I agree. I think we discussed having them more influenced by the *Taino civilization.
Bronze Age New World v2.0
- Thread starter Hnau
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Hnau
Banned
Atom said:
Aw, I know it is kind of improbable. But, in the original TL the Chumash eventually contact the Seattle peoples and interact with the Haida, becoming important navigators and traders of the North American Pacific coast. Perhaps the Tlon won't immediately colonize to the San Francisco Bay, but I still like the idea of the Bay and then the Valley being colonized in some way before the Spanish get there. What about this scenario... the Tlon introduce more intensive slaving to the Chumash and the fusion culture they create launches slave raids up and down the Pacific coastline. Eventually they find the San Francisco Bay, then the Central Valley, and it is a slaver's dream. The Miwok are simple, peaceful, pre-agricultural, and plentiful. It becomes a hot spot of activity, a trading post is established, then a small colony, and after a while the discovery of Gold draws more and more colonists. It could even become a breakaway Chumash-Tlon colony after a while. I think this is much more plausible... after all, if the Chumash do develop the capabilities to sail all the way to the Seattle Bay, that additional traffic is most definitely going to result in an earlier discovery of the Bay, and most probably by Amerindian slavers who will be poking around for good harbors. The area was also frequented by Spanish traders coming from the Philippines to Mexico, so there could be quite a few Chumash pirates and eventually Haida pirates preying on Spanish ships, stealing guns and horses and what-not.
Hey, Atom, do you like the name Barano for the *Arawak/Taino civilization, or should we come up with a different name?
Hnau
Banned
Atom said:
I remember that part. Mann talked about how the Inca focused on creating mechanical tension to create labor-saving devices. You are right in that, without facing bronze weapon-wielding enemies, the Inca would probably just regard bronze weapons and tools as an oddity. I'm just not sure how much they would diverge if all they receive from the north is the *Arawak navigational package, which probably wasn't much more advanced than what the Ecuadorians had. What would be the principal POD for the BANW Andean civilizations in this case if not for earlier bronze-working?
I've also been thinking about European history. I want Martin Luther to be burned at the stake in 1521, which he came near to do so. It makes sense that Emperor Charles V would do so after the Iberian peninsula and the rest of the Catholic Mediterranean is decimated by the first outbreak of tloggotl in 1520, in order to attempt to inflict greater damage on a comparatively stronger Protestant movement. What do you think?
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Hnau
Banned
DuQuense said:
After researching a bit, you are right. The Incas had bronze axes, knives, crowbars, chisels, tweezers, bronze mirrors and needles, if this site is to be believed. Perhaps the dissemination of bronze-working to the Inca really would have no effect on them... they already had such tools at their disposal! Perhaps Mexican bronze weapons traded down to Peru inspire the odd sword, spear and shield but otherwise nothing comes of it.
I'm writing an installment on the Barano Classical Period (800 CE - 1200 CE) which will be followed by the Postclassic (1200 CE - 1492 CE) and then the Colonial Period. The Barano (if no one wishes to rename them...) will colonize OTL Louisiana and launch slave raids up and down the Lower Mississippi River, they'll raid-and-slave the Timucua and put a trading post on the Sea Islands, they'll trade with the Chesapeake, colonize Bermuda, raid the Mesoamerican states, inter-fertilize with the Maya, leave a colony in Nicaragua, and another one at the mouth of the Amazon River. Every culture on the Atlantic/Caribbean coast from Maryland to Maranhão will be affected. Then they will fall.
By the way, I'm thinking of calling the Tlon the Tlantec in this iteration. A little more Mexican-sounding. Their capital on Lake Mexico could be called Uqanco, the City of Snakes. Objections?
Sounds like a good name.
I find otl to have an interesting geopolitical environment in which Cortez arrives, as the tarascans are able to defeat the Aztecs in battle and the tarascans trade arond that time their copper axes to the aztecs. The Aztecs according to sources had smelting projects or furnaces that some view as nascent bronze development believed to be in existence with the tarascans, though throughout the Americas advancement towards a bronze age had previously been delayed by the various uses of smelting techniques to target color and sound for a lOng time as a source of status and for ceremonial reasons (as opposed to targeting balancing durability and hardness)
I find otl to have an interesting geopolitical environment in which Cortez arrives, as the tarascans are able to defeat the Aztecs in battle and the tarascans trade arond that time their copper axes to the aztecs. The Aztecs according to sources had smelting projects or furnaces that some view as nascent bronze development believed to be in existence with the tarascans, though throughout the Americas advancement towards a bronze age had previously been delayed by the various uses of smelting techniques to target color and sound for a lOng time as a source of status and for ceremonial reasons (as opposed to targeting balancing durability and hardness)
I actually remember the original TL very fondly and even added a few posts to the *Upper Midwest section of the TL (which, come to think of it, has kinda become 'my thing' 
). If you want help on the same area in the future, I'd love to help out!
). If you want help on the same area in the future, I'd love to help out!What language (or at least language family) do they speak? The etymology of "Uqanco" is not apparent... (I missed the original series and am only learning about this TL now, sorry if I'm missing obvious/common knowledge.)
I hope this is continued. This may still be too soon, but if theres no continuation, maybe we can start some add ons and timelines?
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I'm thinking the use of the the Coca leaf would becomes far more widespread than OTL. Use commonly among the people of the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. It's ever traded in limited amounts in North America. Coca along with Guarana and Tobacco would become an part of everyday life among the Barano.
