The Tarsacans (just to the west of the Aztecs) were futzing around with bronze, and that knowledge was working its way into the Aztecs area.
Turning raw iron into steel requires much more advanced metallurgy than working with relatively soft materials like gold and silver. If the Aztecs do manage to get bronze-working from the Tarascans that definately gives them a better base of knowledge to eventually develop ironworking though; once you know how to make alloys to get bronze it's lot easier to figure out how to turn iron into steel.Was there no metal working AT ALL ? Obviously they worked in gold, and I would assume silver? What about bronze ?
Best Regards
Grey Wolf
That is definately an area where captured Spanish soldiers would be able to make a major difference; just helping the Aztecs devise better tactics to fight the Spanish could make a big difference.As for the captured spaniards, I wouldn't be so dismissive of the possibility of some aiding the aztecs or other nations, either voluntarily or involuntarily. There are enough cases of that happening IOTL. They probably aren't enough to transform a mesoamerican army to a spanish one on their own, but they could have some impacts on technology. Their greatest impact, however, would probably be their familiarity with spanish arms and tactics, which could change the ways the aztecs fight significantly.
Yes it is but the lenght travel so enoumous that it would be comparative to the East India trade, and that would be while they had a major fur producing source closer by (Siberia)
Well, according to the distance calculator here http://www.mapcrow.info/ Seoul to Juneau Alaska is 4338 miles: comparable to 4143 miles from Lisbon to Miami, a lot less than the East India trade. Talk to me re ship designs or prevailing winds or cultural obstacles, but don't give me distance issues.
And BTW, fur-bearing animals can be wiped out PDQ when there is there is enough demand: the Russians had significantly decreased fur-bearing animal populations in Siberia within a little over a century after crossing the Urals. Lewis and Clarke headed west of the Mississipi 1804: the western beavers had been hunted to the point where they were no longer profitable by the 1840s.
Bruce
You're welcome! I try to use my limited knowledge of pre-Colombian America when I can, even if I'm no longer as interested as I used to be.Thank you
And I like Chrome too, have it on the laptop
Best Regards
Grey Wolf
And there's 4000 to Moscou, maybe they go there to get their fur instead![]()
So you mention a place in the middle of nowhere and compare it to a place a few hundred kilometers from prime colonisation territorium.
Well, there is the tiny little fact it's a lot harder to travel by land than by sea, and Moscow isn't where the furs are? In fact, I believe we have here what is called a "non sequitur"![]()
I was talking about getting to America. Russians from Siberia, in crappy little boats, following furs, got to California in a century. But I see you have your heart put into this "it's too far!" argument of yours, so I shall cease to debate with you.
Bruce