Genoese circumnavigation of Africa

Even before Portugal, Spain, England or France became seriously interested in the Atlantic, the Genoa explorers appeared on the ocean. In 1291 Teodisio Doria, a member of one of the rulers who ruled the city, organizes an expedition. He employs the brothers: Ungolino and Vadino Vivaldi and sends them on a mission to uncover the sea route across the Atlantic to India. The expedition is very well stocked, but it does not return .... disappears along the way, probably somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea. Apparently in the middle of the 15th century one of the Portuguese expeditions found a descendant of survivors on the African coast. Expedition was predicted for 10 years. I'm not even trying to speculate that they would be able to reach them, because they would have had a great luck, and frenetic courage (though Plinius was writing about a ship from Cadiz found in the Red Sea). But what would have been if they had reached, if not to India itself, even to the equator and returned? Have they found that there is no hot zone on the equator? Doria was indebted to this expedition, and when she turned to him, as later Henry the Navigator? Would Genoa be a continuation of the expedition? Would not this accelerate the era of geographic discoveries?
 
The Genoese did circumnavigate Africa, in a way. Portuguese exploration was nothing more than a combination of Genoese capital and know how and Portuguese manpower, driven by their mutual interests of finding the source of the Sahara gold trade and then reach India. They got there as soon as they could.

Supposing that Doria's expedition is successful, though, that means the Genoese have unlocked the secrets of navigating the Atlantic. Them unlocking the South Atlantic would depend on whether they can figure out to sail counter-clockwise. I could see Genoese sugar plantations in the Atlantic islands, as they could copy it from the Mediterranean as in OTL. They'd eventually run into the problem of manpower, however.

As for accelarating the Iberian great navigations, I sincerely doubt it. That stuff takes money and a royal bureaucracy, neither of which are present in any meaningful amount in Portugal until the late 14th century at the earliest. Let's not even get into the mess that is "Spain".

Now, Genoa would obviously have to deal with the North African pirates and establish a permanent military presence at the Strait of Gibraltar, which could significantly delay any greater efforts at colonizing and trading in general. I'd be more curious about the effects of less Genoese influence and intervention in the Eastern Mediterranean, basically leaving the area to Venice alone. Not sure if that would be good or bad for thr Byzantines. Probably bad.

That said, any pro-Western exploration policymaker will have to somehow convince the Genoese elites that sailing into the unknown is better than fighting for the rich and known East, not to mention the probable necessity to abandon the incredibly lucrative Flanders sea trade. Perhaps that could be achieved. I suppose the former could be achieved by having Venice deal a crushing blow to Genoa, from which they couldn't recover, but diverting the focus from the North Atlantic to the South Atlantic is going to be hard. There's a reason they had to use Portugal as a proxy in OTL.
 
As for accelarating the Iberian great navigations, I sincerely doubt it. That stuff takes money and a royal bureaucracy, neither of which are present in any meaningful amount in Portugal until the late 14th century at the earliest. Let's not even get into the mess that is "Spain".

Well, Aragón led a broad expansion in the Mediterranean in the 13th century.

Now, Genoa would obviously have to deal with the North African pirates and establish a permanent military presence at the Strait of Gibraltar, which could significantly delay any greater efforts at colonizing and trading in general. I'd be more curious about the effects of less Genoese influence and intervention in the Eastern Mediterranean, basically leaving the area to Venice alone. Not sure if that would be good or bad for thr Byzantines. Probably bad.

That said, any pro-Western exploration policymaker will have to somehow convince the Genoese elites that sailing into the unknown is better than fighting for the rich and known East, not to mention the probable necessity to abandon the incredibly lucrative Flanders sea trade. Perhaps that could be achieved. I suppose the former could be achieved by having Venice deal a crushing blow to Genoa, from which they couldn't recover, but diverting the focus from the North Atlantic to the South Atlantic is going to be hard. There's a reason they had to use Portugal as a proxy in OTL.

