When I got home today, I started typing up a very broad timeline, since its been far too long since I've done any. I tried to avoid getting bogged down in detail as much as possible, and just present a framework of what happens, with a focus more on the economy and technology than wars and politics (which means lots of stuff happens behind the scenes). I've run out of steam, so here's 1000 years of alternate history:
Alright, have at it, critics.
Edit: Oh, and I hop back and forth between present and past tense throughout the timeline. I was sorry about that, and I had no idea why I'm doing that.
1st Century BC
Cultivation of coffee plants begins in Ethiopia. As the drink grows in popularity, neighboring regions along the rim of the Indian Ocean begin producing it, with the cultivation of the crop spreading quickly to Arabia, then down the African coast, and eastward to India and Indonesia (though not until the better part of the 1st century AD). By the dawning of the Christian Era, it was common enough to be included among the gifts of the Magi in the Gospels' telling of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
1st Century AD
It was the wealth of the coffee trade that inspired Ptolemaic Egypt to begin the construction of Cleopatra's Canal (named after the young Cleopatra VIII and not her more famous mother, Cleopatra VII), near the end of the previous century. Its route connected the Red Sea directly with the Mediterranean, bypassing the silt-prone and shallow Canal of the Pharaohs that spurred from the River Nile. The goal of the project was to be able to solidify Egyptian naval and economic power, to counter their nominal allies in Rome. However, the project was poorly managed and drove the finances of Egypt into ruin, effectively ending its independence as the Roman Republic subjugated the heavily indebted Ptolemaic dynasty into mere client rulers, adding the wealth of Egypt to its growing Empire.
It would be under the supervision of Roman governors of Arabia Petraea (the province formed from the Nabataean Kingom in the early part of the century) that the canal would be finished, and with greater dimensions than the Egyptians had planned. Though the project bore heavily on the Roman state, the tolls did not take long to pay for themselves, and the canal enabled southern military adventures to begin. The Republic had already begun to exhaust its viable targets after the conquest of Dacia, and the only remaining true state in Europe was the Gallic Republic, which remained staunchly independent, though firmly allied with Rome. By the end of the century, the Republic had firmly subjugated Arabia Felix (Yemen), and was occupied with the consolidation of their hold on the coastline between Arabia Felix and Arabia Petraea, titled Arabia Deserta (though they made no serious efforts to move inland into the true desert beyond the Hedjaz).
2nd Century AD
The expansion of the Roman Republic continued at breakneck speed. The kingdom of Axum was subjugated as client-kingdom, and, with it, various smaller coastal African states stretching far beyond effective Roman control. The Gallic Republic was absorbed after a vicious civil war in the wake of a Germanic invasion, and Britain and Greater Germania were conquered to secure the valuable new territory. However, the most valuable new conquest was that of Mesopotamia. In marked contrast to the myriad invasions of the region the Republic had attempted in the past, the newest struck from the south, with troops being ferried around the Arabian Peninsula. The lost of the Tigris-Euphrates valley was the death knell of the reeling Parthian Empire, which fell to native Persian dynasty, the Ardashirids.
Trade continued to blossom along the sea lanes between the Roman Republic and the Han Empire, as the economies of both major poles of the world order reaped the benefits. Along with the ubiquitous coffee and other spices, various food crops and utility staples such as cotton, spread between the two empires and the intervening lands. Beyond physical goods such as these crops, information and ideas were also exchanged. The knowledge of triangular Latin sails, concrete, and basic canal locks traveled east, while blast furnaces, the compass, and the spinning wheel and loom spread west.
