Beavers.  Some early naturalists even thought they were intelligent.  And what if they were?  Unlike humans, beavers appear to have a natural instinct to build things.  Perhaps nomadic beavers would be unheard of, as cities and large engineering projects are formed from the beginning of the Beaver civilization.  What would our world look like?  How would the European react?  Let us imagine such a world.

        c. 100,000 years ago- Beavers native to the region of North America east of the Mississippi river develop a form of symbolic communication that can be taught over generations.  Already a cooperative species, they become more so.  In Europe, Asia and Africa, Humans have allready been benefiting from that same discovery for a very long time.  The diference between the species is that the beavers are allready builders by instinct.
       20,000-15,000 years ago- Asian imigrints into North America settle along the west coast as far south as northern California.  They encounter Beavers only rarely, but it is obvious to them that they are unlike other animals.
       2,000 years ago- The Beavers have created several powerful nations in the east with great modifications to the land and waterways.  The region is covered with artificial lakes, great earthen mounds and wooden structures.  There are highways of pounded earth and stone and/or wooden rails leading from the dense pine forests into the green river valleys.  These transport timber into their heartlands on vehicles drawn by bison power.  There is allready in place at this time a tree farming industry.  While they have scattered cultures in the west, humans have never been a significant presence in the east.  South America remains empty of either beavers or humans.
       12,000 years ago- South America is colonized by Polinesians.
       500 years ago- The first Europeans arrive in the West Indies.  They are alarmed by what they discover in the few small beaver villages of that region.  They shoot and skin a few Beavers and are retaliated against.  Only a few make it back to Europe with their story.  Only after landings are made on the mainland, will the true magnitude of the beaver culture become known.  In several ways, the Beavers will be technologically in advance of the Europeans, but the humans have gunpowder and firearms and are descended from a much more predatory species.
       440 years ago- There have been some limited and temporary setlements by humans in the continent of the Beavers, but much better luck in South America.  The Pope declares that the Beavers must be Christianized. Needless to say, the stage is set for all Hell to break loose.

Part II.

Notes from the Author on the TL.

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Copyright 2001 Seth Kallen Deitch