Recent content by pa_dutch

Iran was converted to Shi'a Islam under the Safavid Dynasty, but despite having considerable influence in Central Asia, particularly what is now Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and the areas around Samarkand and Bukhara in modern Uzbekistan, Shi'a Islam is not widely spread there, being limited mostly...

This thread makes me think about the story of the Fujianese antique shop owner descended from Kotte royalty. Maybe that ancestor could be accompanied by a slightly large entourage which leads to a sizeable number of Chinese people boasting distant Sri Lankan ancestry who then feel compelled to...

The OP didn't have urbanized population as one of the requirements, though. The point is that the Tatars were a non-Christian, non-Jewish group that settled in Europe and survived as a distinctive community despite their religious difference.

What about the Tatar communities in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and Finland?

English? Yeah, there's a lot of that, too, of course. Some people are more conscious of it than others, some people downplay it in favor of another, more "exotic" part of their heritage, and some people dismiss it and call themselves just "American" instead. ...This is also a segway into...

That's pretty much how the US already is, with different ancestry groups like Irish, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, African-American, German, Dominican, Filipino, Somali, Korean, Cajun, Polish, Cuban, Persian, Nigerian, Swedish, Samoan, Haitian, Indian, etc. Growing up in a very Catholic area of the...

The Nahua tribes who migrated into the Valley of Mexico and founded the Aztec Empire are somewhat akin to the Turkic, Mongolian, and Tungusic tribes who migrated out of Siberia in history. Some Turkic tribes migrated into Anatolia and founded the Ottoman Empire there building upon the...

No Islam. North Africa stays Christian and closely connected to the rest of the Mediterranean. Down the line you get a "Mediterranean Civilization" based on the countries of the former Roman Empire in contrast to a "Nordic Civilization" based on the Germanic-speaking countries of Northern and...

If it isn't necessary for the state to be directly continuous with a Pre-Columbian entity, than the easiest answer is the Maya Cruzob Free State of Chan Santa Cruz, bolstered and supported by the British. A weak and balkanized Mexico with an independent Yucatan Republic probably helps out a lot...

We already have quite a few - Pennsylvania Dutch in Pennsylvania and the Midwest, Hutterites in the Upper Midwest, Texas Germans in Texas, Hispanos in New Mexico, Californios in California, Tejanos in Texas, Acadians in Maine, and Gullah-Gitchi in coastal Georgia. It would also be worth...

I see that, too. The Sakha (Yakuts) originated further south than they are now and migrated north after being displaced by the Buryat Mongols. They had an advanced herding culture, introducing and adapting horses and cows to the Arctic Circle, compared to the reindeer-herding Yukaghir who...

There won't be any large power in the Valley of Mexico (just a bunch of city-states), but on the other hand, the Yucatan will be unified into the League of Mayapan, putting the Mayans in a such stronger position than they were in 1492. The northern coast of Peru will have the Empire of Chimor...

Interesting updates! Very intriguing to see the Lenape front and center rather than the Iroquois or the Powhatans. I will say that the Long Count dating system, while a very nice detail, makes things a bit confusing to follow, leaving the readers to have to convert the dates by ourselves. I'm...

Interesting start! What about the domestication of stingless bees (used by Mayans IOTL) and/or (this one is probably a longshot) honey wasps? Also, I suppose I'm most interested in the Caribbean - If Mesoamerican influences are more profound there, a flourishing sea trade will arise linking the...

I always imagined the Romans would call him "Gannion." Unfortunately, I don't have anything else to add beyond that...