I can see the Pecan becoming domesticated far earlier an OTL with the rise of the Mississippians. Say some time between 1000 and 1200 CE. It's likely the Pecan would become an major between North America and the Caribbean.
I can see the Pecan becoming domesticated far earlier an OTL with the rise of the Mississippians. Say some time between 1000 and 1200 CE. It's likely the Pecan would become an major between North America and the Caribbean.
Are the Barano going to make it to the Canary Islands as they did in the original scenario.
This seems an appropriate spot to advertise that (with Doug M.'s blessing) I am going to write about Alaska/the High Arctic in the BANW timeline (the original timeline, not the revised one some of y'all have proposed). My initial thoughts can be found in "Bronze Age New World Alaska: Preliminaries" which I posted this morning. [Now many mornings ago--CMB]
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=226466
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=226466
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Always happy to oblige a request for self-promotion:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=226466
Hnau
Banned
Colombia is very interesting, and I have to thank Screvier20 for pointing me in the right direction concerning the region. I think the territory of OTL Colombia and Venezuela would be the main slaving grounds for the Barano civilization due to their proximity and their comparable lack of technology compared to the Mesoamerican states. They actually had irrigation, farming and permanent settlements early on in Colombia, at least, so the population should be high enough to sustain long-term slaving.
Slave raids aren't exactly productive for society. The *Tairona, for example, on the Colombian coastline, are likely to be devastated early on, but that will just open doors for invaders from the interior to repopulate the villages and rebuild the farms. I don't think it would cause a cultural collapse and that would see the peoples there to return to hunting-gathering, but it is more likely to be more of a violent, martial society. Cuidad Perdida, the "Lost City" of the Tairona in Sierra Nevada, Colombia, for example, will probably be founded as a sort of hill fort to protect against Barano slavers. In OTL the natives call it "Teyuna". ITTL, Teyuna will probably be less of a city, but will still be architecturally advanced. They will have less sewers (as they did in OTL) and more walls and defensive structures, for example. What's sad is that it's so close to the ocean and defending such an important resource for the Barano that it'll likely be razed during the Classical Period, perhaps only a century or two after its original construction.
Nevertheless, I see this region, Colombia more than Venezuela, as having a lot of potential for development following the collapse of the Barano. Colombia actually has some great tin deposits, enough that I think bronze-working could become quite advanced here once it is introduced. The Quimbaya civilization, founded in the interior of Colombia, before the 10th century CE had very technically skilled goldsmiths. They will likely be relatively unaffected by the Barano for a long time, but when the *Tairona peoples start bouncing back after the Barano collapse, and when knowledge of bronze-working enters their region, their descendants could very well master the practice and draw upon tin ores throughout the interior of Colombia.
What might BANW2.0 Colombia be like when the Spanish enter the scene? The possibilities pique my imagination. I imagine large, socially complex confederations of kingdoms throughout the coastal region and the highlands. Their bronze tools and weapons match those of the Tlantec, and they export tin, emeralds and salt north to the Isthmian peoples and the Maya whom the Tlantec are reluctant to trade with. Their main food crops are beans, maize, sweet potatoes, yucca, squash and cacao. The *Tairona likely grow tobacco for religious use, and Mesoamerican cotton for clothes and sails. Tejo, wrestling, and Mesoamerican-style ball games are popular sports and courts are built for inter-kingdom tournaments. There's a holy city in *Sogamoso dedicated to Xue, the Sun god, which receives pilgrims from peoples throughout the *Colombian polities. Cannibalism and human sacrifice is present here and there but is very uncommon. Each city has an important priestly class that keeps records with a Mesoamerican syllabary passed down from Barano pirates. Buildings are made of stone rather than clay and wood, and stone is also used to build relatively advanced roads. The largest cities have public sewers, even aqueducts and large stone bridges.
I think that is all highly possible thanks to technological diffusion. What I think is also an interesting possibility... is an actual land empire similar to that of the Aztecs. The Muisca confederacy was quite politically advanced... with more people, the introduction of writing, social stratification, etc. etc. could these peoples come up with the idea of an Aztec-style tribute-based empire? Perhaps stretching from Lake Maracaibo to Bogota? I really like this idea. The Spanish would no doubt find them easier to conquer than the Tlantec, but it would leave interesting influences throughout the region.
Slave raids aren't exactly productive for society. The *Tairona, for example, on the Colombian coastline, are likely to be devastated early on, but that will just open doors for invaders from the interior to repopulate the villages and rebuild the farms. I don't think it would cause a cultural collapse and that would see the peoples there to return to hunting-gathering, but it is more likely to be more of a violent, martial society. Cuidad Perdida, the "Lost City" of the Tairona in Sierra Nevada, Colombia, for example, will probably be founded as a sort of hill fort to protect against Barano slavers. In OTL the natives call it "Teyuna". ITTL, Teyuna will probably be less of a city, but will still be architecturally advanced. They will have less sewers (as they did in OTL) and more walls and defensive structures, for example. What's sad is that it's so close to the ocean and defending such an important resource for the Barano that it'll likely be razed during the Classical Period, perhaps only a century or two after its original construction.
Nevertheless, I see this region, Colombia more than Venezuela, as having a lot of potential for development following the collapse of the Barano. Colombia actually has some great tin deposits, enough that I think bronze-working could become quite advanced here once it is introduced. The Quimbaya civilization, founded in the interior of Colombia, before the 10th century CE had very technically skilled goldsmiths. They will likely be relatively unaffected by the Barano for a long time, but when the *Tairona peoples start bouncing back after the Barano collapse, and when knowledge of bronze-working enters their region, their descendants could very well master the practice and draw upon tin ores throughout the interior of Colombia.
