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An Americas' World?

I had this idea while rereading Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" a year or so ago. It struck my fancy because I kind of liked the idea of having the Americas come out on top instead of OTL's Europe. He wrote that one fatal disadvantage for the Americas was that all domesticable big mammals had been already hunted to death, probably by people. But, I realized he was wrong. There was a at least one family of big, domesticable mammals still left in the Americas that wasn't all dead yet.

Of course, that particular kind of mammal has its own challenges to deal with, but I do think they can be overcome - and it has advantages, too. This mammal has been domesticated in our timeline, too - but far more recently.


Plus, those of us living in this timeline's Texas'd be dressed far more appropriately to the climate; this world spends less money on A/C. Of course, it also spends more on heating in cold places.

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[SIZE=+1]These Holas are savages, savages, no question. They hate to bathe, are overdressed and embarrassed to see a human body, and they have no good ballgames. They are also superstitious, and won't hear a word against what they believe, nor look the least bit at what is true, but spend hour after hour on day after day purely on ceremony, and their Lord help them from their priests if they fall into what they see as error.

I am glad we are helping these men by showing them the right road.

- letter from Arawak soldier in Spain, 1452
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