Going to take a wild guess Buffalo and Moose
All of these items will be traded, though fur won't be all that necessary in the Caribbean.
The maps I've seen of the Peabiru show the road passing through the southernmost part of Mato Grosso do Sul, if at all.
Here's the main two I've been using.
Llamas and alpacas. or Big Horned sheep and Muskoxen
Llamas and alpacas. or Big Horned sheep and Muskoxen
Oh, i missed it, sorry
Llama trade >>>>>>>> Spice
Can llamas survive in the Caribbean? I know there's a few llama farms in my homestate of Florida, so I guess they could survive in the region. If so, that would open up a whole new world of possibilities.
Taino llama Calvary when?
As cool as it sounds, I don't think llamas are rideable.
I notice you've mentioned that these alternate Pre-Columbian Native American will domesticate animals that went undomesticated OTL. This is fine, as the big topic I'm trying to raise is diseases and, more specifically, plagues.
All plagues, AFAIK, come from illnesses that infect domesticated animals where the virus or bacterium accidentally infected a human. Due to the fact that this is a very rare occurrence and that most animal domestications occurred in the Old World vs. just a few (and more recently) in the New World, this meant pretty much all plagues emerged in the Old World due to more chances across time and space.
Given that domestication in the New World is more widespread (and maybe happened earlier?)
I'd assume there would be at least one or two plagues coming from the New World, ready to send Europe back to Black Plague-esque nightmares come 1492. Is this correct?
I'm guessing you did look into this, given how impeccably well-researched this TL-in-development appears to be, and it's also not like I'm expert in Pre-Columbian American history or how disease spreads, but disease is a really important force in world history, and given the potential ramifications of that, I'd like to know that they'll at least occur (them not occurring seems a tad ASB to me, but again, I'm no expert).
Regardless of the answer, this TL seems genuinely fascinating and given that you've put a lot of work into it, I look forward to reading it.
Seems like it would be a lot of labor to control which trees thrive and which ones don't when a single mesquite plant is so difficult to remove. Not to mention those thorns.For possible domesticates from the region, I'm thinking mesquite trees could be very useful. I recently got my hands on an ethnobotany of Southern Arizona (more specifically the Gila River), so I'll do some reading to see what plants from the region could be potential crops.
Mountain goats have a more suitable social structure from what I've read and are common in the adjacent mountains to the Columbia Plateau.On the animal side of things, I was thinking bighorn sheep, but I'm not sure if their social structure would lend to well to domestication. I still have to do some research though. If anything, they'll probably be domesticated in the Columbia Plateau and spread south from there.
Isn't the thing with animal domestication and disease that most of our diseases came from only a few domesticates? Pigs, cows, and horses seem to be the biggest three, while there aren't a lot of common human diseases that came from goats or sheep. That's why I'm skeptical of the common "add new domesticate, get new disease" logic I've seen here. Who's to say it wouldn't just be a difficult to transmit disease associated with only those handle the animal daily or otherwise practice poor hygiene?Yeah, disease has been very important in the history of civilizations, so it'd be pretty ASB to not tackle the issue in my timeline.
Seems like it would be a lot of labor to control which trees thrive and which ones don't when a single mesquite plant is so difficult to remove. Not to mention those thorns.
Introducing them to non-native areas would lead to huge social changes, as seen IOTL when mesquites (or the similar acacias from Australia) have popped up in Namibia and Ethiopia in recent decades. This seems to have happened in parts of the US so it's still very relevant.
Mountain goats have a more suitable social structure from what I've read and are common in the adjacent mountains to the Columbia Plateau.
Isn't the thing with animal domestication and disease that most of our diseases came from only a few domesticates? Pigs, cows, and horses seem to be the biggest three, while there aren't a lot of common human diseases that came from goats or sheep. That's why I'm skeptical of the common "add new domesticate, get new disease" logic I've seen here. Who's to say it wouldn't just be a difficult to transmit disease associated with only those handle the animal daily or otherwise practice poor hygiene?
As far as ethnic groups go, the Southwest will be sort of similar to OTL, with Yuman speakers in the Lower Colorado River Valley and surrounding areas (possibly expanding north into the Colorado Plateau, haven't decided yet). The Northern Uto-Aztecans will also be relatively the same, with the Numic expansion taking place (if it hadn't taken place by 800 BC, sources vary), with them expanding into most of the Great Basin. There might be some remnant groups of Hokan (another debate) peoples in the Great Basin that in OTL migrated to California after the Numic migrations, but I'm not sure yet. The Takic peoples have already expanded into California by this point, so there won't be too many changes there.
For possible domesticates from the region, I'm thinking mesquite trees could be very useful. I recently got my hands on an ethnobotany of Southern Arizona (more specifically the Gila River), so I'll do some reading to see what plants from the region could be potential crops.
Mesquite trees, salt grass, acorns and prickly pears would make for a good agricultural package in the desert and Mediterranean climates southern California has, but how well would corn and other Mesoamerican crops fare under drier conditions, would drought resistant varieties need to be cultivated before they could be viable for Yuman and Takic gardeners?
In OTL, Yuman speaking people extended from San Diego and covered much of Baja California, with the exception of the Waikuri and Pericú from the southern tip of the peninsula. With salt grass agriculture and a boost in population, Baja California could be predominantly Yuman speaking, the Cocopah (of the mouth of the Colorado river), the Kumeyaay (of San Diego), and the Cochimi (of central Baja California) could be the most populous and/or powerful if they exist in your ATL.
If civilizations rise and cities analogous to San Diego and Los Angeles appear, Takic speakers like the Tongva would have the Los Angeles basin area as their center of civilization and population growth, while the aforementioned Yuman speakers could establish larger settlements in the San Diego area.
Mesquite trees, salt grass, acorns and prickly pears would make for a good agricultural package in the desert and Mediterranean climates southern California has, but how well would corn and other Mesoamerican crops fare under drier conditions, would drought resistant varieties need to be cultivated before they could be viable for Yuman and Takic gardeners?
Can we expect to see a Uto Aztecan speaking Eygpt like state on the Rio Grand? Also since the southern Uto Aztecans are moving east how much eastern land will be Uto Aztecan speaking in this time line?
To that you could also add the tepary bean and I believe there was also a local form of amaranth that potentially could have been domesticated as well