alternate high civilisation in Scandinavia

would it be possible with a POD that would be perhaps in the time before Indo European migration. that a culture emerges from the region aroun modern Scandinavia and developes to a dominating culture ? or is scandinavia simply too cold, not populous enough and not fertile enough for this ?
 
The problem is the competition. Even if Scandinavian culture becomes dominant in Europe, its centre of gravity is almost certain to move south into more fertile and ultimately more populous regions. For comparison, look at howe it went for the Germanic peoples: AS best we can reconstruct, the Germanic cultural and language group originates from somewhere in Northern Germany/Southern Scandinavia. Scandinavia is still mainly Germanic, but when you think of dominant Germanic cultures, you're more likely to think of England, Germany and the Netherlands.
 

Rex Mundi

Banned
What carlton said. Basically, Scandinavia did give rise to a culture which became dominant in Europe, but the climate and geography meant the focus of that culture shifted to greener pastures.
 
You could have a brief period of glory, maybe a united kingdom at the end of an (even) more successful viking age. Or Norway and Sweden as the only countries unwrecked by a Mongol invasion of Europe.

In either case, I suspect it would be brief, before as has been said, the center of gravity shifted south.

For a pre-indoeuropean POD, what you really need is the potato. Which is going to be difficult indeed.
 
Well considering what can be done in the Thule timeline with colder places I think you should look into alternative crops that'd do well in the cold, have trouble with pests that exist farther south and thrive on the rain and the long summer days. That'll boost the population and the rest can follow.

Alternatively screw the south with nastier versions of malaria and whatnot.
 
Even with the potato, the potato doesn't give Scandinavia advantages over lands to the south - not sure if there any food crops that would.

Even if somehow you find a crop that's not adaptable elsewhere, "elsewhere" doesn't need it to outcompete the Scandinavians on the population front.
 
Or just a food crop that grows better in Scandinavia than barley and other historical food crops. Maybe it grows even better elsewhere but not enough to displace southern staples, so it'd narrow the gap between Scandinavia and the rest.
 
Or just a food crop that grows better in Scandinavia than barley and other historical food crops. Maybe it grows even better elsewhere but not enough to displace southern staples, so it'd narrow the gap between Scandinavia and the rest.

I'll put it this way: "It does, however, seem likely that in the early fourteenth century, when the medieval population was greatest, there were rather more than two million people in Scandinavia, half of them in the medieval Danish kingdom." - Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation circa 800-1500, Birgit and Peter Sawyer

For comparison: http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/tekpages/population.html

Even a super-crop isn't going to make up for the fact that Scandinavia has too much terrain that's mountain or arctic, and Denmark is just small.

It might be more significant than OTL, but having it have an overwhelming influence - very unlikely.
 
Or just a food crop that grows better in Scandinavia than barley and other historical food crops. Maybe it grows even better elsewhere but not enough to displace southern staples, so it'd narrow the gap between Scandinavia and the rest.

Your best bet there is actually the potato. While it doesn't grow any better in Scandinavia than further south, its vulnerable to a lot of diseases, blights etc that doesn't do well in Scandinavian climes.

Thats not enough to make a difference, though. You'd have the somewhat more occasional famine in more southern climes, but it won't be enough to change your basic demographics. Might give an opening for an invasion. At the end of the Roman empire, the Goths, Vandals, etc cared fuck-all about demographics, they just steamrollered the mediterranean. Which shows what you can accomplish when the opposition haven't gottent their act together.

But the centre of gravity, again, changed instantly to the south.

The advantage of early potato introduction is that innovations spread more slowly in pre-indoeuropean times. You're going to have a longer window before the crop is adopted further south than you will later.

Of course, a potato introduction that early almost borders on ASB.
 
Some crops do pretty well in colder climates, barley and buckwheat, but they don't have that potato magic, for sure.
 
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