What might BANW2.0 Colombia be like when the Spanish enter the scene? The possibilities pique my imagination. I imagine large, socially complex confederations of kingdoms throughout the coastal region and the highlands. Their bronze tools and weapons match those of the Tlantec, and they export tin, emeralds and salt north to the Isthmian peoples and the Maya whom the Tlantec are reluctant to trade with. Their main food crops are beans, maize, sweet potatoes, yucca, squash and cacao. The *Tairona likely grow tobacco for religious use, and Mesoamerican cotton for clothes and sails. Tejo, wrestling, and Mesoamerican-style ball games are popular sports and courts are built for inter-kingdom tournaments. There's a holy city in *Sogamoso dedicated to Xue, the Sun god, which receives pilgrims from peoples throughout the *Colombian polities. Cannibalism and human sacrifice is present here and there but is very uncommon. Each city has an important priestly class that keeps records with a Mesoamerican syllabary passed down from Barano pirates. Buildings are made of stone rather than clay and wood, and stone is also used to build relatively advanced roads. The largest cities have public sewers, even aqueducts and large stone bridges.
I think that is all highly possible thanks to technological diffusion. What I think is also an interesting possibility... is an actual land empire similar to that of the Aztecs. The Muisca confederacy was quite politically advanced... with more people, the introduction of writing, social stratification, etc. etc. could these peoples come up with the idea of an Aztec-style tribute-based empire? Perhaps stretching from Lake Maracaibo to Bogota? I really like this idea. The Spanish would no doubt find them easier to conquer than the Tlantec, but it would leave interesting influences throughout the region.
Hnau
Banned
The *Arawak Classical Period (800 – 1200 CE)
Until the 9th century CE, the *Arawak had prospered throughout the Caribbean Sea because of their advanced navigational package alone. The “Sea People” were considered at this time by mainland cultures as mere pirates who fought as often with stone weapons as those made from obsidian and did so without clothing. After the mainland Amerindian cultures collapsed from climate change, drought and repeated raids by *Arawak slavers, the Sea People became the masters of the Caribbean basin. They mastered cotton textiles, stone architecture, began widespread utilization of the Mesoamerican syllabary, and continued to perfect their shipbuilding skills. By the end of the 10th century they had completed their expansion across Cuba, enslaving and assimilating the Ciboney peoples who had come before them. Throughout the Caribbean islands and the mainland coastline of Venezuela, the Classical *Arawak culture grew to include as many as 2 million people.
The Classical *Arawak civilization continued to make large sailing catamarans with large, square cotton sails which they navigated using star maps. Their cities consisted of cobblestone roads, paved cement plazas, and big round stone towers which always looked out towards the sea. Politically, they were still separated into maybe as many as a hundred chiefdoms. There was at this time little to no warfare between the *Arawak chiefdoms, instead competition was almost entirely based on wealth: for example how many ships your fleet has, how many slaves work your fields, and how many exotic goods you could import from abroad. What was impressive in this era was that peace was sustained among the *Arawak not because of political invention, but because of cultural tradition.
The *Arawak people enjoyed playing extravagant flutes made of bone and also day-long community barbecues. Versions of Mesoamerican ball sports and Colombian tejo were played in terraced courts. Aristocrats entertained themselves with fishing and hunting and tattoo-artistry. Women wore dyed cotton clothing and jewelry made of gold and precious stones. Many animals from distant locales were bought and sold as pets, including sloths, margays, parakeets, ocelots, iguanas, and monkeys. Artists carved sculptures, wrote poetry and composed songs to impress the masses.
By the 12th century, nearing the end of their Classical Period, the *Arawak have adopted the bronze-working techniques that originated in 9th century Mesoamerica. Unfortunately, none of the territories under their direct control contained easy deposits of tin ore. Copper was cheap to obtain through trade and there were some functional copper mines in Cuba, but for tin, the *Arawak were forced to pay high prices to Colombian and Mesoamerican merchants. Over the centuries a handful of metallurgists would experiment with the production of arsenical bronze and even silver-bronze alloys, but this crude bronze never becomes very useful or widespread. Bronze tools and weapons were nevertheless very important to the *Arawak and metallurgical techniques involved in its production diffused quickly through their many colonies.
With such a burgeoning economy, the *Arawak civilization began a period of colonization. Three early colonies established in the 9th century would become very important in American history: the Baton Rouge colony, the Cumberland Island colony, and the Lake Nicaragua colony. Here we will analyze the short histories of each during the *Arawak Classical Period.
The *Baton Rouge colony was established principally by *Arawak slavers who sailed upriver to raid communities in the Mississippi River basin. The slave trade became very profitable here and for a couple of centuries replaced Colombia and Venezuela as the main source of new slaves for the *Arawak civilization. With such cheap labor available, impressive construction projects were made possible, such as large paved plazas, stone walls, and even small pyramids. The lack of value placed on human life created an environment that was especially vulnerable to future slave revolts. Mesoamerican slaves were introduced in the 10th century, and their much more martial and independent culture diffused quickly among the other slaves that were present in the colony. While the *Arawak aristocracy tried to repress knowledge of writing, many Mesoamerican slaves were learned individuals who used their knowledge to create secret societies dedicated to overthrowing the *Arawak oppressor. Worship of Mesoamerican gods, ritual cannibalism and human sacrifice became very popular and the lower classes tended towards religious extremism. At the end of the 12th century, a series of deadly slave revolts succeeded in toppling the ruling *Arawak hierarchy. Attempts were made to recover the colony, but the newly freed slaves burnt down the ports and fields and migrated en masse upriver where they integrated with the native cultures. The ruling religious extremists established themselves as God-Kings and began slaving and building pyramids just like the *Arawak before them, but they expanded much more quickly throughout the river valleys. Eventually, new slaves were traded down south for *Arawak bronze, until the new Mississippian polities began working bronze themselves.