3rd-5th Centuries AD
The expansion of the Roman Republic came to a virtual halt, with the only meaningful additions being Hibernia and the gradual eastward progression of the Germanic frontier (settling, eventually, on the Vistula). The landscape bloomed as the Republic continued large-scale building projects, with frontier fortifications protecting the interior and roads and canals connecting the cities. The introduction of heavy plows and horse collars (the latter of which spread from Kushan India) enabled the economic potential of the northern European provinces to be unleashed. At this time, the military might of Rome, built on the foundation of its solid economy, is unmatched by any of the neighboring peoples, though nomadic steppe tribes do occasionally penetrate the European frontier, and the Persians continue to make attempts to regain Mesopotamia.
Culturally, Christianity establishes itself as the dominant religion within the Republic, its growth following the expansion of Roman urbanism throughout the land. Politically, the Republic is stable, with a large body of citizens spread throughout Italy actively engaged in the governance of the Republic. Representation of outlying provinces is minimal, with the assemblies entirely composed of residents of Italy, and the Senate still dominated by Italians. However, most of the client-states, such as Egypt, Armenia, Gallia, Judea, and Axum had a large degree of autonomy and the Senate rarely intervened in local affairs.
On the other end of the world, the Han dynasty reigns supreme, with only the occasional civil war to disrupt the peace. The outlying kingdoms from Japan to Indonesia and the Burmese city-states paid nominal tribute to the Han, though the nomadic tribes to the north were as restless as nomadic tribes are prone to be. Northern India, from the Indus to the Ganges, is dominated by the Buddhist Kushan Empire which remained a bulwark to the south from any steppe incursions.
While the era is peaceful and prosperous, it sees a general stagnation of advancement, as the economies of both the Roman Republic and the Han Dynasty are stable and prosperous enough to inhibit anything more than refinements of existing practices. Among the few exceptions are the continued developments in shipbuilding and navigation, as traders seek to shave days off their voyages and enlarge their hulls. Axumite merchants flying Roman colors circumnavigate Africa, though there is no attempt at settlement of the rest of Africa beyond the occasional trade post, many of which are gradually abandoned or simply go native.
6th Century AD
The world is shaken from its reverie quite forcefully, as both the Han Dynasty and the Roman Republic experience major upheavals. It is likely that the root cause of the chaos is the African plague, which spreads like wildfire among the major trade routes of the known world, decimating populations from Spain to Japan. The plague remains a mystery to later generations, though it is believed to have some connection to the infamous sleeping sickness associated with the African Tsetse fly, if only due to the fact that, in the aftermath, Axumite herdsmen develop breeds of both cattle and horses that are largely immune to the fly's parasites.
In the east, the Han collapse, as the population loses faith in the Dynasty that has ruled the land for the better part of a millennium. In their wake, various warring states struggle for the imperial Mandate, and by the end of the century, the Chen Dynasty, based in Nanjing and patrons of Taoism, is predominant.
The Roman Republic finally topples as a series of wars strains the state to its breaking point. In the wake of the plague, the frontiers are penetrated repeatedly by nomadic incursions along with seaborne raiders from Scandinavia. The generals assigned to repel the invasions do so, but several make bids for control of the Republic, embroiling Europe and the Mediterranean basin into a series of civil wars. As this happens, the outlying regions are left to fend for themselves and, by the the time the Senate triumphs over the would-be tyrants, its left with minimal control beyond the immediate environs of Italy itself. At the end of the day, the strongest regional power is a reborn Ptolemaic Egypt, which dominates the other states in eastern Mediterranean and controls the Red Sea trade. A series of post-Roman states, largely Greek or Latin speaking, and generally relatively urban in character, lay scattered over the remains of the Republic.
7th Century AD
As the Chen Dynasty consolidates its power and is considered to hold the Mandate of Heaven, the Roman Republic makes a last bid to restore its hold over the Mediterranean and fails spectacularly, losing the remaining lands outside of Italy. While the rest of the world reverberates from the overturning of the two poles of Eurasian Civilization, new ideas are sown.
