CTL: Cortesia

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Scandinavians colonize Minnesota? That's not original tee hee hee.

But this time around, they won't be assimilated.

Control of Helluland, Markland, and Vinland pretty much ensures the ability for the Nordic people to expand their control into the St. Lawrence river and into the Great Lakes. The French meanwhile would slowly make their way up the eastern seaboard, colonizing what would had been more or less the Thirteen Colonies that would make up the core states for the United States of America. If you read the fictional sources, it implies the creation of an independent Francophone state a couple of centuries ahead but that is all that I am revealing concerning it.

Now I have several ideas. I can cover the beginnings of Muslim incursions into the Carribean or cover what has the potential of being an important event for the Ottoman empire or concentrate on the Incas.

Any status on the battle of Tenochtitlan would have be saved for later.

 

[Strategos' Risk]

Thing involving Muslims especially if there are Barbary corsairs off the Cuban coast!

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Thing involving Muslims especially if there are Barbary corsairs off the Cuban coast!

The thing is that Cuba is more or less an independent Taino kingdom with some African elements from the former slave population. They are currently political allies with the Naua, a nominally Roman Catholic people, and it wouldn't seem right even if they are trying to defeat the Spanish to bring the intervention of Muslim corsairs. It wouldn't seem right to the other Catholic powers in Europe to see their fellow Christians taking the aid of Muslim pirates to fight another Catholic nation though at this scenario, Cortes is busy with his ally Xicotencatl II reconquering the rebellious vassals in his empire and the current de jure ruler is a nominal Christian with pagans, Muslims and Christians in his court influencing his very acts.

I might do it. Any other suggestions there for the next update?

 

[Strategos' Risk]

Oh, I just said "Cuban" coast for the sake of alliteration. Anywhere in the Caribbean would be fine, really. Or maybe they pester Portuguese settlements off of northern Brazil.

On second thought, maybe some development of the Ottoman Empire is more important first, in order to establish the political changes that brings Turkish/North African expansion into the New World.

Another future suggestion: what about West African settlement into South America? What about Mali? The Songhai? The Most Catholic Kingdom of Kongo?

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Oh, I just said "Cuban" coast for the sake of alliteration. Anywhere in the Caribbean would be fine, really. Or maybe they pester Portuguese settlements off of northern Brazil.

On second thought, maybe some development of the Ottoman Empire is more important first, in order to establish the political changes that brings Turkish/North African expansion into the New World.

Another future suggestion: what about West African settlement into South America? What about Mali? The Songhai? The Most Catholic Kingdom of Kongo?

I'll consider the Kingdom of Kongo as the most plausible candidate for colonization due to its status as a nominally Catholic state in Africa and its amicable relations with its Portuguese allies. I can see it colonizing southern Brazil or what would have been the Argentine but that requires putting interest in the elite in colonization and a fleet to send men across the ocean. Mali is a declining power so unless something happens, it is just going to end up being subjugated by Songhai which still needs to garner interest and a fleet.

Yet you gave me an idea with the Ottomans. It involves a series of major uprising in Asia Minor that would send a huge migration of skilled artisans and people from the Empire into the emirates of North Africa and beyond.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelali_revolts

 

[Strategos' Risk]

Glad to be of help. Though were there any other African powers of note at the time that could have had some presence in the New World? Specifically Sub-Saharan and maybe West African. Other than by selling slaves, that is.

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Glad to be of help. Though were there any other African powers of note at the time that could have had some presence in the New World? Specifically Sub-Saharan and maybe West African. Other than by selling slaves, that is.

I believe all the west African powers have been accounted for in accordance to plausibility in attempts to colonize portions of the Americas. I want this time-line's world to end up incredibly different and diverse compared to our world. I realize that this is of the creation of another but as he is involved in other projects, I intend on pushing this through to the modern era. I have various ideas in which to discuss with you and the other members prior to consideration of making another update, which I can safely confirm would be revolved around the Ottoman Empire.

I wish someone could post up maps since I am terrible at making them. Plus since this time-line is different, there are various routes we can take such as the plausibility of Russia's eastern borders being at the Urals instead of Siberia. I was told to have the Ming remain isolationist yet somehow survive.

 

[kasumigenx]

I believe all the west African powers have been accounted for in accordance to plausibility in attempts to colonize portions of the Americas. I want this time-line's world to end up incredibly different and diverse compared to our world. I realize that this is of the creation of another but as he is involved in other projects, I intend on pushing this through to the modern era. I have various ideas in which to discuss with you and the other members prior to consideration of making another update, which I can safely confirm would be revolved around the Ottoman Empire.

I wish someone could post up maps since I am terrible at making them. Plus since this time-line is different, there are various routes we can take such as the plausibility of Russia's eastern borders being at the Urals instead of Siberia. I was told to have the Ming remain isolationist yet somehow survive.

Preventing or delaying the European Occupation of Asian lands can delay or butterfly the fall of Ming Dynasty...

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Preventing or delaying the European Occupation of Asian lands can delay or butterfly the fall of Ming Dynasty...

Depends if the Ming dynasty can keep up the tech. pace with Europe.

