Hnau
Banned
I'm looking at a map of major active volcanoes in Central America: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/camvolc.htm
I'm also looking at sources of obsidian by the Mesoamericans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mesoamerican_obsidian_sourc.png
The sources of obsidian in Guatemala are very near the active volcanoes that are there. That should mean that obsidian could be found along some of the volcanic fields around the other volcanoes. As such, it looks like the *Arawaks might start investigating sources of crude obsidian tools around Costa Rica. They follow larger and larger sources until they arrive at Lake Nicaragua, and hey, they are the best seamen in the world, so no reason not to build boats there, and at Lake Managua, to ship obsidian as far south as possible where it could be shipped over the mountains and to the Caribbean. Its tough work, but its not an operation that a couple thousand slaves could handle.
From the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, the *Arawaks take a couple of their lake-boats out onto the Pacific Ocean. Its only fifteen, twenty miles away. And then the fun begins. When obsidian stops being a strategic resource, you'll have a ton of *Arawaks left on the Pacific, developing a unique culture. And the mountains and jungles might keep the epidemic from killing this new culture, and economic disruption won't be much of a problem either.
--
EDIT: Looks like I'm going to have to scrap or significantly change this idea. Just found a source concerning obsidian in Central America:
Its from this page.
The nearest sources were on the Honduran/Nicaraguan border, okay. There was also a major source in San Luis, Honduras. Luckily, there is the San Juan river which leads straight from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean, I was stupid not to notice it. Its a big river, and in OTL steamships used to navigate up and down it, so there's no reason why the *Arawak ships couldn't use them. They slave and explore, and find Lake Nicaragua, on which the west bank there are much more advanced peoples, living in towns and with a modest amount of Mayan agriculture. They also have obsidian tools, traded from the north. They conquer these people, set up a few colonies, but they still need more obsidian. So they build boats twenty miles from Lake Nicaragua, on the Pacific shoreline, and venture up to the Gulf of Fonseca, where there's a lot more obsidian. The entrepreneurs that courageously pull off this stunt have few numbers and few resources, so at first they are traders rather than conquerers. The obsidian is brought from Honduran volcanic fields close to the Gulf of Fonseca to *Arawak double-hulled canoes, which sail to a small colony/trade-post near OTL San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. That is hauled overland by slaves to *Rivas and *San Jorge, put on *Arawak ships which cross Lake Nicaragua to the San Juan River, and then to a colony on the mouth of the river. From there, raw obsidian is shipped north along the Honduras coastline, then on a four/five-day blue-water journey to Jamaica or Cuba, where in the larger *Arawak towns they are fashioned into blades, arrowheads, spearheads, and dartheads for atlatls. Most of the obsidian found in Honduras was pretty small in comparison to other sources, so I think *Arawak obsidian weaponry will focus on bow and arrows and atlatls instead of long obsidian blades and wickedly jagged spearheads.
Until the *Arawaks get bronze, their warriors will probably carry stone-axes and stone mauls, though the leader of commander might be rich enough to have a long obsidian blade or macahuitl, stolen from the Mayans or bought at high price from Pacific shores. A few will have atlatls, most will have slings and bow and arrows. They release their long-range projectiles en masse at a settlement they wish to raid, during the evening maybe when stealth attacks are the best. Maybe they can figure out how to light their arrows. They keep volleys going while groups of two and three spread out stealthily around the village, armed with hand-to-hand weapons and atlatls. They use their atlatls a few times to take out any natives that group up together to mount a defense, or perhaps state-supplied warriors that could be there at the time. When everyone is screaming and fleeing, everyone comes in with their hand-to-hand weapons and chase out those who remain in their homes. They then loot and pillage, burning down buildings once they get what they want. They don't carry too much back to their boats, only expensive items and tools, food and so forth. If there are healthy individuals that they are able to corner, they bind their hands with woven grass cords and take them as slaves. The slaves must do the little paddling necessary if they want to eat, while the *Arawaks keep their blades out just in case. They never take more slaves than there are crewmembers, and quickly sell them in *Arawak cities where they can be better managed. If a slave exhibits good behavior, learns the language quickly, the *Arawaks treat them as indentured servants, even family, and eventually they are released. There is some scorn against non-ethnic *Arawak, but if you have enough tattoos, no one will look twice, so freedmen can rise to become normal citizens of the *Arawak civilization. If there are other freed slaves from their former nation, they join and live together, help buy out other slaves that are from their area. Some become sailors and pirates themselves, eventually returning home. After a couple of generations, populations that were slaved heavily are changing not just because of new pressures, but because ex-slaves are returning to their homelands and giving their people new technologies and tricks. They might even adopt enough of the common *Arawak language and culture that they become regarded as *Arawaks themselves and thus become slavers, rather than the slaved. *Arawaks have to search further and further north and west to find new slave populations.
Of course, to many nations will be advanced enough to avoid cultural-linguistic assimilation, and thus become favored targets of *Arawak piracy and slaving.
I'm also looking at sources of obsidian by the Mesoamericans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mesoamerican_obsidian_sourc.png
The sources of obsidian in Guatemala are very near the active volcanoes that are there. That should mean that obsidian could be found along some of the volcanic fields around the other volcanoes. As such, it looks like the *Arawaks might start investigating sources of crude obsidian tools around Costa Rica. They follow larger and larger sources until they arrive at Lake Nicaragua, and hey, they are the best seamen in the world, so no reason not to build boats there, and at Lake Managua, to ship obsidian as far south as possible where it could be shipped over the mountains and to the Caribbean. Its tough work, but its not an operation that a couple thousand slaves could handle.