Can the earlier opening of the road to India around Africa accelerate the discovery of America? OTL just a 3 years after the Vasco da Gama expedition, Cabral expedition accidentally discovered Brazil.
 
Can the earlier opening of the road to India around Africa accelerate the discovery of America? OTL just a 3 years after the Vasco da Gama expedition, Cabral expedition accidentally discovered Brazil.
Yes, it can, assuming Genoa does manage to pull it off (getting to India), which I don't think is very likely. The South Atlantic currents will inevitably lead someone to Brazil when trying to cross into the Indian Ocean though. The question is whether Genoa would be interested in pursuing those new lands, as it has interests closer to home and a much reduced fiscal and manpower base when compared to Portugal and Spain. IMO any discovery of the Americas before the Iberian powers can get their act together at home will be inconsequential and I don't see why the process should be accelerated either.

It's also worth pointing out that Portugal didn't care all that much for Brazil until the Dutch expelled them from the East Indies.
 
Yes, it can, assuming Genoa does manage to pull it off (getting to India), which I don't think is very likely. The South Atlantic currents will inevitably lead someone to Brazil when trying to cross into the Indian Ocean though.
Well, I think even if the Vivaldi brothers will only reach the Gulf of Guinea and return with goods that will finance another expedition, it would be a great success as Portuguese sailors were long afraid to venture into the unknown sea south of Cape Bojador. The successful expedition of the Vivaldi brothers overthrown many myths about the southern seas. The next generation of explorers will have a simplified task.
The question is whether Genoa would be interested in pursuing those new lands, as it has interests closer to home and a much reduced fiscal and manpower base when compared to Portugal and Spain. IMO any discovery of the Americas before the Iberian powers can get their act together at home will be inconsequential and I don't see why the process should be accelerated either.
Maybe Portugal and Aragon, inspired by the success of the Genoese, would start competing against it in the Atlantic? Maybe even France and England would join the game faster?
 
Well, I think even if the Vivaldi brothers will only reach the Gulf of Guinea and return with goods that will finance another expedition, it would be a great success as Portuguese sailors were long afraid to venture into the unknown sea south of Cape Bojador. The successful expedition of the Vivaldi brothers overthrown many myths about the southern seas. The next generation of explorers will have a simplified task.
Yes, but they would need the technology and the political momentum to keep going. Using the space race as a crude analogy, one would have expected a boom in space exploration after 1969. Instead it pretty much decreed its end, since there were significant technological difficulties for getting past the Moon and the political momentum was gone.
Maybe Portugal and Aragon, inspired by the success of the Genoese, would start competing against it in the Atlantic? Maybe even France and England would join the game faster?
With what money? And why would it be a priority before than settling European disputes? Western Europe is simply too busy at the time.
 
Yes, but they would need the technology and the political momentum to keep going. Using the space race as a crude analogy, one would have expected a boom in space exploration after 1969. Instead it pretty much decreed its end, since there were significant technological difficulties for getting past the Moon and the political momentum was gone.
This is a misleading comparison. Solar system exploration was hampered because it wasn't only very expensive but also didn't bring any economic benefits. Mars and Venus, in spite of the hypotheses present among the scientists in the 1950s, turned out to be completely sterile and unfit for habitation. If the Europeans will know that it is possible to reach India via the African trade route and profitably trade, and that the uninhabited, fertile islands (Madeira, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe) are in the Atlantic, this will accelerate the development of navigation.
With what money?
They can set up a partnership with Genoa.
And why would it be a priority before than settling European disputes?
Because Western Europe was overpopulated in the first half of the 14th.
 
This is a misleading comparison. Solar system exploration was hampered because it wasn't only very expensive but also didn't bring any economic benefits. Mars and Venus, in spite of the hypotheses present among the scientists in the 1950s, turned out to be completely sterile and unfit for habitation. If the Europeans will know that it is possible to reach India via the African trade route and profitably trade, and that the uninhabited, fertile islands (Madeira, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe) are in the Atlantic, this will accelerate the development of navigation.
The Moon was sterile too.