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

The Celali Uprisings:
Roots of Islamic colonization of the Americas
Section 1
- an excerpt from Doctor Stephan Dagos Othomanikí's Islam and the Americas 2001 Edition.

An example of artwork from Doctor Othomaniki's book.
"Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful…
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf…
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this world…
My Istanbul, my Karaman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan , my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of mischief…
I'll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy."
- quoted from sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in a poem to Roxelana.
​

Islam has had almost as long a presence in the Americas as Roman Catholicism. Via the introduction of slaves from west Africa, Islam was introduced to the remaining natives via contact with west African slaves though the practice of the religion was suppressed by the authorities at least until the native uprisings that occurred in Spain's colonies in the Caribbean during the 1520s. Though Islam would gain a following amongst the natives of Hispaniola and Cuba, it remained a minor foreign religion in the eyes of the Taino and remained obscure for the next century until the late 1600s when Islamic powers started gaining interest in exploiting the vast riches of the Americas for themselves and began sending expeditions to establish trade with the present powers while carving their own piece.

However Islam would make its grand presence circa the 1630s via the Moroccans, ushering in the beginning of the Great Islamic Age of Discovery though in order to understand how it happened, one must tread back more than a hundred years to the Celali revolts that ravaged the Osmanic Empire's eastern frontier provinces.

The Celali revolts were a series of mass public uprisings against Osmanic authority in Anatolia. The first revolt occurred during the reign of sultan Selim I's reign in the year 1519 near Tokat and was under the leadership of a popular Alevi preacher named Celal whose name would be used by Osmanic, Ghirai, Koprulu historians to define other rebellions of similar nature. The major Celali revolts would occur in the time periods of 1525, 1526-1528, 1588-1595, 1600-1613, and 1615-1621. The ethnic factor in these rebellions complied with the general Osmanic policy of intermixture and cross cultural exchange of ideas and practices, the Celali uprisings are described as having a largely Turkic base, especially in relation to the semi-nomadic or nomadic Turkish clans that had participated in the rise and growth of the empire with their Osmanic kinsmen yet saw themselves becoming increasingly alienated and distanced from their power base in the Balkans, the central authority's increasing reliance on the devsirme system and corps. The Celali uprisings came to an end during the last years of sultan Abdulhamid I's reign. These rebellions are the largest and longest lasting in the history of the Osmanic Empire and the heavy tolls that resulted in the aftermath would contribute to the quick stagnation, decline and final collapse and dissolution of the Osmanic Empire. It also took a sharp hit to the ethnic Turkic population in Anatolia and made ways for various other groups.

The distinguishing characteristic of the revolts that separated it from the various uprisings that the Osmanic sultans had to deal with before was that they started out as the manifestation of civil unrest in reaction against deteriorating living conditions and in time more and more people took the side of these rebel movements who fought against those who claimed the land from the commoners and such caused the continuations of civil unrest against the corrupt Osmanic authority. The individual Celali uprisings involved the participation of the irregular sekbans and sipahis who had been previously bought off with promises of land grants and titles as well as the involvement of corrupt local administrators claiming to fight in the name of the government in Constantinople.

The Celali uprisings were by no means attempts to overthrow the Osmanic government or at least not in the beginning. They were reactions to a social and economic crisis stemming from a variety of the following causes:

1] Oppressed peasants and declining timariot system:

- The Osmanic imperial taxation system was based on agriculture and the major shares that were collected off from the peasants working for the local feudal lords and landowners who were in turned taxed by local government administrators to pay the muqata'ah. Due to the devaluation of currency and the increasingly enormous expenses of the Osmanic state caused with each new conquest and military campaign, taxes were raised for the local governors and in turn the feudal agricultural lords increased the tax rate on the peasants. Land evaluators started to demand bribes to refrain from assessing higher values for values taxes. This forced many to leave the feudal estates and emigrate from the provinces in Anatolia to the European provinces either to become sekbans or to become levends. They were required to pay even further taxes for disrupting the system, but still, the population increased in large cities and the unemployment rate increased sharply.

During wartime the sekbans served the governors and drew regular pay. In peacetime, however, they were not paid, and they resorted to banditry. The first rebellions were, in nature, merely raids by sekbans commanded by their governors and joined by levends to extort more money from the public. They were later joined by sipahis, who had lost their land grants, levends, and Armenians and Kurds who were slowly migrating into the Anatolian highlands.

2] Degenerate officials:

- With the decline of the devshirme governor system, and high taxes, the governors and local officials increased their unofficial tax rates and started to exploit the workforce of the remaining peasants. In parallel to these developments, bribery and corruption increased.

