Minarets of Atlantis

Minarets of Atlantis


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The Expulsion of the Atlanteans

Mahdia, Emirate of Bayouk
Ramadan/Yenayir 1116 AH (December 1704 AD Gregorian)*

Soufiane and Maimona sat, slowly beginning to sip on their shouqatl naa’na, the hot chocolate-mint beverage so loved by the Atlanteans as the call to sunset prayer rang from the Grand Mosque of Mahdia. The local Baywanis did not care much for the drink, no more than they cared for the Atlanteans themselves. Unlike across the oceans where in Fes, Marrakech and Constantinople many sympathizers could be found (and where found indeed, helping resettle the Atlanteans after their expulsion by the Spaniards decades earlier), the Baywanis had their own history and memory of expulsion which earned them only their lives, what they could carry on their backs, and ships to the unknown New World of which the young turcophile Moroccan Sultan, Abu Marwan Abdelmalik, had been eager to claim a stake. No, the Baywanis, descendants of the Mudéjar, twice expelled, felt little sympathy for the descendants of Berber and Corsair merchants and Aztec elites, expelled from what the Muslims called Atlantis to the more northerly dominions of Islam in the New World.

To the sound of canons blasting to announce the breaking of the fast, Maimouna closed her eyes briefly, inhaling the scent of cacaou, and imagined herself as a child in Atlantis. Many decades before, as with this year, the Holy Month of Ramadan coincided with Yenayir, the Berber New Year.

Overlooked by the ulema in Atlantis, to whom Islam was brought by Berbers themselves, its celebration rivaled that of the Eids or the Moulid, the celebration of the birth of the Prophet. Draped in their finest gowns and shawls of jaguar skin, the Atlanteans would make their way to the Grand Mosque of Yahya At-Teyokali, a corruption of the indigenous Aztec Huei Teocalli to give thanks to the Almighty for salvation of Aztec temple and capital from the Spaniards by the alliance between their ruler Moqtezouma, and bands of marooned Iberian and North Africans, sure that this sun-worshipping civilization was Atlantis, if not the descendants of antediluvian Irem of Arabian legend.

The subsequent adoption of Islam by this empire and Berberization of its elite made it a prime destination for Berber nobles as the Saadi dynasty ascended in Morocco and as the Ottomans displaced the Zayyanids and Hafsids to the east, both of whom encouraged the migration to the New World for the displaced Berber elites and Mudéjar arrivals alike. In Atlantis, for over a century the Berbers and natives resisted the encroachments of the Spaniards all around, with much assistance from Corsairs. From Atlantis to Mesopotamia, the alliance between the Arab dynasty in Morocco and the Ottomans plagued the Spaniards and allowed for the development of Atlantean society, as well as the exploration more north and settlement of Mudéjars, who would Islamize the local Balaqman people and create what would become Bayouk - a poor colony at the mouth of the Greater Nile, compared to the richness of Atlantis; but incomparably larger thanks to the friendly reception the Muslims received on the interior, and the Anglo-Moroccan alliance at sea.

Maimouna opened her eyes again as Soufiane held her aging hand with his own and fed her a date.

Adjusting her long-ago worn out jaguar skin shawl to keep her warm.

Bennayu,” he whispered, wishing his wife a bonnus annus**, even if they were the last of a generation to remember the celebrations of Yenayir in Atlantis.

A local boy walking with his parents near where the aging couple sat tugged on his mother’s shawl pointing to Maimouna’s jaguar skin one. The elderly two laughed and smiled, the child’s parents scowling and muttering in Arabic at the unjustness of the wealth and flaunting of it on the part of the Atlantean expulsees in Bayouk. To the poorer Arabophone Baywanis, the Atlanteans were seen as the offspring of Berbers and Pagans, who had received for almost a century aide from the Moroccan sultan and later Ottoman caliph assistance for survival - something Iberian Baywanis' ancestors could only have dreamt of. To the Baywani elite, and the local emir however, the Atlanteans were a welcome source of wealth, education and a connection to trade across the various islands ruled by Europeans in the seas of the New World.

