Introduction of Elephants into Europe

What if The Spanish tried to introduce Indian/African Elephants into Europe in the 1600s?

ETA: Similar attempts are made in the Americas.
 
Elephants have never truly been domesticated, though: As things are, you need a wild population of significant size from which to capture & tame new stock in each generation. Even if enough could have been captured & shipped in, where would Spain put its wild Elephant population?
 
I don't think climate would allow that.
From memory, the largest use of elephants in Europe was from Hannibal's expedition and most of the hoard died out before even reaching Italy.

If military hard to use (you have mentions, but exceptional ones, as Charlemagne using his elephant against Danes) and to make it last in Europe, making its usefulness quite limited.
 

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In theory, the climate of Southern Spain, Sicily, Greece and Anatolia is alright for elephants.
 
Ok fair enough. What about Spanish introducing them to the New World colonies?

They would be the first elephants in the new World since the Mastodons. Would the Spaniards use them as drudges ?What would they eat, would they even survive ? Could they roam the wild and adapt ? How would they compete against other species ? How would the native population react ? Would they spread to colder regions and develope some furr ?
 
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What if The Spanish tried to introduce Indian/African Elephants into Europe in the 1600s?

ETA: Similar attempts are made in the Americas.

What would be the reason, though?

Elephants are very finicky, which is why you don't see that much wide use of them outside cultures which have developed alongside the elephants.

They're great for shock and awe but beyond that aren't really all that useful militarily- frankly they're too intelligent to make good war animals. I recall reading about the British Indian Army's use of elephants to haul artillery- they always had to be supported with ox teams because while the elephants were great at hauling cannon to the battlefield, they'd quite often refuse to get too close to gunfire. Besides, with the amount of fodder elephants need, they're a bit of a liability in more arid areas.
 
They would be the first elephants in the new World since the Mastodons. Would the Spaniards use them as drudges ?What would they eat, would they even survive ? Could they roam the wild and adapt ? How would they compete against other species ? How would the native population react ? Would they spread to colder regions and develope some furr ?
I'm sure they could survive, at least in the South and the Southwest. Most of the plants that were fed upon by mastodons are still around, and presuming that mastodon and elephant nutrient requirements aren't too different, the elephants should be able to eat.
 
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