The colony based on Cumberland Island and the other settlements that arose on the other Sea Islands were based more on trading than slaving. While slaves were still taken from peoples as far north as the Chesapeake Bay, *Arawak merchants made most of their wealth off of alligator skins, whale oil, gold, silver and local medicinal plants. When bronze implements start filtering northward, chiefdoms of the Chesapeake Bay pay exorbitant prices for them and eventually learn to make their own. Tin is nevertheless hard to come by in this region and remained very expensive. While stone architecture did not become popular on the Eastern seaboard, paper and writing did, as did the planting of amaranth, the sweet potato and the pumpkin. When slave revolts forced the *Arawak to flee the Sea Islands in the 13th century, they left the cultures there with a number of new technologies and food crops.
*Arawak slavers had been exploring the San Juan River for generations, but what drew the attention of permanent colonists was the prevalence of obsidian originating at Lake Nicaragua. There was enough of it upriver of the San Juan that the primitive chiefdoms of Lake Nicaragua are conquered. Former *Arawak ship captains established themselves as a ruling aristocracy and besides building walled forts and irrigating new farms they ruthlessly hunted down sources of obsidian to export abroad. Most obsidian weapons used by *Arawak warriors in their Classical Period came from the Lake Nicaragua colony. Eventually, a fusion culture emerged here, so that by the 12th century the *Arawak were no longer negotiating prices with their ethnic brothers in the same language, but a completely new people with few similarities. The Nicaraguan peoples began prospering more from trade up and down the Pacific coastline than with the Caribbean basin, so that when the obsidian market collapsed from the introduction of bronze, they were able to continue to thrive and expand.
There were also two important colonies established by the *Arawak late in their Classical Period that bears mentioning. These are the Bermuda Island colony and the Amazon River colony. Bermuda Island was discovered and settled in the 12th century by *Arawak merchants based out of the Sea Islands. They found there Bermudan cedar, which became a high-priced commodity in the Caribbean islands. A small settlement was established there that both cultivated and harvested the Bermudan cedar for a hundred years. When the Cumberland Island colony fell, however, the inhabitants were isolated, losing all contact with the outside world. The Bermudans would later go on to develop a very strange, macabre culture that would be discovered by Europeans hundreds of years later.
*Arawak sailors had known of the Amazon River for centuries. It was a curious attraction, a place where one could refill canteens with fresh water even out of sight of land. The Marajoara culture on Marajo island was somewhat advanced but had little to trade except for exotic Amazonian animals. Sporadic slaving and trading was done in the area and little else happened there until the 12th century. *Arawak slavers, emboldened by tales of rich civilizations upriver, decided to explore the region with their new bronze weapons. They raided villages of the Santarem culture for a generation before they found evidence of tin ores on the river banks in that area. When the news of tin ore returned to the Caribbean islands, colonists were sent to establish a settlement at Belem. The Santarem culture was even originally not very peaceful. The coming of *Arawak slavers only encouraged them to become more violent and aggressive. The *Arawak allied with the nascent Marajoara confederacy to drive upriver and cripple the Santarem, but after years of warfare they could not overcome their defenses. Eventually they tried a more peaceful approach and offered gifts to win over a couple of chiefdoms. This included bronze weaponry. In short order, Santarem chiefdoms aligned with the *Arawak overcame their neighbors and established a confederacy with which the *Arawak could trade with at their leisure. With peace having been established, expeditions were launched to find the rumored tin ores that had inspired *Arawak adventurers for generations. In the eastern frontiers of the Santarem culture, tin ores were finally discovered, though they were not of the quality the *Arawak had hoped for. Nevertheless, the *Arawak had already established themselves in a number of settlements based around Belem, and with Marajoara mercenaries they continued to probe various tributaries of the Amazon River for more sources of tin. As such, many cultures throughout the Amazon River basin were exposed for the first time to *Arawak merchants and slavers. Eventually, they found a valuable commodity that could be exported abroad: the guarana berry, of which the dried powder became very popular thereafter in the Caribbean Sea. *Arawak dominance of the region lasted for only a century before disease would destroy the home islands back in the Caribbean and cut off key commodities. The colonists had already begun to intermarry with the Marajoara aristocracy and within a couple of generations their settlements were absorbed completely into the Marajo confederacy. However, *Arawak technologies and crops would affect Amazonia forever after.
At the height of their civilization, the *Arawak numbered more than 3 million persons from their colonies at Belem all the way to Bermuda Island and many more peoples were included in their sphere of influence. Unfortunately, by the end of the 13th century the population of the Caribbean islands were already nearing Malthusian limits and a deadly disease was about to strike at the worst possible moment.