Sana tayeba,” Soufiane shouted to the family, wishing them a good year and laughing with his wife.

The moment’s mood quickly lightened with the arrival of the couple’s sons, son-in-laws and grandsons who had been in the mosque, greeted with the ululations of their daughters, daughter-in-laws and granddaughters who had finished preparing the meal. They were a family ahead of their time, one of the few Atlantean clans who’s children had intermarried with Baywanis. Their eldest, Ahmed, approached first to kiss their foreheads and present his children before the iftar was served.

Mowlati,” he addressed his mother regally, symbolically kissing her hand and pressing it to his forehead.

Maimouna's father had been a notable in Atlantis, the son of a Zayyanid noble before the arrival of the Ottomans in the Algiers Regency and his Aztec wife, Maimouna’s maternal grandmother. Her mother was the daughter of a Kouloughli, the creole descendants of janissaries and Algerian women in the Algiers Regency, some of whom would be sent to Atlantis from time to time to maintain the Ottoman-Moroccan presence in the ever-enclosed city. Ahmed, his children, and Soufiane and Maimouna’s other children likewise, approached the old couple, receiving their blessing, and finally they went inside to break the fast.

They may not have been the minarets of their long-gone Atlantis, Soufiane thought to himself; but those of Mahdia would do their job just as fine: proclaiming the Oneness of God to the pagans of the vastly undiscovered interior against a bulwark of colonies of the crusaders, ever-growing.




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*The Berber Calendar is said to be the continuation of the Julian, a Roman leftover in Berber North Africa. I had not thought of this originally, and so after much research and calculation, the AD Gregorian date for this opening story would have been around the end of December 1704, to allow for it to have been Yenayir (January) in the Berber calendar and simultaneously Ramadan in the Arabo-Islamic one.
**Bennayu is said to also be a Berber inheritance from the Roman presence in North Africa, "bonnus annus," Happy New Year.
 
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You are pretty new here, so dont take this wrong, but this tl doesnt belong in this (sub)forum, but rather in ASB or possibly the Writers Forum.

At best Atlantis existing is a Geological PoD, which by the conventions of this board goes into the ASB forum.
 
You are pretty new here, so dont take this wrong, but this tl doesnt belong in this (sub)forum, but rather in ASB or possibly the Writers Forum.

At best Atlantis existing is a Geological PoD, which by the conventions of this board goes into the ASB forum.

Is Atlantis just TTL's name for South America, or is it a the actual, mid-Atlantic continent?

'Cause if it's the former this is in the right place, if it's the latter it should be moved.
 
I'm guessing this is Atlantis as name for Western Hemisphere, from the author's phrasing.

Also the references to how it's the homeland of the Aztecs (among others):

Draped in their finest gowns and shawls of jaguar skin, the Atlanteans would make their way to the Grand Mosque of Yahya At-Teyokali, a corruption of the indigenous Aztec Huei Teocalli to give thanks to the Almighty for salvation of Aztec temple and capital from the Spaniards by the alliance between their ruler Moqtezouma, and bands of marooned Iberian and North Africans, sure that this sun-worshipping civilization was Atlantis, if not the descendants of antediluvian Irem of Arabian legend.
 
Yeah, I'm pretty sure from the sounds of it that Atlantis might be TTL's name for the Americas.

That issue aside, I have to say that it is actually a very well-written first update. It provides a little window onto the alternate world (which seems to involve some kind of badass Aztec-Berber mixed culture) but keeps one guessing about all the larger details. I think that I'll be looking forward to seeing more of this TL. Consider me subscribed.
 