3] Oppressed Alevis and increasing non-Turkic influences in the royal court:

When Selim I conquered Egypt, he was invested the Caliphate and became the holy ruler of the Sunni Islamic world. As the head of the Sunni Islamic world, it was to no surprise he would view the Safavid Persian ruler Shah Ismail I as the leader of the heretic Shia and so he and later his successor Suleiman cooperated with feudal lords in violently suppressing the significant Alevi minority in Anatolia while also launching a more or less unsuccessful war against the Safavid empire. Many Alawites and those who felt close to the Persian shah for his Turkic origins slowly considered the idea of rebelling against Osmanic authority.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Getting pretty far ahead now -- been in the 1520's for most of the thread, now we're up in the 1630's

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Getting pretty far ahead now -- been in the 1520's for most of the thread, now we're up in the 1630's

I'm merely tying together the threads for when it is time to cover the Naua again which would be a long time from now. If you read the posts, expect major things to happen to the Ottoman empire within the next century and a half. They are the top dogs in Europe, with France and the Hapsburg dominions being a close second, but they'll decline over time.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

OK then

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

You have a particular appreciation for any part of the post? Any suggestions for the next one?

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Looking forward to seeing you tie together the parallel narratives -- how will Cortesia (or the Nahua Empire, ATT) interact with these powers maneuvering around them?

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

That depends on how the time-line develops.

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

The Celali Uprisings:
Roots of Islamic colonization of the Americas
Section 2
- an excerpt from Doctor Stephan Dagos Othomanikí's Islam and the Americas 2001 Edition.

A image of the modern day Hagia Sophia.

"Remember this. Your neglect of the very people who helped your forefathers create the empire you are ruling now will contribute to its downfall."
- quoted from an adviser to Abdulhamid Sultan who was then promptly executed.

​

The Celali uprisings however strong the suppression was against them by the local authorities continued. After the year 1621 with the death of sultan Abdulhamid, the mass violent rebellions slowly came to a gradual conclusion though many rebel Alevi and Turkmen continued to resist the power of the newly imposed successor states that emerged in the ashes of the old order, among them the Koprulu dynasty that took over control over the much of the Osmanic territories in Europe though these subsequent uprisings are not counted as part of the Celali uprisings. These uprisings were no longer caused by discontented Turks but by the Christian populations who were tired of their second class citizen status in the empire and wanted equality with the Muslim minority or independence.



Various movements took place in the Islamic successor states especially in the provinces in Koprulu ruled Roumelia where despite a significant Muslim minority living there since the early fourteenth century and perhaps before, the Orthodox Christians were still a majority though a declining one with the ultimate dissolution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1635 by the Koprulu sultan Jahja.



The leaderships of rebel leaders such as Elias Kazan in Athens, Emanuel Venezis in Trebizond and Ishak Pasha in Serbia continued resilience against the new Islamic powers taking charge after the Osmanic dynasty. The rebellions came to an end the moment that these conservative Islamic successor states in Roumelia and Anatolia were overthrown with various moderate and independent states in these areas, representing a frustration that has been building up for centuries. The backlash against the Celali uprisings and the rebellions following it led to a migration of several tens of thousands of Muslims and Christians into the various rising powers emerging in north and west Africa over the next century giving them the technological leap that would enable them to expand into the New World. Even the young west nominally Roman Catholic African state of Kongo received Muslim immigration from the collapsing Osmanic empire.

 

[kasumigenx]

The Celali Uprisings:
Roots of Islamic colonization of the Americas
Section 2
- an excerpt from Doctor Stephan Dagos Othomanikí's Islam and the Americas 2001 Edition.

A image of the modern day Hagia Sophia.

"Remember this. Your neglect of the very people who helped your forefathers create the empire you are ruling now will contribute to its downfall."
- quoted from an adviser to Abdulhamid Sultan who was then promptly executed.

​

The Celali uprisings however strong the suppression was against them by the local authorities continued. After the year 1621 with the death of sultan Abdulhamid, the mass violent rebellions slowly came to a gradual conclusion though many rebel Alevi and Turkmen continued to resist the power of the newly imposed successor states that emerged in the ashes of the old order, among them the Koprulu dynasty that took over control over the much of the Osmanic territories in Europe though these subsequent uprisings are not counted as part of the Celali uprisings. These uprisings were no longer caused by discontented Turks but by the Christian populations who were tired of their second class citizen status in the empire and wanted equality with the Muslim minority or independence.



Various movements took place in the Islamic successor states especially in the provinces in Koprulu ruled Roumelia where despite a significant Muslim minority living there since the early fourteenth century and perhaps before, the Orthodox Christians were still a majority though a declining one with the ultimate dissolution of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1635 by the Koprulu sultan Jahja.



The leaderships of rebel leaders such as Elias Kazan in Athens, Emanuel Venezis in Trebizond and Ishak Pasha in Serbia continued resilience against the new Islamic powers taking charge after the Osmanic dynasty. The rebellions came to an end the moment that these conservative Islamic successor states in Roumelia and Anatolia were overthrown with various moderate and independent states in these areas, representing a frustration that has been building up for centuries. The backlash against the Celali uprisings and the rebellions following it led to a migration of several tens of thousands of Muslims and Christians into the various rising powers emerging in north and west Africa over the next century giving them the technological leap that would enable them to expand into the New World. Even the young west nominally Roman Catholic African state of Kongo received Muslim immigration from the collapsing Osmanic empire.

I like an Islamic colonization of americas..

 

[Cuāuhtemōc]

You'll see the Islamic powers and the Kongo begin colonization at a later date. But for now I need to take a small hiatus.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Perfectly understandable, seeing as I've been on one myself