China is often credited with several early important inventions that play a profound role in the rise and fall of civilizations. To name a few- the use of paper as a modus for writing, the invention of gunpowder, and the navigational compass, and the rudimentary predecessors to the word press.
So imagine if you will that early in its history China turns toward the East instead of the West. Perhaps the founder of the Qin Dynasty lives longer yet continues to obsess over the Taoist notion of immortality and the mythical island where the immortals sages still live hiding the elixir of life. Perhaps Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty grows weary of the endless wars inherent in any expansion into the Tarim basin and turns his sights to possibilities across the eastern sea. In theory even a primitive vessel could make it to America by hugging the Asian coastline up into Siberia across to Alaska and back down into North America. Set up a series of forts on the asian mainland or along the numerous tiny islands that pop up along the way, and poof you have the makings of a sea born silk road. Alternatively, if your willing to risk attacks by northern nomadic tribes you could move up into what today is Russia's heartland found a city or two on the edge of Siberia, then take a quick ocean voyage to alaska and make your way through the Canadian wilderness into America. Either way numerous tribes might be found willing to trade, and a dedicated search will eventually lead to the more advanced cultures of South America (and their mines of jade).
My question is two fold. Is it possible for the Maya, Inca or Aztecs to experience an industrial revolution given the conditions we know of in that country and a bit of a 'jump start' from the chinese? Second, if trade moves east instead of west, how does that affect Europe? Will they eventually innovate on their own how to make gunpowder or how much better paper works over papyrus, or will they have to wait a few extra centuries (or millenia) for these inventions to trickle through the less well established trade routes of India and the middle east (or maybe rely on the Mongols to bring these advances after they get bored with burning Europe's cities and subjugating its peoples). On a more positive note, might this avoid the spread of plagues viz the Black Death? Could we be looking at a world in which the roles are reversed- advanced MesoAmerican (or north american??) nations discovery and colonize (or conqueror) the nations of Europe and Africa?
So imagine if you will that early in its history China turns toward the East instead of the West. Perhaps the founder of the Qin Dynasty lives longer yet continues to obsess over the Taoist notion of immortality and the mythical island where the immortals sages still live hiding the elixir of life. Perhaps Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty grows weary of the endless wars inherent in any expansion into the Tarim basin and turns his sights to possibilities across the eastern sea. In theory even a primitive vessel could make it to America by hugging the Asian coastline up into Siberia across to Alaska and back down into North America. Set up a series of forts on the asian mainland or along the numerous tiny islands that pop up along the way, and poof you have the makings of a sea born silk road. Alternatively, if your willing to risk attacks by northern nomadic tribes you could move up into what today is Russia's heartland found a city or two on the edge of Siberia, then take a quick ocean voyage to alaska and make your way through the Canadian wilderness into America. Either way numerous tribes might be found willing to trade, and a dedicated search will eventually lead to the more advanced cultures of South America (and their mines of jade).
My question is two fold. Is it possible for the Maya, Inca or Aztecs to experience an industrial revolution given the conditions we know of in that country and a bit of a 'jump start' from the chinese? Second, if trade moves east instead of west, how does that affect Europe? Will they eventually innovate on their own how to make gunpowder or how much better paper works over papyrus, or will they have to wait a few extra centuries (or millenia) for these inventions to trickle through the less well established trade routes of India and the middle east (or maybe rely on the Mongols to bring these advances after they get bored with burning Europe's cities and subjugating its peoples). On a more positive note, might this avoid the spread of plagues viz the Black Death? Could we be looking at a world in which the roles are reversed- advanced MesoAmerican (or north american??) nations discovery and colonize (or conqueror) the nations of Europe and Africa?