pre-columbian americas

We had a productive thread on this subject a few years ago, but after recently revisiting some old notes of mine, I thought I'd canvass some opinions to see how possible/plausible people would find such an event occurring, and if it did occur, how far some sort of llama pastoralism could spread...

The book Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond essentially details why the pre-Columbian American civilizations never really developed to the technological and political level of Europe. I read the book before, but I believe CGP Grey (in his video "Americapox") sums up the main, underlying...

Greetings, everyone. This thread is a replacement for the apparently concluded thread started in 2019 by Tempered Zen. I intend this thread to be a continuation of that earlier discussion, but in a forum with more impact and with greater longevity. Things to discuss in this thread (friendly...

Consider the following: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_rafts If you read the article, there is plenty of evidence that Andean seafaring capabilities were much more developed than usually thought. In fact, the first contact between the Spanish and the Inca was with an ocean-going...

The Bubonic Plague OTL reached Norway in the late summer of 1349. At this time, the King of Norway held domains in Greenland and Iceland. OTL, the Black Plague did not reach Iceland until 1402-1404 and it is debated whether or not it reached the Norse settlements in Greenland. What if, as a...

Exactly what it says in the title. What would be the natural barriers to Native Americans developing seagoing boats and seagoing traditions in the Atlantic Ocean ? Winds ? What would be the necessary technological leaps for Native Americans from the eastern coast of North America, or even the...

With any POD, have a major world religion with over a billion followers or more originate out of the pantheons and spiritual practices of any of the native peoples of the Americas.

Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to reverse the technological disparities between the New World and Old Worlds, so that civilizations in the New World are at or similiar to OTL 1492 Europe tech level, while civilizations in the Old World are at a Neolithic or at most Late Bronze...

So let's say by whatever luck of animal migration periods during Pangea, or better luck for horses in the Americas post the trans-Bering migrations, the Americas keep their horses and have a wider variety of animals to farm for meat, eggs, and milk. What new cradles of civilization might pop up...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec_alternative_origin_speculations So I’ve seen AH & sci-fi stories use the “Zheng He‘s treasure ships contact New World civilizations” premise as their POD, but I can’t think of any works based around the idea of Ancient Chinese forming the Olmec. Does anyone...

As far as I know, Native Americans never independently developed ironworking. Why is that?

While there's still some debate about whether the Polynesians beat Columbus to the Americas, what seems pretty clear is that even if they did achieve it, the mark they left wasn't particularly strong or long-lasting (with a handful of exceptions). Your challenge is to change that. Have the...