Until the 9th century CE, the *Arawak had prospered throughout the Caribbean Sea because of their advanced navigational package alone. The “Sea People” were considered at this time by mainland cultures as mere pirates who fought as often with stone weapons as those made from obsidian and did so without clothing. After the mainland Amerindian cultures collapsed from climate change, drought and repeated raids by *Arawak slavers, the Sea People became the masters of the Caribbean basin. They mastered cotton textiles, stone architecture, began widespread utilization of the Mesoamerican syllabary, and continued to perfect their shipbuilding skills. By the end of the 10th century they had completed their expansion across Cuba, enslaving and assimilating the Ciboney peoples who had come before them. Throughout the Caribbean islands and the mainland coastline of Venezuela, the Classical *Arawak culture grew to include as many as 2 million people.
The Classical *Arawak civilization continued to make large sailing catamarans with large, square cotton sails which they navigated using star maps. Their cities consisted of cobblestone roads, paved cement plazas, and big round stone towers which always looked out towards the sea. Politically, they were still separated into maybe as many as a hundred chiefdoms. There was at this time little to no warfare between the *Arawak chiefdoms, instead competition was almost entirely based on wealth: for example how many ships your fleet has, how many slaves work your fields, and how many exotic goods you could import from abroad. What was impressive in this era was that peace was sustained among the *Arawak not because of political invention, but because of cultural tradition.
The *Arawak people enjoyed playing extravagant flutes made of bone and also day-long community barbecues. Versions of Mesoamerican ball sports and Colombian tejo were played in terraced courts. Aristocrats entertained themselves with fishing and hunting and tattoo-artistry. Women wore dyed cotton clothing and jewelry made of gold and precious stones. Many animals from distant locales were bought and sold as pets, including sloths, margays, parakeets, ocelots, iguanas, and monkeys. Artists carved sculptures, wrote poetry and composed songs to impress the masses.
By the 12th century, nearing the end of their Classical Period, the *Arawak have adopted the bronze-working techniques that originated in 9th century Mesoamerica. Unfortunately, none of the territories under their direct control contained easy deposits of tin ore. Copper was cheap to obtain through trade and there were some functional copper mines in Cuba, but for tin, the *Arawak were forced to pay high prices to Colombian and Mesoamerican merchants. Over the centuries a handful of metallurgists would experiment with the production of arsenical bronze and even silver-bronze alloys, but this crude bronze never becomes very useful or widespread. Bronze tools and weapons were nevertheless very important to the *Arawak and metallurgical techniques involved in its production diffused quickly through their many colonies.
With such a burgeoning economy, the *Arawak civilization began a period of colonization. Three early colonies established in the 9th century would become very important in American history: the Baton Rouge colony, the Cumberland Island colony, and the Lake Nicaragua colony. Here we will analyze the short histories of each during the *Arawak Classical Period.
The *Baton Rouge colony was established principally by *Arawak slavers who sailed upriver to raid communities in the Mississippi River basin. The slave trade became very profitable here and for a couple of centuries replaced Colombia and Venezuela as the main source of new slaves for the *Arawak civilization. With such cheap labor available, impressive construction projects were made possible, such as large paved plazas, stone walls, and even small pyramids. The lack of value placed on human life created an environment that was especially vulnerable to future slave revolts. Mesoamerican slaves were introduced in the 10th century, and their much more martial and independent culture diffused quickly among the other slaves that were present in the colony. While the *Arawak aristocracy tried to repress knowledge of writing, many Mesoamerican slaves were learned individuals who used their knowledge to create secret societies dedicated to overthrowing the *Arawak oppressor. Worship of Mesoamerican gods, ritual cannibalism and human sacrifice became very popular and the lower classes tended towards religious extremism. At the end of the 12th century, a series of deadly slave revolts succeeded in toppling the ruling *Arawak hierarchy. Attempts were made to recover the colony, but the newly freed slaves burnt down the ports and fields and migrated en masse upriver where they integrated with the native cultures. The ruling religious extremists established themselves as God-Kings and began slaving and building pyramids just like the *Arawak before them, but they expanded much more quickly throughout the river valleys. Eventually, new slaves were traded down south for *Arawak bronze, until the new Mississippian polities began working bronze themselves.
The colony based on Cumberland Island and the other settlements that arose on the other Sea Islands were based more on trading than slaving. While slaves were still taken from peoples as far north as the Chesapeake Bay, *Arawak merchants made most of their wealth off of alligator skins, whale oil, gold, silver and local medicinal plants. When bronze implements start filtering northward, chiefdoms of the Chesapeake Bay pay exorbitant prices for them and eventually learn to make their own. Tin is nevertheless hard to come by in this region and remained very expensive. While stone architecture did not become popular on the Eastern seaboard, paper and writing did, as did the planting of amaranth, the sweet potato and the pumpkin. When slave revolts forced the *Arawak to flee the Sea Islands in the 13th century, they left the cultures there with a number of new technologies and food crops.
*Arawak slavers had been exploring the San Juan River for generations, but what drew the attention of permanent colonists was the prevalence of obsidian originating at Lake Nicaragua. There was enough of it upriver of the San Juan that the primitive chiefdoms of Lake Nicaragua are conquered. Former *Arawak ship captains established themselves as a ruling aristocracy and besides building walled forts and irrigating new farms they ruthlessly hunted down sources of obsidian to export abroad. Most obsidian weapons used by *Arawak warriors in their Classical Period came from the Lake Nicaragua colony. Eventually, a fusion culture emerged here, so that by the 12th century the *Arawak were no longer negotiating prices with their ethnic brothers in the same language, but a completely new people with few similarities. The Nicaraguan peoples began prospering more from trade up and down the Pacific coastline than with the Caribbean basin, so that when the obsidian market collapsed from the introduction of bronze, they were able to continue to thrive and expand.
