I have been watching the TV series Vikings, and could help to notice the similarities between Norwegian landscapes and those of Southern Chile and western Argentine Patagonia. Both have fiords, forests, lakes and the weather is rather cold.
Could a seafaring culture have develope there before the Europeans came. i know, it's a real challenge. No such boats existed in Pre-columbian America. The Yaghan had canoes by which they traveled across the islands and hunted sealions, but they aren't comparable to western ships. More than that, they had no agriculture nor domesticated animals.
But, if somehow, a crop suited to that climate had been domesticated or introduced, and if animal such as guanacos (closely related to llamas), Huemules (local deers) or rheas had been domesticated, could this have led to more population and, in tern, innovation in seafaring technology? Wood was already there, and sails might have been introduced from the Incas, who had them and reached as far as central Chile. Or maybe from Polynesians?
I know, it's hard without a souitable grain good enough to sustain at least a solid enough population, but...
Could a seafaring culture have develope there before the Europeans came. i know, it's a real challenge. No such boats existed in Pre-columbian America. The Yaghan had canoes by which they traveled across the islands and hunted sealions, but they aren't comparable to western ships. More than that, they had no agriculture nor domesticated animals.
But, if somehow, a crop suited to that climate had been domesticated or introduced, and if animal such as guanacos (closely related to llamas), Huemules (local deers) or rheas had been domesticated, could this have led to more population and, in tern, innovation in seafaring technology? Wood was already there, and sails might have been introduced from the Incas, who had them and reached as far as central Chile. Or maybe from Polynesians?
I know, it's hard without a souitable grain good enough to sustain at least a solid enough population, but...