the main stock of the target country (in this case, perhaps China can be reached, I would need to check the extent of Chinese national regions).
Said differently, you can only buy 'by land' stuff which is either produced locally, or stocks of a nation that has some national soil in the area. Historically long range trade was by sea. Then you could have some trade by river or train, but anyway you never had on a large scale a trade involving say merchandises trains departing from Moscow and delivering goods in Madrid. So this is the restriction on land trade: your commerce area and the areas around it. Further: you need a commerce fleet. This also emphasize how sea trade was important in this era.

Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."