AHC: Americas country with Pre-1492 Language as primary

The challenge is to have an independent country in the Americas (for this purpose Greenland is not independent) where the primary language used in the country's parliament/congress/etc. is one that either existed in the Americas prior to 1492 or a Creole which has more than half of its non-technical words from a language in the Americas prior to 1492.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Paraguay and Guarani.

The challenge is to have an independent country in the Americas (for this purpose Greenland is not independent) where the primary language used in the country's parliament/congress/etc. is one that either existed in the Americas prior to 1492 or a Creole which has more than half of its non-technical words from a language in the Americas prior to 1492.

Paraguay and Guarani. Already exists.

Best,
 
Maya independence movement has been active since before the Spanish arrived probably, and letting one of their revolutions stick is pretty easy. In Mexico, up till quite recently a plurality of the population spoke Nahua- just get the nation into a suitably anti-Spanish pro-native mindset and boom. Same kind of situation occasionally in Peru.
 
Paraguay and Guarani. Already exists.

Best,

Yes Guarani is an official language, and according to Wikipedia Guarani is actually spoken by more Paraguayans. But what language is business conducted in the Paraguayan Legislature, Spanish or Guarani?
 
Maya independence movement has been active since before the Spanish arrived probably, and letting one of their revolutions stick is pretty easy. In Mexico, up till quite recently a plurality of the population spoke Nahua- just get the nation into a suitably anti-Spanish pro-native mindset and boom. Same kind of situation occasionally in Peru.

I'm thinking a Maya victory in the Caste War would be a start, if they can also resist the Mexicans.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Both, pretty much

Yes Guarani is an official language, and according to Wikipedia Guarani is actually spoken by more Paraguayans. But what language is business conducted in the Paraguayan Legislature, Spanish or Guarani?

More people speak Guarani than Spanish, actually, IIRC.

Best,
 
More people speak Guarani than Spanish, actually, IIRC.

Best,

I agree and I said that in my post, but Spanish would be more likely to be spoken in business and by the upper class in business, particularly with Argentina and Uruguay. The question is what is used in Politics which for the most part would tend to follow that.
 
Already fulfilled with Bolivia (Aymara, Quechua) and Paraguay (Guarani). If you mean more countries that promote the indigenous languages instead of suppressing them in the name of civilizing the natives and "uniting the nation," you need the Latin American independence movements to be led by natives or mestizos more in tune with their native roots even, not criollos.
 
I don't know if Guarani is used in the parliament of Paraguay, but for all intents and purposes it is an official language of Paraguay, so it should count. Bolivia also has the languages Cuauhtemoc listed as well as Guarani as official languages.
 
Wasn't Tupi widely spoken by Portuguese settlers in Brazil up until the early 18th century? Something could be done with that.
 
Wasn't Tupi widely spoken by Portuguese settlers in Brazil up until the early 18th century? Something could be done with that.

For that, you would need to nerf the wave of Portuguese immigrants that came to Brazil during the eighteenth century and contributed to the quick decline of the Tupi language. That means delaying the discovery of the gold mines.
 
That's pretty plausible, even if you discount the already-existing examples. Say one of the Maya revolts in the Yucatan against Mexico is successful, and a new state is formed and internationally recognized. That scenario would make an indigenous language not only a primary language and the language of business, but the only primary language, with Spanish being a minority language.
 
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