At the time the book begins in 2415, the Yukon Confederacy controls North America, Australasia, Britain, Iceland and Greenland. A Turkish empire controls the Muslim world, including Europe, Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan; since it is based at Tashkent, "Turkish" here may be used in the generic sense. A totalitarian (and apparently still Communist) China rules virtually all of East Asia, including Siberia, Korea, and Japan. India, Ethiopia, the Philippines and a much-truncated Russia (called "Pan-Slavia" or the "Slavic Remnant") remain independent and allied with the Yukons, while Africa is divided among numerous feuding states variously supported by the Yukons, the Turks and the Chinese. Finally, Latin America is dominated by a collection of banana republics; among others, Judson lists a bandit-plagued Mexico, Brazil (since the Muslim conquest of Europe, the home of the Pope), Greater Colombia, and the Argentine Empire.