DBWI: What if Columbus had sailed for Spain instead of England

Probably increased colonisation of the New World. Henry seemed only interested in the prestige of exploration.
 
I would imagine it would be more violent. The crusader spirit of the Spanish would have run rampant over the Americas, unlike the mercantilism of England. I doubt the Chipewa federation would exist, and be replaced with something similar to the Spanish descended dictatorships of Africa.
 
We probably wouldn't have seen the British economy self-destruct like it did. As mercantilism and its end-all of having the most gold motivated them to acquire so much gold from the Americas that they bloated their economy to the point of collapse.

Obviously, we can see today that they recovered, but they never quite regained their imperial momentum after that. Could a Britain from such a world have reached the same ascendancy as say, the French did in the following centuries?
 
I think that the Spanish would have tried to destroy the Culture of the Americas instead of merely allying to the Local Tribes and allowing them to keep some autonomy.

Treatment of Natives
As we saw with the Moroccan Wars: 1510-1534, the Spanish not only brutally attacked the natives culture but also their belief systems. However the British in North America attempted to appease the Indians by creating a so called "Pale" based on the Irish Pale. This Pale which was settled by Whites from the Empire served as the home to the Anglo's in the Americas. If the Spanish had settled the Americas it would have been total conquest.
 
Would we have seen as much Dutch influence on the New World as we did? Sure, they were mostly limited to New Amsterdam and the Dutch West Indies, but these both were and still are major focal points for commerce and exchange in the New World. You can see it today in the sheer number of Dutch lone words present in modern New World dialects, let alone the Dutch "creoles", as it were, that still exist in some parts of the New World.
 
Would we have seen as much Dutch influence on the New World as we did? Sure, they were mostly limited to New Amsterdam and the Dutch West Indies, but these both were and still are major focal points for commerce and exchange in the New World. You can see it today in the sheer number of Dutch lone words present in modern New World dialects, let alone the Dutch "creoles", as it were, that still exist in some parts of the New World.

Well im sure that the Dutch would have founded New Asterdam sometime. I mean its one of the most prime spots for Colonization. But would the Dutch have been so prominent in the North America if the English had not been preoccupied with Azteco, the Tahuantinsuyo(?) and the other Indians in th more arid climates.
 
Well im sure that the Dutch would have founded New Asterdam sometime. I mean its one of the most prime spots for Colonization. But would the Dutch have been so prominent in the North America if the English had not been preoccupied with Azteco, the Tahuantinsuyo(?) and the other Indians in th more arid climates.
Probably not. The Netherlands only main competitor in the early stages was Portugal, and they were about Equal. I think France might have gotten into the mix earlier if Spain discoverd the Americas first.
 
What intruiges me most is the idea of a Spanish Colonization of the Americas i mean in North Africa the Spanish killed those that were oppopsed to the Catholic faith and took the best land for themselves. Which is why so many of North Africans are ethnically Spanish. Especially in the Ifni reigon. I mean the English defeat of the Aztecs in 1603 was not complete, although the Aztec people became mostly Anglican, and Aztec Culture still thrives the Berber people are one of the only people in Former Spanish North Africa(Morocco/Algeria) who seem to have a real grasp on pre-Conquest Culture.
 
Well, the Dominions of Cuzco and Nahua probably wouldn't be two of more powerful divisions of the British Empire.
OOC: It's proounced na-wa. English people wouldn't call it Nahua.

IC: IOTL, the Portuguese settled Brazil and Megapotamia (OOC: Amazonia) (yes, the English did end up with the latters, but the Portuguese started with it). If the Spanish take the Cuzco area (and why not Azteco,while we're at it), would they also take eastern Vespuccia?
 
OOC: It's proounced na-wa. English people wouldn't call it Nahua.

IC: IOTL, the Portuguese settled Brazil and Megapotamia (OOC: Amazonia) (yes, the English did end up with the latters, but the Portuguese started with it). If the Spanish take the Cuzco area (and why not Azteco,while we're at it), would they also take eastern Vespuccia?
OOC: just a heads up they already refer to the americas as the americas in this TL.

IC: Eastern North America? Why not? I mean who's gonna stop them? The Dutch, English or the French?
 
What makes you all so sure there will still be a Netherlands in this timeline. With the American gold the Spanish might be able to beat the Dutch resistence against their rule. Maybe only the richest and fiercest protestant provinces manage to gain independence. The Netherlands in the end might only exist out of Flanders, Zeeland and Brabant.
 
You guys are reading an awful lot into this "violent Spanish" thing. I mean, in OTL the English had plenty of violent wars with various tribes. And yes, the Spanish did a number on North Africa, but that began as an extension of the war to reconquer Iberia itself. What vendetta would they have claimed against the tribes of the Americas? Besides, being so busy in North Africa would obviously have prevented them from going nuts in the Americas anyway. And who knows, instead of hitting land around the Chesapeake, Columbus may have just landed in Bermuda or something, and ended up losing all his ships in that weird Bermuda Trapezoid phenomenon.
 
The spanish may have been more explicitly violent and crusading, but unlike what happened in Nova Angllia in real life, any Spanish-dominated "new spain" would probably see at least some intermixing between the European and Native populations, and more basic equality, than what happened in real life. The British and AngloAmerican colonists' racial caste system would not have existed, or at least been ameliorated by the univeralism of Roman Catholicism. Native people would not be excluded to marginal "homelands" and racially mixed Redwhites would not be exterminated. The rise of Nova Anglia to world prominance on the backs of a virtually enslaved Red population would not have occured.
 
You must not forget that the missionary views of the spaniards acknowledged a soul to the dominated nations, and most important that after the first bloodbaths the teologians and philosophers of the School of Salamanca denounced the immorality of the war in order to force conversion. Whereas the english, french and dutch denied that the amerindians had a human soul even up to the XVIII century. The spanish clergy learned and gave a written form to the tamazig and other native languages and did not force them to learn spanish as it is was done by other colonial powers.
 
How would the world look like if Christopher had sailed for Ferdinand the Second instead of Henry the Seventh

One big difference I can see is in institutions. Comparing British and Spanish colonies in Africa, we find that the British colonies have a stronger attachment to things like property rights and the rule of law, which in turn foster economic growth. Projecting that to the Americas, we might see a chain of poor, unstable countries from the tip of South America to the middle of North America, rather than the rich and stable democracies of OTL.

Also, it's worth noting that the British Isles exported more than a million people to the Americas before 1750. These people are either going to stay at home or go elsewhere. If they stay at home, this may butterfly out a hundred and fifty years of French dominion in Europe. If they go elsewhere... well, it depends where, obviously. If North America, say, we probably see no New France or New Netherlands, for example.

Conversely, if those immigrants are replaced by Spaniards, we may see, counterintuitively, a weaker Spain, especially once the New World precious metal imports start to decline.
 
Also, it's worth noting that the British Isles exported more than a million people to the Americas before 1750. These people are either going to stay at home or go elsewhere.
Ummm.... Not true. This is not a zero-sum game. At any given time, populations of a (long settled) area tend to be about what can be supported by the technology and culture of the time. If families move out of an area, that either room for someone else to take over. So, over the long run, a few more younger sons get to successfully get a farm/career/whatever, and the population in the homeland tends to stay relatively the same. It might even go UP due to extra trade/food coming in from the colonies. So, no, those million people WON'T be in the British Isles increasing its strength.
 
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