hypothetical history help

Hello everyone, im a long time reader but this is my first time posting anything. I'm a history major in college, but i get the feeling the regular posters here know their stuff inside out. I'm writing a book, which is fictional but i prefer everything to be rooted in fact. I have a laundry list of stuff to read before i can start, but i thought i would pose a question to you all, since this is the most informed place i have to bounce things off of.

Pretend for a second, that:
On a continent roughly the size of australia, a group of several hundred thousand people flee to one of its coasts. They are arriving in a steady stream over the course of a century, and are unable to return. This is a virginal continent, no fauna and very little flora. Every animal is brought along, as is all technology knowledge. Now pretend that the world they have left has gone to crap.

my question is, how long would it take for their culture to incubate and become roughly "modern". Assuming almost all scientific understanding is lost, but there is a common language/religion/culture, so there likely isn't chronic war.

To nip any questions in the bud, here are the circumstances: No outside contact from any other cultures. When culture eventually does emerge, it draws its food from the ocean and agriculture. Resources abound. The only concept of creation is that the current population came from Somewhere Else. So, how long until this new population (unified or not) is able to make an extensive sea voyage to investigate the rest of the world?

thanks for the feedback, anyone and everyone.
 
"Modern" and "savage" society are rather racist 19th century constructs, any ways there really is no way to know, it'd look nothing like society as we know it, it might almost at once form a government and get basic medical science, or maybe they'll spend 100s of years as fishing villages with little to do with each other
 
How "modern" is the society that was destroyed? Give a real world comparison if possible. And how "modern" do you want their culture to get? The past society that they came from is an important factor in determining how they would then develop.
 
So essentially they are moving to another planet.

the main question is, what are the resources that are available.
What climate (dry, met, hot, cold etc)
Both questions are rather essential because for agriculture they will need a steady supply of rain and for building tools they needs raw materials (iron/copper/ other ores).
The speed essentially is dependent on the geography like rivers and how accessible the resources are.

In a scenario like this it is unlikely that all tech understanding will be lost, sooner or later libraries will emerge to preserve the knowledge available (or their leaders will order it). They very likely will bring books or something and especially if they know there will be no return they will tend to bring books.

so you will have to ask what will be the basic level they will stabilize at.
I would say the level of the roman is the lowest i could think of.
Early industrial revolution could be possible too, but there would be gaps.

If they keep the books long enough they could be aware of what is possible, although later generations could call it magic or stories.
Continuous tech development needs a drive for those developments.
Given that those stimuli are there i would say it would take centuries to get back to our level. With all knowledge lost and back to stone age it would be millenia.

time before sea exploration: all depends how much excess resources they have, but with enough resources it should be possible within 5-10 years.
Don't forget that the people of the pacific did this with simple rafts and primitive sailing boats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki
 
No fauna and very little flora? Sounds like they're going to be bitterly struggling to find the basic food requirements just to feed themselves. In such a hostile environment, time taken to progress to a "modern" tech level will be much, much greater, but as said above it also relies partly on other resources available - for instance you're going to find it virtually impossible to reach "modern" status without an industrial revolution, and that means iron, coal, and other such workable materials.
 
Unless there had been life on this continent several hundred million years ago, there will be no coal. Also, if there are no trees, there will be no wood. So, fuel and building materials will be limiting resources for these people.

Also, if conditions are good on the continent for growing, then there wouldn't be a dearth of flora. So, since you've posited a meager flora, this probably means that the conditions are not good for growth, which makes it unlikely that any crops they brought with them would be productive.

The local flora will also not have edible fruits, since fruit evolved to attract animals to disperse the seeds inside; so there's no help there. On the plus side, none of the plants will have evolved measures to deter herbivores, so the foliage might be edible. But, humans aren't very good at digesting foliage, so that might not be the best food source.

Under conditions like these, I can't imagine that society would get very far on this continent. In fact, they would struggle to survive at all.
 
"Modern" and "savage" society are rather racist 19th century constructs
He never used the word 'savage'.

Also you're the one who called Puerto Rico a third word hellhole. That is rather similar to calling a non-cannibalistic non-human-sacrificial tribe 'backwards primitives' or 'savages'.

no fauna and very little flora.
In that case it would be uninhabitable. Do you mean no domesticated/tameable animals and no cultivable plants?
 
He never used the word 'savage'.

Also you're the one who called Puerto Rico a third word hellhole. That is rather similar to calling a non-cannibalistic non-human-sacrificial tribe 'backwards primitives' or 'savages'.

I called it a shit hole and that has nothing to do with this, other than to troll me.
 
Flayer, your recommendation was exactly right. Not sure if its ever been done before, and i was hopeing to beat anyone else to the punch.

and yeah, i know Savage and Modern are perspective terms at best. in fact, id consider some native american cultures a lot less savage than our own. Modern is all relative.

And yes, i guess theres a lot more details to flush out. What i should have clarified is that all animals would have to be brought along, limiting the selection to dogs, horses, cows, migratory birds, etc. Fauna isnt necessarily limited, but its not incredibly diverse. The ground is fertile but at the time of arrival only has plants who could get there themselves.

Not everything is lost. Everyone knows to keep washing their hands, but nobody could do an organ transplant. No gas means the concept of an internal combustion engine is gone. Literacy and the preservation of knowledge are two things im still trying to figure out. And of course, i don't really know what happens to knowledge when people are cut off from the rest of society. I know theres examples in history, but im not sure of anything like this.

and as far as the endgame, how far id want the culture to progress, would be as technologically advanced as they can get without fossil fuels. Would you all say the biggest catalyst for technological development is war?
 
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