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About a thousand years ago, the Vikings discovered North America, long before Columbus did.
And last year, I made a video speculating on what could have happened, had they stayed.
Rather than being almost wiped out like in our own timeline, the indigenous Americans
could have benefited from the Eurasian innovations, they had missed out on, because of mere geography…
[record scratch] Well what a coincidence!!
I happen to have a video on the exact same topic, and by the looks of it, we’ve come
to many of the same conclusions.
Of course, it looks like there’s much more to cover, what do you say about tackling this
scenario as a team?
Oh!
Well, hello, Monsieur Z!
Nice to see you here!
That sounds like a great idea!
How about I cover the first couple of centuries and then you can pick it up from there?
Sounds like a plan!
See you over at my channel.
Well, better get to work.
That is just awesome!
All right, so how would the story of the Americas continue in this alternate timeline?
What peoples, nations and civilisations could arise in the wake of this pivotal change of history?
And would they be able to withstand the European attempts at colonisation?
Let's find out!
[CONTENT THIEVES: IF YOU STEAL MY CONTENT I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL DCMA YOU!]
It’s become a widely known fact that the Vikings discovered America long before Columbus did.
In my previous video, I speculated on what alternate historical development may have
allowed these Old Norse settlers to retain a permanent presence on the North American continent.
The indigenous peoples could then benefit from the stuff brought over from Europe like
crops, livestock and iron, so they would stand a better chance when Europeans arrived later again.
However, if the Norse had stayed in America, could diseases not also have wiped out many
of the natives?
Would germs like smallpox be carried over at all at that point in time?
An interesting solution to this problem could be formed by cowpox associated with the very
cattle brought over by the Norse. [credit: Adam Baker]
That late medieval Europeans were so disease-ridden is attributed to their close contact with
livestock on the one hand and living in densely populated cities with bad sanitation on the other.
Exposure to cowpox gives immunity to smallpox, which was also how vaccinations eventually
were discovered in 19th century Europe in the first place!
In fact, there is a specific genetic mutation associated with poxvirus immunity that looks
like it was spread throughout Europe by Viking incursions.
So with the introduction of the relatively harmless cowpox, the natives of the Americas
would have a more benign way to develop predetermined immunity without a major loss of population.
Now, the question is whether the mere knowledge of lands far to the northwest, would immediately
invite European colonists over, as many presume.
Well, not necessarily!
In our timeline, colonisation was a happenstance that developed from simply wanting to find
alternative trade routes and maximising profit.
Through the Silk route, Europeans already knew about the distant lands of India and
the Far East, but that never compelled them to come and take over the place until much later.
We could even envisage a Cocoa route, facilitated by Norse traders, running over Greenland all
the way down to Mesoamerica without perturbing developments in the Americas all too much.
Nevertheless, an important factor for our scenario here would still be prolonged isolation.
This way, the indigenous peoples may have enough time to develop further, before any
expansion-hungry European imperialists would arrive.
And that hinges on the extinction of the Norse settlements in Greenland like also happened
in our timeline, as well as a loss of interest on both sides of the Atlantic to maintain contact.
What we now know as Newfoundland in our timeline would probably become the most heavily colonised,
maybe even replacing the native peoples almost entirely, as the natives there were hunter-gatherers
with low population sizes.
From this base, the slowly growing Norse settlements would likely spread along coasts and waterways,
following in the footsteps of Norse traders and Viking raiders.
This would eventually bring them into contact with two main cultures:
The Eastern Woodland Culture and the budding civilization developing in the interior of
North America, which we now know as the Mississippian Culture.
In our timeline, the Eastern Woodland cultures are the ancestors of native Algonquian and
Iroquois peoples amongst others.
They were farmers; growing maize & beans, but also hunted game.
The “Ancient Mississippians” also grew maize and beans, but much more intensively
and developed an intricate trade network spanning the interior of the continent.
They had complex, layered societies with countless permanent settlements featuring large mounds
with buildings on top that probably were city-states.
Navigating the extended river system, American Norsemen could’ve played a similar role
on the Mississippian Watershed as the Varangian and Rus Norsemen did on the East European Plain.