There were also two important colonies established by the *Arawak late in their Classical Period that bears mentioning. These are the Bermuda Island colony and the Amazon River colony. Bermuda Island was discovered and settled in the 12th century by *Arawak merchants based out of the Sea Islands. They found there Bermudan cedar, which became a high-priced commodity in the Caribbean islands. A small settlement was established there that both cultivated and harvested the Bermudan cedar for a hundred years. When the Cumberland Island colony fell, however, the inhabitants were isolated, losing all contact with the outside world. The Bermudans would later go on to develop a very strange, macabre culture that would be discovered by Europeans hundreds of years later.
*Arawak sailors had known of the Amazon River for centuries. It was a curious attraction, a place where one could refill canteens with fresh water even out of sight of land. The Marajoara culture on Marajo island was somewhat advanced but had little to trade except for exotic Amazonian animals. Sporadic slaving and trading was done in the area and little else happened there until the 12th century. *Arawak slavers, emboldened by tales of rich civilizations upriver, decided to explore the region with their new bronze weapons. They raided villages of the Santarem culture for a generation before they found evidence of tin ores on the river banks in that area. When the news of tin ore returned to the Caribbean islands, colonists were sent to establish a settlement at Belem. The Santarem culture was even originally not very peaceful. The coming of *Arawak slavers only encouraged them to become more violent and aggressive. The *Arawak allied with the nascent Marajoara confederacy to drive upriver and cripple the Santarem, but after years of warfare they could not overcome their defenses. Eventually they tried a more peaceful approach and offered gifts to win over a couple of chiefdoms. This included bronze weaponry. In short order, Santarem chiefdoms aligned with the *Arawak overcame their neighbors and established a confederacy with which the *Arawak could trade with at their leisure. With peace having been established, expeditions were launched to find the rumored tin ores that had inspired *Arawak adventurers for generations. In the eastern frontiers of the Santarem culture, tin ores were finally discovered, though they were not of the quality the *Arawak had hoped for. Nevertheless, the *Arawak had already established themselves in a number of settlements based around Belem, and with Marajoara mercenaries they continued to probe various tributaries of the Amazon River for more sources of tin. As such, many cultures throughout the Amazon River basin were exposed for the first time to *Arawak merchants and slavers. Eventually, they found a valuable commodity that could be exported abroad: the guarana berry, of which the dried powder became very popular thereafter in the Caribbean Sea. *Arawak dominance of the region lasted for only a century before disease would destroy the home islands back in the Caribbean and cut off key commodities. The colonists had already begun to intermarry with the Marajoara aristocracy and within a couple of generations their settlements were absorbed completely into the Marajo confederacy. However, *Arawak technologies and crops would affect Amazonia forever after.
At the height of their civilization, the *Arawak numbered more than 3 million persons from their colonies at Belem all the way to Bermuda Island and many more peoples were included in their sphere of influence. Unfortunately, by the end of the 13th century the population of the Caribbean islands were already nearing Malthusian limits and a deadly disease was about to strike at the worst possible moment.
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Hnau
Banned
Damn, I'm excited to see how the Amazonian region will develop! Not only do they have more tin available than the Mississippians with which to create bronze weapons and tools, but Mayan jungle farming will reinforce an already strong agricultural package. In the original BANW it was thought that the region was relatively empty and that the *Arawaks could establish an empire of their own which could last until European contact. Here, I'm not so sure... an empire is possible but wouldn't be based out of Belem. How does this scenario sound?
The Marajoara will probably incorporate the remnants of the Belem colony into a confederacy dominating the mouth of the Amazon River and be relatively technologically advanced, but they'll have to trade upriver for tin. And the Santarem will probably rebound after the Barano fail to replace warriors... they seem to have a very martial culture, and will probably blockade the Amazon River to the Marajoara, keeping the tin to themselves. With more bronze weapons and a quickly growing population, the Santarem would likely defeat the Marajoara confederacy in a protracted war. Tribute is demanded and they are inducted into the empire. The Santarem would probably do the same to the smaller Amazonian polities upriver, where higher-quality tin ores would likely be found. I'm seeing a multi-ethnic empire here.
A Bronze Age Santarem Empire would likely influence other cultures on different tributaries of the Amazon River. I'm looking at the Beni right now... it'll take a while for the butterflies to reach them, but perhaps by the time the Europeans arrive they will have picked up crude bronze-working, writing, and the Mayan agricultural package. They had an already fascinating culture, and I'd love to see them more developed. The Xingu, on the other hand, will be a great target for at first Barano slavers then Santarem slavers. It's as easy to hit the upper Xingu River as the Manaus region, so their society will start diverging as early as the 1200s. Certainly they would trade for bronze weapons, but I've not sure they have any access to tin or products that they could trade for large amounts of tin, so they might not develop bronze-working themselves. Maybe writing, the Mayan agricultural package, cotton textiles and the outrigger canoe.
The Marajoara will probably incorporate the remnants of the Belem colony into a confederacy dominating the mouth of the Amazon River and be relatively technologically advanced, but they'll have to trade upriver for tin. And the Santarem will probably rebound after the Barano fail to replace warriors... they seem to have a very martial culture, and will probably blockade the Amazon River to the Marajoara, keeping the tin to themselves. With more bronze weapons and a quickly growing population, the Santarem would likely defeat the Marajoara confederacy in a protracted war. Tribute is demanded and they are inducted into the empire. The Santarem would probably do the same to the smaller Amazonian polities upriver, where higher-quality tin ores would likely be found. I'm seeing a multi-ethnic empire here.
