alternatehistory.com

I came up with this idea while talking with some of my friends, we thought it was pretty interesting so I thought I would bring it here and see what happens.

The idea behind this is to create a very different Wild West. One where a mixing of several different cultures and peoples lead to a much more wild and interesting time. Starting in Scandinavia where the conquest and conversion of the native pagans was slower to happen than in OTL, resulted in a sizable pagan minority that remains to this day. As well Iceland and Greenland were both settled more heavily, especially by Vikings fleeing the Christian church and its monarchs. The Vikings were also able to maintain their settlement in what would become Canada OTL, Vinland, though unable to expand upon it for some time.

In the Iberian Peninsula, Al-Andalus remained as a region and became its own Muslim-dominated nation. This nation would end up discovering the new world, or at least the equatorial part of it, and begin the conquest and colonization of Central America. As side note, although not directly related to the main premise, we toyed with the idea of the Holy Roman Empire remaining strong enough to colonize South America and the Byzantine Empire also remaining strong and even gaining back territory to become a, minor, power in the region. Although as earlier stated this strays off topic.

Next we had the idea for China to discover the West Coast, establishing a Chinese colony in the New World. We couldn’t decide whether to keep it a simple colony of China, or have them become their own nation. Some argued that it was more believable for them to be a colony, while others felt that it would be more interesting to have all of the groups be distinctly American in nature and separate from the Old World nations.

Finally, we had a fledgling Native American nation in the central and northern parts of the Great Plains and Western regions. Due to pressure and trade from the various groups around them, several tribes united with the belief that only by forming a nation of their own, and modernizing, could they survive against the more technologically advanced peoples. At the same time we had independent tribes farther south that wanted nothing to do with them.

So the stage was set for a much stranger wild west. A west where Europe met the Orient, and Muslim, Moorish inspired, Hispanics influence the culture. Where a fledgling Native American nation is a local power player and independent tribes are a constant worry. Where a smattering of Vikings from Vinland are free to make their fortunes and honor their gods the best way they can.
To be honest it was a pretty silly discussion and we mainly just thought it would be cool to have a bunch of very different cultures meeting in the time of the “Wild West”; plus we thought it was kind of funny to fill Canada with Vikings. In the end I thought that the idea behind it was kind of interesting though, and would make some pretty interesting pulp stories. Unfortunately I’m not nearly good enough to work out all of the details to make this a viable timeline. So I’m making a thread where anyone can add their two cents to this thing and hopefully, if anyone is actually interested, we can come up with a working timeline.
Top