Yes, Atlantis (Arabic: أطلنطس) is at least for now the name given to the Aztec empire by the Berbers who settled there as well as by the Arabophone Mudéjar and Moroccan settlement in "North America," and throughout the Arabo-Muslim world at this time. I haven't decided whether or not it may or may not extend to all of the New World in Arabic, let alone whether or not the Europeans will use it as well.

Atlanteans (Arabic: الأطلنطيين "Al-Atlantiyeen"), so far in the timeline, are therefore the Muslim Aztecs; (sometimes) specifically the descendants of the creole Aztec-Berber and Berberized Aztecs who fled to Bayouk (which is in a not-so-surprise location in "North America," points if you can already guess where) when it was finally recaptured by the Spanish. Differentiating this small, but wealthy and influential Berberized Muslim population from OTL Central America, from the Arabophone settlements in OTL North America of Arabized Iberians and North Africans (as I said in the intro "twice expelled") is important.

Since so far the timeline is told from the Muslims of the New World's perspective, I only use "Aztec" when distinguishing the pre-existing non-Muslim population from those who became Muslim and would later be expelled à l'acadien and end up in Bayouk.

It is safe to believe the small, core area of the Aztec empire is almost thoroughly Islamized, so the distinction between Atlanteans and Aztecs is only for the pre-contact and early period. (Afterall, the Spanish are throughout the rest of the region.) As with other regions Islamized by Arabs and Berbers, while distinctions and foreign elites initially matter, the walls come down eventually and a fusion Islamic culture emerges (think à le maghreb in OTL.)

Some interesting theories on Atlantis in the Arabo-Islamic tradition, which I already referenced once and will do so again are the Adites and the mythological land of Irem can be found found here. Of course, by the middle of the second millennium, Arabs and Muslims are well aware of the Greco-Roman tradition of Atlantis, and (80%) "Minarets of Atlantis" is an amazing name for anything.

Hope everyone enjoys!
 
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The Atlantean Civil War, source unknown.​

The Emirate of Atlantis, also known as the Taifa of the Triple Alliance, was an emirate established in 1520, following the defeat of Spanish conquistadors at the Battle of Tenoqtitlan[1] by emperor Moqtezouma II and Berber allies who had recently arrived in the region. The victory, however, was slight, limiting the emirate to the capital city and a few subjugated Muslim tribes between Tenoqtitlan and Al-Qulhawa[2] on the coast. Hostilities between the Atlanteans and the conquistadors of the Viceroyalty of New Spain would continue with occasional Moroccan and Ottoman aide until the 1585 Treaty of Santo Domingo, ending the Atlantean Civil War between the Moqtezouma II’s son Shamalboqa[3] and his Spanish allies, and daughter, Taqishba[4], and her Berber ones. The treaty established the emirate as a vassal of New Spain, as Morocco expanded its settlements in Bayouk.

Berber migration continued throughout the 16th century, due in part to Ottoman and Moroccan cooperation in North Africa. Like its predecessors in Iberia, the Moorish emirate of Atlantis eventually grew weak due to in-fighting and external pressure from the Spanish, and eventually collapsed in 1624 with the withdrawal of Ottoman and Moroccan support, in exchange for safe sea passage of the Morisco rebels in Spain[5] to Bayouk in the Moroccan New World. The Moqtezumid emirs were responsible for the expansion of the former temple into the palace and grand mosque of Yahya Al-Teyokali[6] in Tenoqtitlan, which was eventually converted into a cathedral. Despite its Islamization, Arabic remained a language spoken solely by the royal family, religious scholars and few Berber dynasts from the Algiers Regency and Tunis. Berber languages became the lingua franca, and were the mother tongue of the majority of the population upon their expulsion between 1624 and 1626.




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[1] Tenochtitlan
[2] San Juan de Ulúa island, Veracruz
[3] Chimalpopoca
[4] Tecuichpo Ixcaxochitzin, or Isabel Moctezuma
[5] Templo Mayor, or Huei Teocalli (Hence TTL's Berber bastardization into a non-existan man called Yahya Teyokali
[6] Expulsion of the Moriscos
 
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This is cool, I've had a colonial Granada timeline stewing in my head for a bit, and this is much cooler than what I've come up with. Please continue!
 