Again, the Europeans don't have the necessary state structure to go on a colonizing spree sooner than they did in OTL. France and England in particular have bigger problems closer to home than the (once consolidated) Iberian monarchies.

They can set up a partnership with Genoa.
Why would Genoa want that (and if it does aren't we just back to OTL with its partnership with Portugal?)?

Because Western Europe was overpopulated in the first half of the 14th.
So? The colonies in the New World always had a chronic problem which was the lack of available manpower, thus proving that immigration was irrelevant at the early stages. Why? Well, contrary to popular belief, before the 19th century European peasants weren't all that eager to dangerously cross an ocean to set up shop in underdeveloped location far away from home and with the chronic menace of dying either due to sickness or war against the natives. That's why the Europeans first tried to enslave the natives and, once that didn't work, brought black slaves from Africa (with the notable exception of the Spanish colonies, which were able to annex more developed native communities and therefore were able to take advantage of their work ethics and logistics, particularly the Incas'). We have two excellent examples of what you could call European immigration in the 17th century, namely white indentured servitude in Virginia and the Caribbean, which was swiftly abandoned for two chief reasons: a) it was hard for the European states to "recruit" said servants and b) they were more of a problem than a solution in the colonies (I really recommend Robin Blackburn if you want to go deeper in this subject).

If anything, overpopulation would actually prevent European colonialism since it would breed a lot of social issues and tensions at home (see: peasant rebellions) that would rank a lot higher in a king's priority list than expensively sailing around in the Atlantic.
 
The Moon was sterile too.
The race for the moon was not about his colonization. It was kind of a demonstration of political and technological advantage.
Why would Genoa want that
Because Genoa has too little manpower.
Well, contrary to popular belief, before the 19th century European peasants weren't all that eager to dangerously cross an ocean to set up shop in underdeveloped location far away from home and with the chronic menace of dying either due to sickness or war against the natives.
Norse in the Greenland? English settlement in New England was the result of agricultural overpopulation in England. Similarly, the Dutch settlement on the Cape.

Centralization of power in Europe was one of the effects of the accelerated economic development that followed geographical expansions and colonization.
 
The race for the moon was not about his colonization. It was kind of a demonstration of political and technological advantage.
Precisely my point regarding Genoese ability to establish a long-lived Indian trade route in the 14th century. The technology isn't available and neither is the political will, or at least it shouldn't be there. Genoa's agenda has simply other pressing priorities, and the Indian spice trade only became a real issue when they were blocked out of the Eastern Mediterranean by Venice and the Ottomans in the second half of the 15th century. Unsurprisingly, that's also around the time that Portugal began its first serious attempts to reach India. Beforehand, they were often more concerned with finding the source of the Saaharan gold trade, rather than anything else.

Because Genoa has too little manpower.
When I said that Portugal provided the manpower in its alliance to Genoa, I meant the general sailors and explorers, as well as the small first wave of colonization. For American colonization, manpower is going to be an issue anyway.

Norse in the Greenland? English settlement in New England was the result of agricultural overpopulation in England. Similarly, the Dutch settlement on the Cape.
The Norse died and New England and the Cape were the periphery's periphery, i.e. irrelevant for the grander scheme of global colonization. Alright, I'll concede that New England found some importance when it began smuggling firewood and other basic needs items to the French Caribbean, but that's that. The Caribbean islands, "Latin" America and even perhaps Virginia were the core of the transatlantic systems.

Centralization of power in Europe was one of the effects of the accelerated economic development that followed geographical expansions and colonization.
I agree, especially in regards to Spain. That doesn't mean feudal monarchies are anywhere near the level of organization and monopolization of powers, lands and income to successfully found transatlantic colonial empire, and neither does it mean that America played a large role in the political centralization of France and England in the 16th century.
 
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