AHC: Indian Colonization of the Americas

One unexplored trope in alternate history is that of an Indian power "discovering" and colonizing some part of the Americas. I understand that traversing the Pacific is markedly more difficult than crossing the Atlantic, and most Indian powers weren't even concerned with achieving territorial gains outside of the subcontinent proper. That said, the Chola dynasty did hold most of Southeast Asia/Indonesia under vassalage for some time. I'm thinking that if these gains were consolidated and the territories more intensely colonized by Tamil settlers, then the Chola empire might not have broken up, and the focus of the nation might have shifted eastward. If, for example, the Cholas moved their capital to Java or Sumatra, might they have tried to explore further east in the hopes of finding new islands to colonize? Once they passed Papua New Guinea, could they have come into contact with the Polynesians, and then followed the archipalego until they reached the West Coast?

That was obviously a really rough timeline, but I would like to explore the feasibility of the Cholas(or indeed any Indian power) reaching and impacting the Americas. Do you guys think it's possible?
 
I'm sorry if this is a bad joke on my part but if the Indians do colonize the Americas and share cultural trend with the Native Americans then couldn't they be then called "Indian-Indians"? ;):p
 
The Indians would be more able to cross the Atlantic than the Pacific. Perhaps a colony at the Cape.

Would it be possible for them to island-hop the Pacific? If the Cholas establish a colony in New Guinea, then the Polynesian islands aren't all that far away. If they sail from island to island they could reach Hawaii at the very least.
 
Would it be possible for them to island-hop the Pacific? If the Cholas establish a colony in New Guinea, then the Polynesian islands aren't all that far away. If they sail from island to island they could reach Hawaii at the very least.

It'd be very long and difficult, and for little apparent gain. It'd be easier to sail across the Atlantic from the Cape.

I don't think you'd see the Cholas moving their capital to Indonesia; they were fundamentally an Indian power, their main powerbase was there, their ancestral seat; it'd be like Britain moving its capital to India.
 
It'd be very long and difficult, and for little apparent gain. It'd be easier to sail across the Atlantic from the Cape.

I don't think you'd see the Cholas moving their capital to Indonesia; they were fundamentally an Indian power, their main powerbase was there, their ancestral seat; it'd be like Britain moving its capital to India.
The Cape would be more practical, but the Cholas moving their capital to Indonesia is not quite like Britain moving its capital to India. It's more like England moving their capital to France...but while France isn't even securely held.
 
The Cape would be more practical, but the Cholas moving their capital to Indonesia is not quite like Britain moving its capital to India. It's more like England moving their capital to France...but while France isn't even securely held.

OTL when the Cholas attacked and sacked the Srivijaya Empire they did nothing to consolidate their gains, apart from making the captured king swear vassalage and promise not to act up again(the Chola invasion was partly motivated by Srivijaya screwing with their Chinese trade). If they killed the king, installed some family member as governor, and tried to coax native Tamils into settling the island, Indonesia might have become a proper part of the Chola empire instead of remaining a feudatory until the empire's breakup. I think that the establishment of demographic and familial ties to the Chola homeland would go a long way to keeping Indonesia within the Chola fold.

Let's say things go badly on the Indian front. The Chalukyas trounce the royal armies in the north, Vikramabahu and his Sinhalese rebels start winning their insurgency, the Tamil country and the capital are both endangered. The reigning raja loses his nerve and decides to flee to the safest refuge possible; which, in this case will be Srivijaya, which at that point would be the most stable part of the empire. The royal court follows their king into exile, and boom, the entire Cholamandal is transposed onto the Indonesian archipalego. The Chalukyas conquer the Tamil country and the Sinhalese retake Ceylon, cutting the emigres off from the homeland. The Cholas then become more focused on the Indonesian sphere; over time they may conquer the entire archipalego, and, once word of Polynesia and the Pacific reach their ears, a few of their adventurers might decide to go exploring.

Did that read like a weed dream, or was that at all feasible? If this did somehow occur, I could at least see the Cholas interacting with the Hawaiians, though their motivation for doing so would be beyond me. Still, the idea of Tamils exploring the Pacific and somehow reaching the west coast is pretty appealing to me.
 
OTL when the Cholas attacked and sacked the Srivijaya Empire they did nothing to consolidate their gains, apart from making the captured king swear vassalage and promise not to act up again(the Chola invasion was partly motivated by Srivijaya screwing with their Chinese trade). If they killed the king, installed some family member as governor, and tried to coax native Tamils into settling the island, Indonesia might have become a proper part of the Chola empire instead of remaining a feudatory until the empire's breakup. I think that the establishment of demographic and familial ties to the Chola homeland would go a long way to keeping Indonesia within the Chola fold.

Let's say things go badly on the Indian front. The Chalukyas trounce the royal armies in the north, Vikramabahu and his Sinhalese rebels start winning their insurgency, the Tamil country and the capital are both endangered. The reigning raja loses his nerve and decides to flee to the safest refuge possible; which, in this case will be Srivijaya, which at that point would be the most stable part of the empire. The royal court follows their king into exile, and boom, the entire Cholamandal is transposed onto the Indonesian archipalego. The Chalukyas conquer the Tamil country and the Sinhalese retake Ceylon, cutting the emigres off from the homeland. The Cholas then become more focused on the Indonesian sphere; over time they may conquer the entire archipalego, and, once word of Polynesia and the Pacific reach their ears, a few of their adventurers might decide to go exploring.

Did that read like a weed dream, or was that at all feasible? If this did somehow occur, I could at least see the Cholas interacting with the Hawaiians, though their motivation for doing so would be beyond me. Still, the idea of Tamils exploring the Pacific and somehow reaching the west coast is pretty appealing to me.
For the Cholas to move their capital to Indonesia, it would depend completely on how consolidated it would be. As 'nationalism' per se didn't really exist, it could move it there. But that wouldn't have much bearing on whether or not it would reach the Americas. The Cholas would be seeking trade, so holding Africa would make more sense than voyaging to the Americas. I think an Atlantic voyage is more possible with this scenario, but the whole thing is unlikely.
 
The Cholas who were an ancient dynasty from the time of Mauryas were vassals of the Pallavas for two-three centuries before the middle years of the nineth century. They overthrew the Pallavas around 850 CE and lorded over the South India for about four centuries.The power of the dynasty reached its zenith under Rajaraja I [985-1014] and Rajendra I [1014-1042].Rajaraja conquered Ceylon [Srilanka] and Rajendra carried his power by land to the mouth of Ganges. He also sent out naval expeditions and occupied parts of Burma,Malaya and Sumatra.In the 12th and 13th centuries the power of the Cholas declined and they were eventually overthrown by the Pandyas in the thirteenth century. If the decline of the Cholas was arrested somehow and had they continued to flourish they could have developed into a formidable naval power. In such a TL they might have developed colonies in South Africa.If colonies could be established in Southern tip of Africa expeditions to and colonization of Americas was also within the reach of possibilities.
 
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