Now this looks like fun. Am I right in thinking that the POD is a delayed Reconquista (I don't see 16th-century Spain accepting Muslim vassals otherwise, even in the New World) and that the Greater Nile is the Mississippi?
 
Is the POD that the Caliphate of Cordoba conquers the entire Iberian peninsula and ends up converting Spain to Islam? An Islamic Spain TL would be interesting enough in its own right, let alone an Islamic Spain Colonizes the New World TL. :D
 
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Is the POD that the Moors conquer the entire Iberian peninsula and end up converting Spain to Islam? An Islamic Spain TL would be interesting enough in its own right, let alone an Islamic Spain Colonizes the New World TL. :D

If there are Morisco rebels in Spain, then Spain is Catholic, at least by the 17th century. It looks like the Reconquista ended at some point after 1520. What I'm wondering, though, is why there were conquistadors in Mexico when the war against Granada was still incomplete - wouldn't they still be needed at home?
 
Thank you to Nassirisimo, Fairdowner, SRT, Faeelin, and Jonathan Edelstein for the compliments and encouragement! Everyone else, also, thank you for your interest. It means a lot, the TL was something I was inspired by after reading a historical fiction novel recently, entitled Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition and the Defeat of the Moors by James RESTON JR.

I'm not sure of the exact dates yet (something I'd like to flesh out a detailed, chronological and research-intensive post on) but yes, JE, the idea is a slightly delayed finishing of the Reconquista. It will be a lot of character play between rulers, as one in 2014 can presume it would have enough desired cause and effects combined with the hand-of-God an author plays ;) Some key elements are:

  • Boabdil's rule being overrun by his uncle, delaying the Reconquest by only a few years but allowing for the Columbian discovery of the New World as per OTL (perhaps a few years later.)
  • Earlier Ottoman interference in the Moroccan sultanate via Hasan Pasha, the son of Barbarossa installing a more unified Muslim threat to the south of Spain. (Forcing Spain to accept a Muslim vassal for the time being.)
  • Queen Isabella going for, initially, a more lenient term and period of time for the Mudéjars to become Moriscos. Coupled with the next item, allowing for a larger and easier migrant source.
  • A group of Berbers (presumably allies of Boabdil or associated to those loyal to him) attempting to reach either Istanbul via the West; or an early expedition by the Saadi sultans who seemed eager to get involved in Spain's discoveries early on.
  • To come, without spoiling much as I've already mentioned it, a more solidified Anglo-Moroccan strategy between Elizabethan England and Saadite Morocco.
 
I'm not sure of the exact dates yet (something I'd like to flesh out a detailed, chronological and research-intensive post on) but yes, JE, the idea is a slightly delayed finishing of the Reconquista. It will be a lot of character play between rulers, as one in 2014 can presume it would have enough desired cause and effects combined with the hand-of-God an author plays ;) Some key elements are:

  • Boabdil's rule being overrun by his uncle, delaying the Reconquest by only a few years but allowing for the Columbian discovery of the New World as per OTL (perhaps a few years later.)
  • Earlier Ottoman interference in the Moroccan sultanate via Hasan Pasha, the son of Barbarossa installing a more unified Muslim threat to the south of Spain. (Forcing Spain to accept a Muslim vassal for the time being.)
  • Queen Isabella going for, initially, a more lenient term and period of time for the Mudéjars to become Moriscos. Coupled with the next item, allowing for a larger and easier migrant source.
  • A group of Berbers (presumably allies of Boabdil or associated to those loyal to him) attempting to reach either Istanbul via the West; or an early expedition by the Saadi sultans who seemed eager to get involved in Spain's discoveries early on.
  • To come, without spoiling much as I've already mentioned it, a more solidified Anglo-Moroccan strategy between Elizabethan England and Saadite Morocco.

