DIFFERENT SPANISH SETTLEMENT OF THE SOUTHEAST U.S.

[robertp6165]

According to this article, the Spanish established a fort for a brief time during the 16th century near Asheville, North Carolina. The authors of the article speculate a couple of PODs that could have arisen out of this...

1) What if the fort (and others like it established by Spain in the interior of the Southeast) had been permanently occupied, or at least occupied for a long period of time? The authors speculate that the Spanish may have attempted to hold the east coast of North America in such a case. What might have been the results of this? Could English settlement of North America have been prevented, or delayed significantly?

2) The authors speculate that the forts transmitted smallpox and other diseases to the local natives, which meant when the English established their colonies in the southeast, the tribes of the interior were either gone or so weakened that they could not effectively resist. So what if the forts had not been established, and the interior tribes had remained unaffected by the diseases before the English came? Could they have prevented the English from establishing permanent settlements (as the locals apparently did with the Roanoke colony in the 1580s)?

 

[danwild6]

Well it still depend IMO on what happens to the Great Armada. In OTL this was basically the end of Spanish dominance of the Atlantic and pretty much anything else. If the Spanish had began the settlement of the southeast it may have made it necassary for the English to drive them out before attempting to establish a permanent colony on the North American eastern sea board.

 

[robertp6165]

Well it still depend IMO on what happens to the Great Armada. In OTL this was basically the end of Spanish dominance of the Atlantic and pretty much anything else.

Actually more like the beginning of the end rather than the end. The war which began in 1588 did not end until 1604. Spain actually put together several more armadas which it sent against England during this period, so it's naval power was certainly not broken by the defeat of the so-called "Great Armada" in 1588, despite the impression one gets from reading many of the popular histories. If the Spaniards had devoted their naval strength to defending the North American coast instead of failed attempts to invade England, they could have made English settlement very, very difficult.

If the Spanish had began the settlement of the southeast it may have made it necassary for the English to drive them out before attempting to establish a permanent colony on the North American eastern sea board.

But could they have done so? The number of English colonists going to the initial settlements was tiny. Heck, the Virginia colony was very nearly wiped out by the Indians a few years after it was established. Would they have had the ability to drive out an established Spanish presence? Unlikely, at least IMO. You might end up with a massacre of the English settlers similar to that perpetrated against the French settlers in Florida earlier in the 16th Century.

 

[Fabilius]

Los Unitos Statos Americanos

(I hope noone mistakes this for spanish)

 

[Max Sinister]

Hm, would a plantages economy like in the old South with tobacco, sugar and so on be profitable under Spain's colonies' economical system? After all, it seemed to work in Cuba...

 

[Susano]

Fabilius: Estados Unidos de America, I think.

ROBERT: NO NEED TO FRIGGEN SHOUT YOUR THREAD NAME. CAPLOCK IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA!

 

[robertp6165]

ROBERT: NO NEED TO FRIGGEN SHOUT YOUR THREAD NAME. CAPLOCK IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA!

Actually, the use of capital letters in a title, such as a thread name, is perfectly acceptable and is not shouting. Now, if it is used in the body of a message, LIKE THIS, that is shouting.

 

[Thande]

1) It's Estados Unidos Americanos, I believe

2) I think Dale Cozort did a timeline based on this one a while back.

 

[Wendell]

1) It's Estados Unidos Americanos, I believe

2) I think Dale Cozort did a timeline based on this one a while back.

Indeed. Estados Unidos Americanos is how I usually see it, with its southerly neighbor being Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

 

[Nicole]

Indeed. Estados Unidos Americanos is how I usually see it, with its southerly neighbor being Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

Well Estados Unidos Americanos is technically "United American States", while Estados Unidos de America is closer to "United States of America".

 

[Historico]

I think are more interesting postulation on this POD, is if how would the Southeastern natives take to the Spanish Economienda System? But might the discovery of Mines in the South East push for more expoloration of the Southern Region? How might New Spain Benefit from cashing in on Tobacco, Rice, and even Cotton crops?