American Viking: a timeline
- Thread starter Odinson
- Start date
Copper would be an absolute suitable metal, if there is a big enough deposit to use.
Now we just need an atlas of mineral resources of New England and the coastal parts of the middle Atlantic states, or someone who happens to have that knowledge in their head.
Pretty sure someone happens to know something about the mining history of the British colonies of OTL before the ARW; even given far more time than the British colonists had, I don't think the Wampanoag will be doing a lot more mining than the colonials managed to find and exploit before 1776. Then again, metal was not actually unknown to Native Americans anyway--it is not easy to process iron or bog iron, but precious metals are pretty inert and tend to come in shiny nodules people notice.
Which does suggest, if New England area native people were rarely seen to have metal that was not European/colonist made, that it will not be easy to find in that region. But the Wampanoag do have the Vinlander heritage to guide them in finding ores other OTL Native peoples of the region might have overlooked.
Damn, I hate being ignorant of such things!
Here I have turned up a few links from searches; it seems Connecticut developed a number of copper mines, and gold could be found in some places--I ignored everything about iron; most links on mining in NE seem to be about stone quarrying.
en.wikipedia.org
Gold!
www.neexplorers.org
en.wikipedia.org
Overall the gold may be a more likely thing to develop than the copper; the colonials had not the best luck refining copper. But they were able to do it!
Pretty sure someone happens to know something about the mining history of the British colonies of OTL before the ARW; even given far more time than the British colonists had, I don't think the Wampanoag will be doing a lot more mining than the colonials managed to find and exploit before 1776. Then again, metal was not actually unknown to Native Americans anyway--it is not easy to process iron or bog iron, but precious metals are pretty inert and tend to come in shiny nodules people notice.
Which does suggest, if New England area native people were rarely seen to have metal that was not European/colonist made, that it will not be easy to find in that region. But the Wampanoag do have the Vinlander heritage to guide them in finding ores other OTL Native peoples of the region might have overlooked.
Damn, I hate being ignorant of such things!
Here I have turned up a few links from searches; it seems Connecticut developed a number of copper mines, and gold could be found in some places--I ignored everything about iron; most links on mining in NE seem to be about stone quarrying.
Old New-Gate Prison - Wikipedia
Gold!
Lost Gold Mines in New England
Stories of lost gold mines have always been popular among prospectors and treasure hunters. It is often believed that an undiscovered motherlode is just waiting for some treasure hunter to find
www.neexplorers.org
Elizabeth Mine - Wikipedia
Overall the gold may be a more likely thing to develop than the copper; the colonials had not the best luck refining copper. But they were able to do it!
Driftless
Donor
Without doing homework myself, I believe the biggest source of easily usable copper was found in the U.P. of Michigan. Quite a surprising amount was a more pure native copper and was found on or near the surface. Indigenous groups collected or mined that native copper since 3000 BC+/-
So, you'd need a more complex trading network to pull that material into the mix.
So, you'd need a more complex trading network to pull that material into the mix.
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There remains time for the Wampanoag system, that already has a countervailing Native power in contact with the Powhatan, to expand farther and reach places like Michigan, though you are pointing to quite far flung locations.
Of more interest in the shorter run are rather petty deposits that are nearer. OTL mines that in theory could produce respectable quantities and qualities of metal tend to be overlooked and forgotten because more cost-effective ones exist elsewhere, and with modern transport--mainly it is the railroad making the big difference from ancient times, though canal networks should not be overlooked by any means--these set the prices and outcompete more difficult diffuse small works. Though a person who has property rights to a small mine might find it worthwhile to try to compete anyway.
Glancing over the more in-depth 1944 paper (I skipped right past the iron works, though perhaps I shouldn't have, the Vinland heritage certainly did preserve some knowledge of how to work iron after all) transport was a major issue for the Newgate mine in Connecticut in the early days--also Britain had imposed mercantilist laws to forbid colonial smelting of ores, not that the mid-18th century Newgate entrepreneurs appear to have had much skill at smelting anyway. Bootleg operations existed anyway, but they had to be hidden from the colonial authorities which compounded their technical problems.
