alternatehistory.com

This is all I have for this. I think I had started with the end result which I thought was interesting. So the premise doesn't have much detail.

Columbus approaches the French royal court with his proposal for sailing west to Asia.

Charles VIII was still young, so his older sister Anne was regent. She and her husband were competent enough, but the regency ended in 1491. He might approach them in the period 1488-1491.

Columbus tells her that if he can sail westward to the East, she and her husband can find it quite profitable to sponsor further expeditions west. Somebody also mentions the possibility of finding new lands in the west.

They accept his suggestion, and Columbus lands in Florida and explores further along the coast. The Mississippi is discovered on his second expedition. He has two more expeditions as well.

France colonizes the coast, and the city New Orleans is established in 1575. But its location is a little further north, a place not quite as vulnerable to floods and storms. France claims the entire Mississippi River Valley. During the eighteenth century, France and the other European powers fought a number of wars over S. America, which ends up being divided mostly between Holland and Spain.

The French supported English Catholics, and the English Civil War resulted in a Protestant Commonwealth deeply opposed to the French. Rather than expend time and effort on New World Colonies in competition with France, Britain makes alliances with European powers including Holland, Spain, Germany and Russia, to increase British influence and power on the Continent.

The French kings were a little more rational and stable, though there were still political dissidents. Instead of the French Revolution, many dissidents went to the Americas.

In 1544 a former pirate, a Frenchman named Jasone Itziar Ostargi married an Inca princess and tried to expand the empire. His descendants only succeeded in holding onto half. It was soon divided into the Inca Kingdom and the Kingdom of Aymara. The colonialists didn't care about the correct usage of the word "Inca."
A half-Spanish, half-French mercenary named Julen Ramiro Urbasa became the first king of Aymara.

Olivar Gaztea Ramiro was a philosopher who triggered the Spanish Revolution of 1799, which was like
OTL French Revolution, and the Spanish Habsburgs escaped to the West Indies. After Ramiro died, there wasn't a central revolutionary figure like Napoleon. New dynasties took over many of the countries of Europe.

The Revolutionary Wars of 1805-1820 engulfed Europe, and by 1820 everybody was tired and running out of materials for fighting, so the fighting ended with nobody really winning. Many of Europe's best and brightest had fled to the Americas.

Scions of the ruling houses gathered in Monaco, a neutral place, to discuss matters.

The people were tired of fighting, fed up with the excesses of the revolutionary governments, and new constitutions were written, with the monarchs being head of state but not the head of government. Things quieted down for a while after that.

As a result of the negotiations of the 1820s, Monaco became the place where the Monarchs of Europe gather to socialize, discuss current issues, and many stay year-round. It expanded, and resorts for the wealthy were built. It ended up being like a United Nations, informal, with a flexible set of traditions which eventually became a written constitution of a united states of Europe, but still very flexible. Other Mediterranean islands became resorts for the wealthy and politically influential.

In 1818, a civil war broke out in Russia, influenced by the philosophy of a half-Iroquois, half-French philosopher who lived in Paris, Hasdrubal Oryan Huidemar. He only claimed to be half-Indian, nobody knew if that was right.

Russian empire split up, repaced by several countries.

Russian Republic, capital Moscow, includes Baltics, little else.
Kiev Kingdom, Ukraine, capital Kiev.
Novgorod Kingdom, capital Lvov, claims to recreate old Novgorod traditions but it doesn't really.

By the mid-nineteenth century, Central Asian countries were dominated by a Moslem king in Caucasus, some dominated by an expanded Persia or European powers.

China expanded into Siberia but then split up in civil war.

China was replaced by Manchuria, which includes Siberia; Yunan, central and Western China, and Macau, which includes S. China. Korea and Japan stay the same. The Republic of Hong Kong, founded by a half-Dutch, half Chinese trader named Ling VanCiao, includes nearby islands including Hainan.
Philippines became a kingdom later.