Interesting. I'll stay tuned in....
 
Boabdil's rule being overrun by his uncle, delaying the Reconquest by only a few years but allowing for the Columbian discovery of the New World as per OTL (perhaps a few years later.)

I guess it could go either way: on the one hand, without the Granada campaign, Ferdinand and Isabella would have more money to fund Columbus' expedition, but on the other hand, with the Reconquista still unfinished, they might want to husband their resources to complete it. I still don't think they'd allow too many soldiers to go fight in the New World when they're needed against the Moors, but that may be another reason why Spain is comparatively weaker in the Americas and needs to accept a Muslim vassal.
 
Adites

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Portrait of an Adite girl, source unknown

Application of the term “Adites[1]” originated with arrival of the Moors in the New World, who thought they had arrived in the “Atlantis” of Greco-Roman mythology. As Muslims settled more north in the New World, “Atlantis” increasingly became associated with the first emirate in the Western Hemisphere, and the term “Adites,” or people of ‘Ad, became commonplace.

In early modern Arabo-Muslim historiography, it was commonplace to consider the indigenous population of the New World to be the descendants of colonists of ‘Ad who had escaped the Deluge. The Bani ‘Ad, were said to have been established between the 23rd and 10th century BC and said to have been wiped off the earth by the Deluge for their refusal to obey the Islamic prophet Hud. Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographos mentions the inhabitants of ‘Ad’s capital at Ubar or Irem-of-the-Pillars. The concept of ‘Ad and Irem[2] would play a large role in the national and revolutionary politics of Bayouk and throughout the New World where Muslims formed a majority. Popular imagination in the Islamic world imagined surviving colonists, and, although there is little historic evidence, it is popularly accepted that the indigenous population of the New World are indeed the descendants of surviving colonists who left ‘Ad’s capital at Irem before the Deluge; a fact proudly shared by the few remaining Adite tribes that adopted Islam, but fought fiercely against Arabization and Muladization, or assimilation and integration with the Mudéjar, Morisco, and Atlantean settlers.

Once created, the status of “Adites” was established in law, religion and politics of the Muslim New World society. The unitary idea of “Adites” was not originally shared by the indigenous peoples, but over the centuries it came to be embraced by Islamic societies in the New World.

The Muladites[3], therefore take their name from the Andalusian popular class of mixed Iberian, Arab and Berber ancestry, a term which was often used as well for those Muslims of majority-Iberian ancestry. The large majority of Baywanis today can be classified as “muladites,” meaning in modern Baywani usage they identify fully neither with any indigenous culture, nor with a particular group of Moorish settlers (namely Arab, Atlantean, Berber, Morisco[4], Mudéjar[5], etc.) Rather, they identify as having cultural traits and heritage incorporating both Adite and Moorish elements. Identity and revolutionary politics of later centuries would also play a formative role in the establishment of the idea of “Mawalidya,” and establishing the identity of the Muslims in the New World on it.




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[1] 'Adites, a link I shared earlier on antediluvian Arabo-Islamic mythology
[2] Irem-of-the-Pillars
[3] Muladis, Muslims of local descent or of mixed Berber, Arab and Iberian origin, who lived in Al-Andalus during the Middle Ages
[4] Moriscos were the supposed cyrpto-Muslim "New Catholics" of post-Reconquest Spain who ITTL continuously migrate to Bayouk, due to rebellions and persecution in Spain and rejection in Morocco for their "betrayal" of the Faith
[5] Mudéjars, therefore, were the Muslims who maintained Islam and rested in Spain under various edicts of toleration for over a century following the Fall of Granada, and who ITTL form the elite in Bayouk.
 
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Thank you. Subscribed, of course.

Great illos. I particularly like 'The Atlantean Civil War' one.
 
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