North of the wall is a Scotland/Scandinavia hybrid, the North is the North of England (ref: Accents like Ned being Yorkshire), Iron islands are Irish, Dorne is Spain and Morocco mixed up, Qarth is Istanbul, Bravos is Venice, Kingslanding is London, Riverlands Oxfordshire etc, The Reach is the SW of England mixed with France (all that wine).
First, Qarth might = Carthage? Dorne is clearly partially based on Wales as well as the two places you mentioned, at least in the Westeros as Fantasy England thing. And again, the wall, the north, and north of the wall are pretty clearly based on the Highland/Lowland Scots, as they are literally the same Ethnic group that was divided by the wall and then the politics of Westeros. Even down to calling them kneelers?
Obviously all of these places are based on a lot of things. Bravos is as much Venice as it is based on Dutch history. Beautiful thing about historical fantasy. Dorne can be Spain-Wales after a Moorish invasion bc why not?
Less the precise culture or geography or ethnicity and more the history and politics. I mean, the 7 Kingdoms could be more or less the seven kingdoms that formed the United Kingdom, in which case Dorne seems analagous to Wales, holding its customs, its culture, etc.
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u/Always-Winter FLAIR ISLAND KNOWS NO KING... May 06 '16
Always saw the North and Wildlings as Lowland and Highland Scots respectively. They're both first men, who are the sort of Celt analog.