After some initial raiding and trading, the Norse could start demanding tribute, or protection
money, eventually establishing themselves as ruling class.
In Europe, the Rus eventually assimilated into the Slavic nations they ruled over, leading
to major nations like Russia, and the American Norsemen would likely have done the same.
Ancient Mississippian society would then also have gotten some welcome upgrades.
Wheat would make an excellent additional crop for these experienced farmers to start growing.
The Ancient Mississippians were already engaged in basic copper working, by manufacturing
elaborate copper plaques, so they’d probably be quick to adopt iron metallurgy from the Norse.
The introduction of horses and the wheel for transport of people and goods in between the
river network would also prove very beneficial, as well as norse boat technology.
So it would certainly become easier to maintain larger, richer and more centralised kingdoms!
The Great Plains to the west, being dryer and less suitable to agriculture in those
days, would probably host smaller chiefdoms of nomadic horseback-riding peoples.
The American equivalent of Eurasian steppe peoples like the Mongols.
So by the 14th century these developments could result in the following centres of civilisation:
Traditional Vinland Norse around the Gulf of Lawrence
A mix of Norse and indigenous cultures along the Northern east Coast and Great Lakes
Feudal Mississippians spanning the North American river systems
Nomadic horseback riding peoples on the Great Plains
The latter group would be the most likely to eventually come into contact with the Mesoamerican
civilisations, which at that time had just entered their Late Post-classical period.
The influential Mayan civilisation had collapsed hundreds of years earlier and was reduced
to a few minor city-states.
To the west of formerly Mayan lands, the brand-new empire of the Aztecs reigned supreme in what
today is Southern Mexico in our timeline.
It is likely that the Aztecs would be overwhelmed by the hordes of armoured, mounted warriors
coming in from the North, like Mongols or Huns pressing the civilisations of Europe and Asia.
The civilisation of the Incas, flanking the South American Andes, may have been left relatively
undisturbed, as well as the peoples of the tropical rainforests and beyond, for the time being.
So what could have happened when Europeans came back again in the late 15th century?
Improved immunity to diseases and the much greater numbers due to widescale intensive
agriculture, makes colonisation very different from that in our own timeline.
Also the mobility and leverage provided by horses and the possession of iron armour and
weapons, meant the natives could put up quite a fight!
Late medieval Europeans did have gun powder technology, but firearms are not infallible.
For instance, in our own timeline, the Mapuche from Southern South America quickly learned
that the primitive muskets did not work very well in rainy weather.
Also, the Aztecs equipped their warriors with armour consisting of sturdy cotton pads reinforced
with brine, that could ward off arrows and bullets to some degree.
and easily be developed into bullet-proof vests.
So all in all, the Indigenous Americans are now not so easily subdued as in our own timeline.
South America would be more vulnerable, however, except perhaps for the Inca empire.
Any attempts at colonising the Americas would be much more like what happened in Asia.
Even though the Spanish and Portuguese came first, other European nations like the Dutch,
the English and the French would compete much more severely for land and resources.
The major powers dividing up the continent could make South America a much more diverse
colonial landscape, with larger English, Dutch, and French possessions compared to Spanish
and Portuguese ones.
This “Scramble for South America” may have looked similar to the later colonisation
of Africa.
The fate of Central America could correspond to that of West Africa, the Amazonas to the
Congo and the Southern Cone to Southern Africa.
In the north, the European powers would have to deal with already existing nations of a
partly European, though rather divergent nature.
Ignoring the fact that this may have radically affected developments on the European continent,
by the end of the 17th century, the map could perhaps have looked like this:
The North American continent would be littered with trading outposts and small settlements
acquired either by conquest or diplomacy, not unlike the situation in Asia.
The Dutch may still have sat on the mouth of the Hudson River, creating a hub for the
fur trade, and English trade posts and plantations may have dotted the East coast.
Florida, as an outlier unsuitable for traditional agriculture, may become claimed entirely by
the Spanish, and the French may still settle smaller parts of French Louisiana.
South America could look like this: [map]
So how to go from here?
For the continuation of this alternate history, check out this video by Monsieur Z !
Take it away, Z!
Thanks for watching and remember: History is made by individuals!
Bye, bye!