In Africa, a rejuvenated Ethiopia forms a mercantile empire with trading outposts stretching down the entire eastern coast of Africa. To the west, a new empire, Ghana, forms along the banks of the River Niger, rich from the plentiful gold deposits in the region. It trades heavily with the Latin states to the north. In India, the Kushan Empire recedes to the mountains and tributaries of the Indus, while smaller kingdoms vie for power along the great rivers. In Persia, the Ardashirid dynasty falls to a confederation of Turkic tribes, calling themselves the Gokturks that expand their reach to include post-Roman Mesopotamia.
In the post-Roman states of the West and the Chen Dynasty of the East, new developments occur with surprising speed. There is some dispute as to why, precisely, such innovation began in both areas. The most common idea is that, after their economies were disrupted, both regions had to innovate to rebuild. The Chen, being supportive of Taoism, were more open to innovation than their Confucian predecessors, the Han. While the post-Roman states were directly competing with each other struggling for economic advantages.
In the rump Roman Republic, the northern cities of the River Po nearly perfected the textile industry of their era, using water power to run spinning wheels and looms to great effect. As the techniques spread, the demand for wool increased as well, marching hand and hand with increased agricultural yields across Europe. Meanwhile, the vast increase in the availability of textiles spurred the growth of the nascent paper industry, which, at the time, depended on scrap cloth for raw materials. Soon, the great mill complexes that lined the major rivers of Europe, grinding grain and smelting iron were also producing cloth and paper.
Meanwhile, the Chen developed the seminal military invention of the era: gunpowder. Though the basic list of ingredients had been known for some time to lead to combustion, it was during this century that the formula was perfected well enough to utilize for regular military use. Rockets were quickly introduced, followed by simple hand cannon not too long afterward.
8th Century AD
By this point, the new innovations are again flowing east to west and west to east, much as they had in earlier centuries, and now to the south to the burgeoning African states as well. As the warring states of India adopt the textile and paper production techniques of the west, the printing press is invented, making full use of the increased capability to produce paper and the technology spread both to the east and west.
While this was going on, the societies of Africa continued to develop at rapid pace, as they were largely connected to the entirety of the Eurasian trade network by this time. Regional powers arose such as the Kongo and Mutapa Kingdoms, while the Ethiopians continued to be the pre-eminent traders of the Indian Ocean basin, even colonizing the hospitable southern regions of Africa.
It was the Ghanese traders, however, that would make the largest contribution of the time to global trade, as they discovered the New World as their ships plied the Atlantic Ocean. Initially trading with the people of the River Amazon, the crops of the New World and Old World were diffused to both areas, with corn and potatoes gaining a foothold in Eurasia, while the Western Hemisphere received the various livestock of the Eastern Hemisphere along with its various grains. Unfortunately, the diseases of the Old World also made the journey, and the plagues swept through the new continent, tearing down entire civilizations in their wake.
Emboldened by the new spirit of the age and weary of centuries of warfare against fellow Romans, several of the post-Roman states began to form closer and closer alliances, most notably between Gallia, Italia (as the Republic itself had resigned itself to being known as), and Dacia. The alliance between these three states grew and developed into a formal league of equals, eventually becoming a sovereign state in its own right: The Latin Federation. It would go on to incorporate the most heavily Romanized former regions of the late Roman Republic: Illyria, Germania, Hispania, Africa and Mauretania.
9th Century AD
Britannic sailors discover the northern reaches of the New World, and settle along the coast, reaping the plentiful fishing grounds. In the southern continent, the African states largely refrain from settler colonies, simply establishing trading posts along the coastlines. The Latin Federation explores the various islands in the middle latitudes, quickly realizing the economic potential of a plantation economy in the region. A great prize is discovered on the mainland to the west, with the crumbling empire of Teotihuacan and its vast wealth. A modest fleet of Latin adventurers and soldiers makes landfall and incorporates the Nahuatl people into its colonial empire after a series of small wars.
Alright, have at it, critics.
Edit: Oh, and I hop back and forth between present and past tense throughout the timeline. I was sorry about that, and I had no idea why I'm doing that.