I'd think the pattern among the Wampanoag would be different; any little deposit anyone notices will be at least considered for low-level mining and processing by locals, it would never be worthwhile to haul masses of unsmelted ore around; either a mine can be worked into fairly finished metal or it will be abandoned though maybe not forgotten. But if someone can make a little metal in an easy walk of the mine site, it would generally be more than worthwhile to do that.
Precious metals would tend to become mainly ornaments--if they knew how to make bronze, that can actually be superior to iron or even steel weapons or armor, but I think there is no basis for their knowing much about working bronze, and it requires transporting alloying metals such as tin or arsenic, and of course having the knowledge to know how to alloy them.
I don't know if anyone in Mesoamerica has that level of metallurgical knowledge, anyway contact between Wampanoag and Central America is probably some generations down the line still, and such specialized craft knowledge would only spread if some skilled metalworker were induced to come north and work in the north, which I think they'd be reluctant to do!
So anyway, it is iron for utilitarian stuff including weapons, but with pure precious metals being rather soft and quite decorative, I suppose the major use of them is primarily for artwork, and secondarily a money function of sorts will emerge.
The Wampanoag I suppose would have fairly vigorous trade internally, among themselves, and that tends to accelerate the evolution of money. Wampum might maintain a strong function but I suppose trade in that is not stripped of ceremonial symbolism; it is not a simple, one might say crass, exchange of stored money-value for generic goods, but a token of relationship between the giver and recipient, and while that has use and importance such that it might be a sustained practice it is not so great for purely commercial transactions. The people might not make a distinction, or not as sharply as more modernized folks would, with a certain gift-exchange aspect sticking to fairly mundane transactions perhaps. But if the Wampanoag can manage to put a fair amount of fairly pure copper and perhaps gold into circulation, even if only in the form of artworks exchanged not in sales with the figures being just weighed as X amount of gold or copper, but as a kind of metal wampum (and beads of metal can be worked into wampum, as well as other minerals mentioned in the mining searches I did, such as particular kinds of rock, mica, granite, marble, from various quarries). Perhaps the metal doesn't really change anything.
Trade with outsiders though will tend to demand developing some sort of standardized commodity of exchange which people learn to trade in without too much ceremony, the merchants being strangers of dubious long term relationship.
In Mesoamerica idk but the ancestors of the Muisca in Colombia knew how to metallurgy and made some things with bronze as well, although they're a little too far to change anything. As a compromise, the Caribs of the Caribbean (duh?!) knew how to make stuff out of silver and selled this same stuff to the Taíno, but again, we need bronze, so IINM some people out in Central America knew how to work bronze and passed this knowledge to the Purepecha of Western Mexico. So maybe we can have some northern learning how to metallurgy in a travel down south?
Not yet, I should have one by the next update (which may be delayed a week or so)
Great! I haven't really looked at the previous posts, (me being lazy) but could you perhaps fill me in on the general events?
Thorfinn Karlsefni's OTL northern colony fails,but instead of going back to Iceland, he and his fellow settlers go down south and settle in OTL Massachusetts and found the city of Botnborg. After a few years, the Norse begin to interact with the local Wampanoag tribe and strive to keep peace with them, inviting them to theGreat! I haven't really looked at the previous posts, (me being lazy) but could you perhaps fill me in on the general events?
Thing to sort out issues. Jarl Snorri leads for many years as a wise ruler and helps integreate the two groups, even fighting off a rival Norse colony that was raiding and murdering. Decades later, the norse join the Wampanoag confederacy as things like metal working, reading/writing, and Christianity become more prevalent in Vinland (the name the Norse and Wampanoag have settled on for North America as a whole).
The next update will skip forward about a hundred years or so.
Cool. So the Wampanoag Confederacy becomes Nordified/Christianised.
I assume Horses, Pack animals, Herd Animals and Such will be introduced as well?
Also, have you touched on disease yet (yes, I know no Alt-history writer likes to talk about disease)? I was thinking that the ripple affect could allow North America to be disease hardened.
