AH Challenge: Buddhist Tawantinsuyu

Well well, it's been a long time since I last checked these forums. I was young and came to check out of interest from time to time, but never really participated.

But this time I'm making an account and I want to start it with a challenge: Make a Buddhist and independent Inca Empire / Nation. Is it hard? I don't know, but it sounds interesting to me!

So, the scenario I though about is like this. There's only one place that remained independent from European invasion: What in our storyline we've come to call the Andes and big parts of what we call the Amazon Rainforest, and within it, a mighty empire called Tawantinsuyu, which became one of the most successful and technologically advanced countries by the 20th century. On top of that, there are other smaller nations surrounding it, most of which either embraced Buddhism or kept an animistic religion, which contrasts with their neighboring countries, which embraced Catholicism. The European discovery and invasion of the Americas still happened, Mexico was still conquered by the Spanish, but something went very different at some point from then on. What happened?

And there are other questions as well:

- Why are there other countries in the "Andes" region as well, not just one united or sided with the Tawantinsuyu?

- What name would that enormous mountain range we call the "Andes" receive in this world? And what about "The Amazonia" or the Amazon Rainforest?

- Did this powerful nation participate in any big war during the 20th century?

- Is there any other important religion (or religions) aside from Buddhism in the Tawantinsuyu and its neighbors?

- How different from our timeline are the other countries that were conquered by the Spanish that are very far away from the Tawantinsuyu, such as Mexico and Guatemala?

I just hope this challenge is good and original, and thanks for this fantastic forum :)
 
Your best bet would be to have the Polynesians become Buddhists(and I have no idea how you could accomplish this) and bring it to the shores of South America. Have the trade between Polynesia and the Andes region continue consistently, and you could see Buddha become a highly regarded figure, and a part of the Incan pantheon.

From there, you'd basically have to have it win over the populace and create a unique strand of Buddhism in the Andes.

However, the problem with this is A) The Inca Empire, and the evidence of Polynesian adventures in South America don't really coincide, B) The Inca are very much not pro-trade, and C) You have to overcome the Inca's Emperor-worshipping ways.

Frankly, really, really hard to spin, and it's certainly not going to be coming from the West either unless you have a POD very far back in the history of the Old World that leads to a Buddhist Europe.
 
I'm always highly skeptical about the possibility of the Polynesians creating anything of any importance in South America. Demographics simply don't allow it. Compared to the size of the Andean population, the Polynesian population was tiny. Overall, they were less advanced. And the small numbers that do visit the shores of South America are very small crews. The only significance of South American-Polynesian interaction was the kumara, or sweet potato, which allowed some significant population growth for the Polynesians.
 
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