Thank you all for your suggestions, I really appreciate them!

I use Adobe Photoshop CS3 but nothing I am doing could not be accomplished with an older copy of Photoshop.

Here's the latest update, which includes your guy's advice/suggestions. The elevations were made less embossed/raised/elevated. The drop shadows were removed. The River's background was removed. I also created a few new countries, mostly in the upper triangular peninsula which is a mad house of barbarians and miners constantly fighting over large deposits of gold.


amalga__1_8_by_elemental_elf-d4wvm7r.jpg
(LINK TO THE TRUE RESOLUTION OF THE MAP (which is too large for the site to handle)).