No horses, but goats, cattle, and sheep have been and they are very popular among the skraelings.
Well, most diseases weren't as prevalent in Scandinavia. But through livestock, some have spread to the Norse and Native Americans, but both have developed an imunity somewhat and it will continue to mutate, leading to some surprises when the Europeans come a knocking.
Heh heh heh. [Cackles evily...]
I really hoping that the aztec get immune. Those Spanish will be in for a beating....
what... hold on... are you suggesting that things might go the other way for the Europeans, disease wise?
While many will die from European diseases, many colonists will no doubt die from Vinland's diseases...
Chapter 22
1300: Nyhofn, Summer
Gunnar Jonson awoke to see the sun shinning over the Cape of Good Omens (Cape Cod's name in this timeline). He smiled, letting the glowing heavenly body warm his face. Beside him, the lovely Viktoria began to stir. Cloaked in the bed sheet, she curled up like a cocoon. He stroked her hair a moment, reminiscing about the events of last night. Then the door opened as a large man entered, smelling of freshly cooked bread.
"Viktoria, come now. Before your bread gets cold-" His gaze fell on Gunnar.
"..... Hi..."
"You Mother Fu-" Gunnar scrambled out the window as the father hurled anger charged words at the young man, calling for his wife to get him the family ax. Gunnar ran for his life, hopping over the low fences that separated yards from one another. Dogs barked and chickens squawked in surprise as he fled the angry father who was running down the adjoining street, weapon in hand.
"Come back here you bastard! I'll teach you for sleeping with my daughter!" Gunnar's face openly showed his fear.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit," panted. Norse and skraeling denizens watched in mild amusement, correctly predicting what had happened. Eager to shake off the angry man, he veered left and ducked between houses.
He saw a parade of soldiers marching past, their chain mail clanking, their shields freshly painted. Gunnar, seeing his chance, darted in and marched with them. The soldiers looked at him, confused.
"Please, for the love of God, don't question it and let me march with you." Looking at each other, they said nothing and kept moving, marching out of the city as women threw flowers at them. Gunnar sighed in relief, planning on walking with them until they stopped near the outskirts and then head home.
But they kept on marching. And marching. His feet ached, his clothes were soaked in sweat, and his stomach grumbled.
"We've been marching for rôst now, where are we going?"
"You didn't know? We're off to the lands of the Mahicans."
"What? Why?" he asked, exasperated from the day's events.
"The Kanien'keha:ka have declared another war, we're on our way to help." Gunnar's face drained in color. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?
The army stopped for the night, letting Gunnar finally rest. Camp was set up for the night, soldier rolled out their sleeping mats and set up fires while others went to go hunt game. Sitting on a log, a huge man with a massive blonde beard stood behind him, his armor removed to reveal huge pectorals and numerous scars.
"Boy." Gunnar slowly turned and looked up, gulping at the sight. The man's fierce eyes bored deep into his soul. Stuttering, Gunnar gave a reply.
"Y-yes?"
"Come now, boy." He lifted the boy by the collar and ordered him to follow. Too scared to not do as the man said, he followed as close as possible.
"So you're the runt who snuck in, huh?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Hrrg." Gunnar followed him to the quartermaster. The quartermaster was a skraeling with his dark black hair hanging to his shoulders.
"Hey there, Ahanu."
"Ivar! What brings you to my tent?"
"Got a soldier without gear. Can you fix him up?" Sizing up Gunnar, he nodded and went into the tent and grabbed a mail shirt and a leather helmet and passed him a spear and shield.
"Don't lose this. I don't know what you did with your old gear, but I take it personal if you lose this army's shit." Gunnar nodded again, not saying anything. His usual bravado ad been worn down by the march. "Ivar" walked Gunnar back to the fire.
"Boy, do you got a name?"
"I'm Gunnar."