A Bronze Age Santarem Empire would likely influence other cultures on different tributaries of the Amazon River. I'm looking at the Beni right now... it'll take a while for the butterflies to reach them, but perhaps by the time the Europeans arrive they will have picked up crude bronze-working, writing, and the Mayan agricultural package. They had an already fascinating culture, and I'd love to see them more developed. The Xingu, on the other hand, will be a great target for at first Barano slavers then Santarem slavers. It's as easy to hit the upper Xingu River as the Manaus region, so their society will start diverging as early as the 1200s. Certainly they would trade for bronze weapons, but I've not sure they have any access to tin or products that they could trade for large amounts of tin, so they might not develop bronze-working themselves. Maybe writing, the Mayan agricultural package, cotton textiles and the outrigger canoe.
Last edited:
Hnau
Banned
The *Arawak Post-Classical Period (1200 - 1500 CE)
The great *Arawak civilization had dominated the Caribbean basin for hundreds of years, had planted colonies in locales as far as the Amazon River, and had transferred technologies and food packages to numerous cultures throughout the Americas. By the 13th century, however, the *Arawak were nearing a dramatic collapse.
*Arawak culture was somewhat anarchic. Writing allowed for the organization of trading and military operations, but little attention is given towards agriculture and conservation. The great *Arawak catamarans, for example, were crucial to the *Arawak economy. Catamarans were used for blue sea navigation, for trading, for fishing, for slaving, and for protection against invaders. Each catamaran, however, requires two large hollowed-out old-growth tree trunks, and the main source for these trees are the great forests of Colombia and Venezuela. With every generation that passes, however, there are fewer old-growth trees to find on the South American mainland. Slave labor crews must travel deeper and deeper inland to find them, facing hostile natives and exhausting return journeys. With the passing of centuries, the cost of new sailing catamarans is driven higher and higher. With higher prices to build new catamarans, only the upper-class *Arawak aristocracy can afford large merchant and slaving fleets, so that by the Post-classical period, not only are there fewer *Arawak ships sailing the Caribbean Sea, but they are owned by a much smaller group of nobility.
The *Arawak are largely supplied with food from slave labor. Slaves working in large plantations produce maize, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, avocados, cassava, tomatoes, amaranth, pumpkins, peppers, peanuts, pineapples and cacao beans for food. It's an impressive agricultural package, the best crops that the Americas can provide (with the exception of the potato). Slaves also work in extensive cotton fields to provide needed sails for *Arawak catamarans and also grow enough tobacco to keep *Arawak pipes filled. However, as agriculture is deemed such a lowly task in the *Arawak civilization, there is no technological development in this area. There is little to no irrigation on the Caribbean islands, and crop rotation methods are unknown. What's worse is that chiefdoms overspecialize in certain crops to export. As the years pass, these practices cause a massive depletion of nutrients in the soil. Plantations yield less and less food.
With less food to go around and three million mouths to feed, less catamarans to trade and slave and fish, the population of the Caribbean islands becomes more and more malnourished. The relative peace sustained for hundreds of years disappears as chiefdoms struggle against one another for needed food and slaves. There are numerous slave revolts against the upper-class which has concentrated their power more and more. In the 13th century, the Caribbean islands are in chaos. The *Arawak civilization might have at this point merely passed through a Dark Age of sorts and recovered later on. After all, it wouldn't be long before the Mesoamerican peoples would start growing the potato, imported from South America. The same population explosion experienced there could have helped the *Arawak with their food problems. The llama was also about to be introduced to the Mesoamericans, and a beast of burden could have helped the *Arawak considerably with their labor problems. Perhaps all the *Arawak really needed was some innovation in agricultural techniques and some changes to the existing social structure. But this was not to be.
The Tloggotl virus is a cousin of the Mapucho virus which can be found among rodents in Bolivia. At first, it resided in a species of primate located in the coastal rainforests of northern Brazil: the guayazi monkey. These same monkeys became a luxury pet among the *Arawak during the Classical period and were spread throughout of the Caribbean islands. After a couple of centuries, the virus has gradually adapted to life in human hosts. The widespread malnourishment, warfare, and social unrest among the *Arawak renders millions of people extremely vulnerable to the disease. The virus jumps species for the first time in the last decades of the 13th century, and it only takes a couple decades to cripple the entire *Arawak civilization. Normally, when the virus strikes a virgin-field population, the death rate will barely run over 20%. However, in the 14th century casualties among the *Arawak chiefdoms approach as much as 90%, combined with war and social unrest. Some smaller islands, depending heavily upon trade to provide food for their populations, are completely emptied of humanity.
What survivors remained in the Antilles have moved to the interior of the islands. Disease and invaders come from the sea, so the port towns with their great stone towers are abandoned. Without long-distance trade, the *Arawak lose access to their complete agricultural package, there is no easy source of slaves, and worst of all, no tin to sustain the bronze-making industries. What bronze tools and weapons remained are passed down from generation to generation and slowly wear down. Social unrest also destroyed the educated classes, so writing is all but forgotten on many islands.