In 2000, there are no true superpowers. The wealthiest countries were Britain, France, Circumspice, Aymara, and the least are Botswana, Otswan, Limpopo. Egypt is in the middle, with the rest of Africa and W. Asia. E. Asia is better off.

Nations of the world in 2000

Confederation of Circumspice
Capital: Potomoc, on Chesapeake Bay.
Area 3,405,175 square miles
Population 108,000,000
Centered on Great Lakes region but includes E. Canada and New England south to Florida
French-Iroquois Confederation, slightly conservative
Head of Congress is the Premier; he and members of Congress and the Supreme court are elected from various local governing bodies.

Republic of Baton Rouge, includes Mississippi River valley, W. US, W. Canada, and Alaska
Capital: Batonne, at New Orleans.
Area 4,443,278
Population 84,000,000
British-French-Aztec, liberal
President is member of Parliament who got the most votes, and once he becomes president he names his successor in his congressional seat.

Kingdom of Aymara, used to be the former Inca kingdom which expanded into Mexico under French influence but split in two, the N. half kept the name of Aymara. The kingdom was founded by somebody similar to Bolivar.
Capital: Aymara, at Mexico City
Area 1,217,217 million sq. mi.
Population 78,000,000
French-Inca-Spanish, conservative.
Includes Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, California, Arizona
King Julio II reigns but does not preside; he nominates officials who are confirmed, or rejected, by Parliament.

Kingdom of Peru
Capital: Salinas, on coast of Ecuador
Area 2,200,000 sq. mi.
Population 74,000,000
Includes Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile
This is a part of the former Inca kingdom, which expanded southward under European influence in the eighteenth century. King Ernesto II presides over a complicated bureaucracy which serves as a combination parliament and court system. Civil servants who don't meet standards of quality are reassigned to positions outside the bureaucracy. The government runs almost everything.
Inca-French-Spanish

Huybrasl, Brazil, northward to the coast, and the W. Indies, and part of N. Argentina
Capital: Cayenne, on N. coast
Area 3,447,000 sq. mi.
Population 70,000,000
Dutch-Portuguese
The Dutch colonized Surinam and the W. Indies first, then Brazil. It gained independence during the 1805-1820 war. A President names his successor, who must pass a vote of confidence within one year after he takes office. Members of Congress are named by the President but can be recalled by the voters. Congress appoints all judges and local governors; other local officials are elected or appointed.

Africa has four major powers and many small, weak states. N. Africa, known as Libya, is French, SW Africa, called Bantuland, is dominated by France but with British influence. Central Africa, called Congo, includes E. Africa, dominated by British, and the fourth is Zambezi, dominated by both France and Britain.

Australia discovered by French, now the Parliamentary Republic of Australia.
Area 4,000,000
Population 40,000,000
Federated Kingdom of Hawaii dominates Pacific, dominated by French.
Area 10,000
Population 900,000

Grand Sultanate of Indonesia, unified kingdom, British influence.
Area 2,900,000
Population 29,000,000

Monaco
Ruled by a hereditary Prince
Area 4700
Population 70,000

Monaco has a function similar to the United Nations. It includes estates for many of the ruling elite of the other untries.

1000 aristocrats or ruling scions from each of the 20 largest countries.
100 aristocrats from each of the next 80 countries.
10 aristocrats from each of the smallest 100 countries.
29,000 total.

It's not entirely consistent. How "big" or "small" a country is may have to do with its land area, resources, wealth or other factors.

Estate sizes vary, but the average is ten acres of ground for each, a total of 470 square miles. Monaco annexed the French province of Alpes-Maritimus, area 1527 sq. mi. It also annexed other parts of France and Italy, resulting area 4700 sq. mi., to accomodate the extra population.

Monaco has a special status as the residence of many sovereigns and family members. Each ruling family has carefully demarcated lands, and carefully spelled out rights, priveleges and responsibilities. These can be withdrawn when the other sovereigns vote on the matter. Rules of conduct are carefully spelled out and observed. Visitors must also observe the rules of conduct.
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