"Well Gunnar, I'm Ivar and I'm the War Leader of this party, and it is my job to keep you alive. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
"That means for the rest of this march, you will be trained with the men, and you will learn to fight. You will learn to follow orders and no running off. You did not begin today a soldier, but by God you are one now. If you run away and are caught, it will be unpleasent, and I will leave it at that. Understand?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Good, now lets go get you some food."
Gunnar quickened his pace, finding the prospect of food the first good thing of the entire day.
Map by @dontfearme22
Gunnar Jonson awoke to see the sun shinning over the Cape of Good Omens (Cape Cod's name in this timeline). He smiled, letting the glowing heavenly body warm his face. Beside him, the lovely Viktoria began to stir. Cloaked in the bed sheet, she curled up like a cocoon. He stroked her hair a moment, reminiscing about the events of last night. Then the door opened as a large man entered, smelling of freshly cooked bread.
"Viktoria, come now. Before your bread gets cold-" His gaze fell on Gunnar.
"..... Hi..."
"You Mother Fu-" Gunnar scrambled out the window as the father hurled anger charged words at the young man, calling for his wife to get him the family ax. Gunnar ran for his life, hopping over the low fences that separated yards from one another. Dogs barked and chickens squawked in surprise as he fled the angry father who was running down the adjoining street, weapon in hand.
"Come back here you bastard! I'll teach you for sleeping with my daughter!" Gunnar's face openly showed his fear.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit," panted. Norse and skraeling denizens watched in mild amusement, correctly predicting what had happened. Eager to shake off the angry man, he veered left and ducked between houses.
He saw a parade of soldiers marching past, their chain mail clanking, their shields freshly painted. Gunnar, seeing his chance, darted in and marched with them. The soldiers looked at him, confused.
"Please, for the love of God, don't question it and let me march with you." Looking at each other, they said nothing and kept moving, marching out of the city as women threw flowers at them. Gunnar sighed in relief, planning on walking with them until they stopped near the outskirts and then head home.
But they kept on marching. And marching. His feet ached, his clothes were soaked in sweat, and his stomach grumbled.
"We've been marching for rôst now, where are we going?"
"You didn't know? We're off to the lands of the Mahicans."
"What? Why?" he asked, exasperated from the day's events.
"The Kanien'keha:ka have declared another war, we're on our way to help." Gunnar's face drained in color. Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?
The army stopped for the night, letting Gunnar finally rest. Camp was set up for the night, soldier rolled out their sleeping mats and set up fires while others went to go hunt game. Sitting on a log, a huge man with a massive blonde beard stood behind him, his armor removed to reveal huge pectorals and numerous scars.
"Boy." Gunnar slowly turned and looked up, gulping at the sight. The man's fierce eyes bored deep into his soul. Stuttering, Gunnar gave a reply.
"Y-yes?"
"Come now, boy." He lifted the boy by the collar and ordered him to follow. Too scared to not do as the man said, he followed as close as possible.
"So you're the runt who snuck in, huh?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Hrrg." Gunnar followed him to the quartermaster. The quartermaster was a skraeling with his dark black hair hanging to his shoulders.
"Hey there, Ahanu."
"Ivar! What brings you to my tent?"
"Got a soldier without gear. Can you fix him up?" Sizing up Gunnar, he nodded and went into the tent and grabbed a mail shirt and a leather helmet and passed him a spear and shield.
"Don't lose this. I don't know what you did with your old gear, but I take it personal if you lose this army's shit." Gunnar nodded again, not saying anything. His usual bravado ad been worn down by the march. "Ivar" walked Gunnar back to the fire.
"Boy, do you got a name?"
"I'm Gunnar."
"Well Gunnar, I'm Ivar and I'm the War Leader of this party, and it is my job to keep you alive. Understand?"
"Yes sir."
"That means for the rest of this march, you will be trained with the men, and you will learn to fight. You will learn to follow orders and no running off. You did not begin today a soldier, but by God you are one now. If you run away and are caught, it will be unpleasent, and I will leave it at that. Understand?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Good, now lets go get you some food."
Gunnar quickened his pace, finding the prospect of food the first good thing of the entire day.
Map by @dontfearme22
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