From the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, the *Arawaks take a couple of their lake-boats out onto the Pacific Ocean. Its only fifteen, twenty miles away. And then the fun begins. When obsidian stops being a strategic resource, you'll have a ton of *Arawaks left on the Pacific, developing a unique culture. And the mountains and jungles might keep the epidemic from killing this new culture, and economic disruption won't be much of a problem either.
--
EDIT: Looks like I'm going to have to scrap or significantly change this idea. Just found a source concerning obsidian in Central America:
Obsidian. Various surveys helped us to conclude that there are no geological outcrops of obsidian (black volcanic glass used for cutting tools) in either Nicaragua or Costa Rica. Obsidian is formed under volcanic conditions, it is true, but the right kind of volcanism does not occur in Greater Nicoya to be able to produce obsidian. We established that through trade the nearest sources were on the Honduran/Nicaraguan border and in Guatemala. Most obsidian was traded into Greater Nicoya already formed into knives, scrapers, or projectiles, probably to reduce the bulk and weight that had to be transported. We determined that while heavy grinding stones were made from local igneous rocks, that finer grained rocks used to make projectile points and wood and hide-working tools from local stone were manufactured from locally and regionally available metamorphic rocks such as jasper and chalcedony.
Its from this page.
The nearest sources were on the Honduran/Nicaraguan border, okay. There was also a major source in San Luis, Honduras. Luckily, there is the San Juan river which leads straight from Lake Nicaragua to the Caribbean, I was stupid not to notice it. Its a big river, and in OTL steamships used to navigate up and down it, so there's no reason why the *Arawak ships couldn't use them. They slave and explore, and find Lake Nicaragua, on which the west bank there are much more advanced peoples, living in towns and with a modest amount of Mayan agriculture. They also have obsidian tools, traded from the north. They conquer these people, set up a few colonies, but they still need more obsidian. So they build boats twenty miles from Lake Nicaragua, on the Pacific shoreline, and venture up to the Gulf of Fonseca, where there's a lot more obsidian. The entrepreneurs that courageously pull off this stunt have few numbers and few resources, so at first they are traders rather than conquerers. The obsidian is brought from Honduran volcanic fields close to the Gulf of Fonseca to *Arawak double-hulled canoes, which sail to a small colony/trade-post near OTL San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. That is hauled overland by slaves to *Rivas and *San Jorge, put on *Arawak ships which cross Lake Nicaragua to the San Juan River, and then to a colony on the mouth of the river. From there, raw obsidian is shipped north along the Honduras coastline, then on a four/five-day blue-water journey to Jamaica or Cuba, where in the larger *Arawak towns they are fashioned into blades, arrowheads, spearheads, and dartheads for atlatls. Most of the obsidian found in Honduras was pretty small in comparison to other sources, so I think *Arawak obsidian weaponry will focus on bow and arrows and atlatls instead of long obsidian blades and wickedly jagged spearheads.
Until the *Arawaks get bronze, their warriors will probably carry stone-axes and stone mauls, though the leader of commander might be rich enough to have a long obsidian blade or macahuitl, stolen from the Mayans or bought at high price from Pacific shores. A few will have atlatls, most will have slings and bow and arrows. They release their long-range projectiles en masse at a settlement they wish to raid, during the evening maybe when stealth attacks are the best. Maybe they can figure out how to light their arrows. They keep volleys going while groups of two and three spread out stealthily around the village, armed with hand-to-hand weapons and atlatls. They use their atlatls a few times to take out any natives that group up together to mount a defense, or perhaps state-supplied warriors that could be there at the time. When everyone is screaming and fleeing, everyone comes in with their hand-to-hand weapons and chase out those who remain in their homes. They then loot and pillage, burning down buildings once they get what they want. They don't carry too much back to their boats, only expensive items and tools, food and so forth. If there are healthy individuals that they are able to corner, they bind their hands with woven grass cords and take them as slaves. The slaves must do the little paddling necessary if they want to eat, while the *Arawaks keep their blades out just in case. They never take more slaves than there are crewmembers, and quickly sell them in *Arawak cities where they can be better managed. If a slave exhibits good behavior, learns the language quickly, the *Arawaks treat them as indentured servants, even family, and eventually they are released. There is some scorn against non-ethnic *Arawak, but if you have enough tattoos, no one will look twice, so freedmen can rise to become normal citizens of the *Arawak civilization. If there are other freed slaves from their former nation, they join and live together, help buy out other slaves that are from their area. Some become sailors and pirates themselves, eventually returning home. After a couple of generations, populations that were slaved heavily are changing not just because of new pressures, but because ex-slaves are returning to their homelands and giving their people new technologies and tricks. They might even adopt enough of the common *Arawak language and culture that they become regarded as *Arawaks themselves and thus become slavers, rather than the slaved. *Arawaks have to search further and further north and west to find new slave populations.
Of course, to many nations will be advanced enough to avoid cultural-linguistic assimilation, and thus become favored targets of *Arawak piracy and slaving.
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