Use the agricultural package of the Arawak in the Caribbean and perhaps the Rotoan Island finds as inspiration.
The Arawak (Taino, I'm assuming) will play a key role in the Circum-Caribbean, connecting Mesoamerica and Borealamerica after the advent of the sail. I'm not quite sure about the Rotoan Island finds you're referring to, so would you mind linking a source? I'd like to know what that's about.
Wyam in Oregon and 'Terra Calalus' may be helpful too. Roman Corbata/Murophiro can exceed 400 ton cargo capacity by the switch to CE and essentially the Teotihuacan civilization may serve as Rome for the Americas.
Wyam is an interesting suggestion. There'll be a few states that can be compared to Wyam ITTL, though a better comparison would be something more akin to Teotihuacan (as in a trading based city)
There definitely will not be a Roman presence in the Americas ITTL, so something akin Terra Calalus won't happen. I'm not sure what you're referring to in that last sentence. Could you clarify?
Roads may have stretched from Peru to the Atlantic and there are still cities being found i the mountains.
There'll be roads in the Andes, but nothing on that big of a scale.
Polynesians make an excellent source of potential contact while Japanese vessels may drift into the Pacific Northwest as they did at least a few times in OTL
There won't be significant transoceanic contact until Columbus shows up (there'll be Vikings, but it won't affect anything in the grand scheme of things, like OTL). So Polynesians (besides any contact that may have occured in OTL, and even then it didn't change much in the Americas) and Japanese are out of the realm of possibilities.
Hope to see your timeline soon, looks very
Thanks, and welcome to the board!
How far north and/or south would the Taino/Arawak sail if maritime trade becomes very important in your timeline?
Maritime trade will become pretty important ITTL. The Taino will be located in the Circum-Caribbean and the Atlantic Seaboard, though they'll rarely voyage more north than the Tidewater or more south than Marajó.
To the north there are the Timucua of Florida, the Catabawa of the Carolinas, and various Algonquian-speaking groups of the northeast such as the Powhatan, Lenape, Massachusett, Passamaquoddy and Miꞌkmaq. Groups of the northeast coast could benefit greatly with trade contact and interaction with the Arawak, obtaining tools and valuables, and more importantly, ideas, such as learning from Arawak ship-building and navigation to possibly make seafaring economically viable for their own cultures. The east Algonquians can offer maple syrup, or even furs as their main export to the Caribbean. Important harbor towns could rise in similar locations to modern New York City and Boston.
Interesting ideas.
Some of these groups won't exist in this TL, at least not in any recognizable form. There will be Timucua in roughly the same spot as OTL, but the Catabwans and Algonquians will be in locations ranging from slightly to completely different from OTL.
The groups on the Atlantic Coast won't be radically changed by the Taino. In fact, navigational techniques will spread from North America to the Taino, not the other way around. However, they will take greater advantage and elaborate upon these techniques more than any other peoples, and be the nucleus of a vast trade network spanning from the Great Lakes to the Amazon.
Unrelated, but I have a bit of a soft spot for the Taino, though I'm a little biased, considering I have Taino ancestry. It's one of the reasons I started to get into Native American history in general.
As for harbor towns, I have plans for a few trade based cities propping up at the mouth of the major river systems, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Just as much as you'd expect from a riverine oriented civilization(s).
As for the south, the Tupi of the Brazilian coast could have similar deal, with the added benefit of having access to goods the amazon rainforest has to offer, such as rare fruit, exotic timber or jaguar skin.
Interesting. The Tupi won't be too affected by the POD, but that probably will change as time goes on. If anything, they'll be the at the southern extreme of the Taino trade network. I'd have to do some more research on specific exports.