WI: Bermuda discovered and colonised before the New World?

Arkenfolm

Is it possible any country could colonise Bermuda before the New World is discovered? Bermuda is certainly a marginal island with not much to attract, but could it not attract anyone for a colony? I'm guessing that following OTL history, the Portuguese would colonise the island, as they did the Azores.

But what is the impact of doing so? I'm envisioning 15th century (or earlier) colonisation of Bermuda, which must happen before the New World is discovered. Would this speed up the discovery of the Americas? It's pretty far from the Azores to Bermuda, after all, so you might as well go all the way.
 

Escape Zeppelin

metalinvader665 said:
Is it possible any country could colonise Bermuda before the New World is discovered? Bermuda is certainly a marginal island with not much to attract, but could it not attract anyone for a colony?
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The ship Sea Venture wrecked there on the way to Jamestown and the colonists found it so pleasant that some colonists attempted to mutiny and stop construction of their new ship. The expedition leaders forced construction of a new ship under pain of death.

I think it would be very hard to find Bermuda and not discover the Americas shortly after. As you pointed out you may as well keep going and the winds are just too favorable to not keep going west from there.
 

Arkenfolm

That's true, but is it that impossible that Bermuda could be colonised before anyone knows of the wider land west of Bermuda? Discovering Bermuda first isn't the problem (although it begs the question why anyone is sailing out that far, considering how distant from the Azores, the nearest European land, Bermuda is), it's colonising it before the Americas are found.
 
Chris Triangle

Chris Triangle

metalinvader665 said:
That's true, but is it that impossible that Bermuda could be colonised before anyone knows of the wider land west of Bermuda? Discovering Bermuda first isn't the problem (although it begs the question why anyone is sailing out that far, considering how distant from the Azores, the nearest European land, Bermuda is), it's colonising it before the Americas are found.
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I certainly think it could have been colonized first. The main question is what sort of people are colonizing it, that is, what are their economic motivations.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
What if Columbus ended up on a slightly different course and he lucks into Bermuda as his first landfall? Well Spanish Bermuda, at least at the beginning. Discovery of the mainland before the main islands of Caribbean?
 

Napoleonrules

Banned
The problem is the currents and wind patterns. Dont think it makes for Bermuda to be naturally the destination for easiest east to west discovery; does it?
 

Arkenfolm

Chris Triangle said:
I certainly think it could have been colonized first. The main question is what sort of people are colonizing it, that is, what are their economic motivations.
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Fishing? Smallscale agriculture? A base to China? Since it might as well be the end of the earth as far as anyone knows (though China and the Orient would be out there somewhere), the economic motivation seems to be a real problem for this.
 
Zorqal

Zorqal

metalinvader665 said:
Fishing? Smallscale agriculture? A base to China? Since it might as well be the end of the earth as far as anyone knows (though China and the Orient would be out there somewhere), the economic motivation seems to be a real problem for this.
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Say some alt-Columbus runs into Bermuda rather than the Caribbean, and from there goes on to discover the Carolinas and believes it to be China. Then Bermuda is colonized as an Azore-esque forward base before full colonization into the mainland coast. I assume it would be Spain or Portugal.
 

Sir Chaos

Banned
Zorqal said:
Say some alt-Columbus runs into Bermuda rather than the Caribbean, and from there goes on to discover the Carolinas and believes it to be China.
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Isn´t it just too different from China? Where´s the Chinese Empire, for example? I´d say while he´d believe he reached Asia, he´ll assume he just arrived too far North to find China.
 
Zorqal

Zorqal

Sir Chaos said:
Isn´t it just too different from China? Where´s the Chinese Empire, for example? I´d say while he´d believe he reached Asia, he´ll assume he just arrived too far North to find China.
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They thought that the Caribbean was India, which was probably even more well known.
 

M. Adolphe Thiers

Zorqal said:
They thought that the Caribbean was India, which was probably even more well known.
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I'm pretty sure Columbus knew it wasn't India. The problem was his contracts with the Crown of Spain were for India, not some uncharted land. So, he had to argue that it was India so he wouldn't lose out on the riches he was contracted.
 
Zorqal

Zorqal

Sir Chaos said:
Good point.

I retract my previous statement, and hereby speculate that Columbus will mistake a random local tribal chief for the Emperor of China.
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I never said that he would think he made it to Beijing, but that doesn't mean he won't think it's China somewhere. Rumors of wealthy neighbors and gold would only reinforce it.
 

chornedsnorkack

Napoleonrules said:
The problem is the currents and wind patterns. Dont think it makes for Bermuda to be naturally the destination for easiest east to west discovery; does it?
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Not on the westbound leg.
But on his return, Columbus sailed north-northeast as far as the latitude of Azores to catch westerly winds.
OTL, he did so setting out from Puerto Rico.
TTL, he turns back just short of Bahamas, as he promised to his mutinous crew. And on the northeasterly leg, discovers Bermuda.
What would happen if Columbus returns with only some small uninhabited islands to show for his effort?
 
water123

water123

What you could have is a few Basque or Norsemen set up shop there, and occasionally raid the coast of America but have it pretty much perpetuate the whole "Vinland is cold and worthless" vibe, especially if they land in the less savory areas.

That is, until someone lands in the heart of the Aztec Empire and says they discovered China.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Well the Carolinas won't exactly be cold, but the natives may be stronger and poorer at the same time, slowing things down.
 

HJ Tulp

M. Adolphe Thiers said:
I'm pretty sure Columbus knew it wasn't India. The problem was his contracts with the Crown of Spain were for India, not some uncharted land. So, he had to argue that it was India so he wouldn't lose out on the riches he was contracted.
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According to wikipedia there was no mention of India or Asia in the capitulations of Santa Fe but only 'the discovery of new lands.' :)
 
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