Why does it matter if the trade is not direct, but through several steps?
That's a good question. I was assuming that the OP was referring to sailors from Vinland actually sailing to Mesoamerica themselves,
Not necessarily. The big diseases you have to worry about (smallpox, measles, influenza, etc.) tend to naturally die out in small isolated populations. You need either an urban population large enough enough to keep them endemic or frequent enough trade to introduce the diseases more than once per generation for the diseases to become big killers.
That's exactly what I meant?
Here I was assuming some form of Norse presence in Missisipian and Appalachian region comparable to what happened in Rus' : sailable rivers (as St. Lawrance), part of land roads and up to other sailable rivers (as Mississipi, while the troubled stream would be an obstacle). Basically, pulling a Louisiana, as you describe it.
If Vinland had such vibrant trade and became a thriving colony, how long would it take for them to lose their Viking heritage from intermarriage? By the time other European explorers came, how strong could a Viking colony be and how numerous? Would they be able to repulse other Europeans? For how long? Would they trade with Europe and advance their weaponry?
Well, Mesoamericans have precious metals... someone mentioned tobacco. I guess there is some more stuff that usually got traded in these times. Idk, dyes?One problem: What do the Missisippians have that the Vinlanders want?
These are all good questions. And I think the answer depends on how large the population of Vinland is and if people continue to move from the Norse homelands to Vinland.
If the Norse population of Vinlnad remains small and it is essentially isolated from the rest of the Norse world, I suspect there's a good chance it would lose much of its cultural and racial European character. It would blend Norse and Native technologies, language, religions, and culture into a hybrid culture only marginally better equipped to withstand 16th Century Spaniards or Englishmen with their guns than native Americans were. They would have some technological advantages the native didn't have, such as iron technology, draft animals, and perhaps a recognizeable Norse-based script...all of which might make European colonial powers more likely to deal with them as equals...maybe.
If Vinland continues to draw Norse people as settlers and maintain a continuing relationship with developing kingdoms in Denmark and Norway as well as among Anglo-Saxon settlers in the British Isles, then it would become a well-known European outpost on a large continental land mass. There would be far less cultural hybridization. It would probably retain its veneer of Chistianity and Norse culture. This would accelerate the rate of other European (and almost certainly Islamic) explorations to the west. This would create an entirely different trajectory of colonization and conquest in the New World, but the Natives peoples would still probably end up on the short end of the stick.
One problem: What do the Missisippians have that the Vinlanders want?
I was under the impression that the rest of Europe were really not privy to Viking expeditions in the Atlantic.
They weren't to any detail, but they certainly were aware of Iceland. If Vinland became sustainable and maintained regular contact and population exchange with other Norse settlemenmts in Greenland and Iceland, it would only be a matter of time before the existence of Vinland would become known to people in Denmark and Norway and further extend whever Vikings traded, settled, or conquered.
True, but that could be over 100 years or so. I mean, the EUropeans believed in legends like Prester John and there were no oceans separating East and West. Barring proper ship technology and methods of sailing, the Europeans will be out of the loop for perhaps centuries, even if the Vikings were wildly successful at their colonization.
I don't think they'd be out of the loop. Vinland was explicitly part of the Catholic Church, for instance; a couple of Greenlander Bishops went looking for it. And the woman who gave birth in North America (accoridng to the sagas) later ended up on a pilgrimage to Rome.
Possible, but the Catholic Church theoretically had a Bishop for Assyria. No idea if he lived there, or if there was any communication back. I believe India's Christians were supposedly Oriental Orthodox with a Bishop. Yet, while Europe had contact with Oriental Orthodox through Egypt, they didn't even know where India was located, and thought Prester John is there.
So, I am not totally convinced.
Non made up people? I am not sure. Probably some unlike any legends about Vineland OTL. Their Bishops had jurisdiction as far as China, yet they had some contact with the west http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Church_of_the_EastHow many people form Assyria were making pilgrimages to Rome?
Does it mean everyone will go there? No. But it will be part of the Christian worldview, even if, like Iceland and Greenland, the Church runs its own affairs.
The RCC was more centralized than Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox, but I am unsure how much real contact they had with Greenland, let alone a Vineland. Further, even if missionaries do make the leap across the pond, it will be on Viking ships with Viking sailors that knew how to get it done. The rest of Europe at that time could not and would not for some time.
I'm not sure that's true. By the 14th century, it was North Germans who were fishing off of Iceland (and presumably trading in Greenland, although that's not clear), and by the 15th century, the English were off of Iceland as well. that's wihtout Vinland as an attractive trading partner at the other end of the Atlantic...