For centuries, the Caribbean islands remained quite silent. By the 15th century, however, traders from the Tlantec Empire occasionally sailed to the Florida peninsula, or even farther to the Chesapeake Bay or down south to Colombia. On their voyages they began to make stops at Cuba, the Bahama islands, and Jamaica. The remnant culture of the *Arawak civilization however had by this point become very xenophobic and very few relationships are developed. Some tribes, however, were inspired to rediscover the outrigger canoe and even sails. New villages were built along the coastlines on some islands and fishing was taken up again. However, the *Arawak would not fully recover by the time Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas and the Spanish began their conquest of the Caribbean islands. New diseases and terrible repression by the Spanish would cause their population to decline once more. In the centuries to come, the *Arawak would survive only through the Spanish mestizo populations that would emerge throughout the Caribbean islands.
The great *Arawak civilization had dominated the Caribbean basin for hundreds of years, had planted colonies in locales as far as the Amazon River, and had transferred technologies and food packages to numerous cultures throughout the Americas. By the 13th century, however, the *Arawak were nearing a dramatic collapse.
*Arawak culture was somewhat anarchic. Writing allowed for the organization of trading and military operations, but little attention is given towards agriculture and conservation. The great *Arawak catamarans, for example, were crucial to the *Arawak economy. Catamarans were used for blue sea navigation, for trading, for fishing, for slaving, and for protection against invaders. Each catamaran, however, requires two large hollowed-out old-growth tree trunks, and the main source for these trees are the great forests of Colombia and Venezuela. With every generation that passes, however, there are fewer old-growth trees to find on the South American mainland. Slave labor crews must travel deeper and deeper inland to find them, facing hostile natives and exhausting return journeys. With the passing of centuries, the cost of new sailing catamarans is driven higher and higher. With higher prices to build new catamarans, only the upper-class *Arawak aristocracy can afford large merchant and slaving fleets, so that by the Post-classical period, not only are there fewer *Arawak ships sailing the Caribbean Sea, but they are owned by a much smaller group of nobility.
The *Arawak are largely supplied with food from slave labor. Slaves working in large plantations produce maize, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, avocados, cassava, tomatoes, amaranth, pumpkins, peppers, peanuts, pineapples and cacao beans for food. It's an impressive agricultural package, the best crops that the Americas can provide (with the exception of the potato). Slaves also work in extensive cotton fields to provide needed sails for *Arawak catamarans and also grow enough tobacco to keep *Arawak pipes filled. However, as agriculture is deemed such a lowly task in the *Arawak civilization, there is no technological development in this area. There is little to no irrigation on the Caribbean islands, and crop rotation methods are unknown. What's worse is that chiefdoms overspecialize in certain crops to export. As the years pass, these practices cause a massive depletion of nutrients in the soil. Plantations yield less and less food.
With less food to go around and three million mouths to feed, less catamarans to trade and slave and fish, the population of the Caribbean islands becomes more and more malnourished. The relative peace sustained for hundreds of years disappears as chiefdoms struggle against one another for needed food and slaves. There are numerous slave revolts against the upper-class which has concentrated their power more and more. In the 13th century, the Caribbean islands are in chaos. The *Arawak civilization might have at this point merely passed through a Dark Age of sorts and recovered later on. After all, it wouldn't be long before the Mesoamerican peoples would start growing the potato, imported from South America. The same population explosion experienced there could have helped the *Arawak with their food problems. The llama was also about to be introduced to the Mesoamericans, and a beast of burden could have helped the *Arawak considerably with their labor problems. Perhaps all the *Arawak really needed was some innovation in agricultural techniques and some changes to the existing social structure. But this was not to be.
The Tloggotl virus is a cousin of the Mapucho virus which can be found among rodents in Bolivia. At first, it resided in a species of primate located in the coastal rainforests of northern Brazil: the guayazi monkey. These same monkeys became a luxury pet among the *Arawak during the Classical period and were spread throughout of the Caribbean islands. After a couple of centuries, the virus has gradually adapted to life in human hosts. The widespread malnourishment, warfare, and social unrest among the *Arawak renders millions of people extremely vulnerable to the disease. The virus jumps species for the first time in the last decades of the 13th century, and it only takes a couple decades to cripple the entire *Arawak civilization. Normally, when the virus strikes a virgin-field population, the death rate will barely run over 20%. However, in the 14th century casualties among the *Arawak chiefdoms approach as much as 90%, combined with war and social unrest. Some smaller islands, depending heavily upon trade to provide food for their populations, are completely emptied of humanity.
What survivors remained in the Antilles have moved to the interior of the islands. Disease and invaders come from the sea, so the port towns with their great stone towers are abandoned. Without long-distance trade, the *Arawak lose access to their complete agricultural package, there is no easy source of slaves, and worst of all, no tin to sustain the bronze-making industries. What bronze tools and weapons remained are passed down from generation to generation and slowly wear down. Social unrest also destroyed the educated classes, so writing is all but forgotten on many islands.
For centuries, the Caribbean islands remained quite silent. By the 15th century, however, traders from the Tlantec Empire occasionally sailed to the Florida peninsula, or even farther to the Chesapeake Bay or down south to Colombia. On their voyages they began to make stops at Cuba, the Bahama islands, and Jamaica. The remnant culture of the *Arawak civilization however had by this point become very xenophobic and very few relationships are developed. Some tribes, however, were inspired to rediscover the outrigger canoe and even sails. New villages were built along the coastlines on some islands and fishing was taken up again. However, the *Arawak would not fully recover by the time Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas and the Spanish began their conquest of the Caribbean islands. New diseases and terrible repression by the Spanish would cause their population to decline once more. In the centuries to come, the *Arawak would survive only through the Spanish mestizo populations that would emerge throughout the Caribbean islands.
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