Irish colonization in the new world ?

could there be a POD where ireland is independent and manages to colonize in the new world ? Or atleast end up with atleast one Irish speaking country in the Americas ?

I mean if Portugal can do it surely Ireland can right ?

Thoughts ?
 
I don't see why not, dependent on the PoD and resulting butterflies (THIS time line comes to mind foremost). Furthermore a setting that sets back Iberian progress in general (or at least prevents anything like the Reconquista) could also help delay Luso-Spanish exploitation of the Canaries Current should you want more options in overseas exploration to boot; even preventing the House of Avis from forming would help (no Henry the Navigator as a result).

The biggest issue IMO is keeping Ireland out from under London's thumb AND evolve into a naval market.
 

redeclipse

Banned
Get Celts doing it before England really starts up. Pagan Celts or hermit monks like reached Iceland could make a pretty interesting New World.
 
I think you would need to kick England very hard. But it could be done.

The Norse giving the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms a heavier shove and mangaging to get a stronger, longer-lasting presence on the British Isles might do the trick. Given their penchant for establishing urban centers and than slave-raiding on Erie, you could very easily see the consolidation of the Irish petty kingdoms/clans coming about as some of the leaders organize resistance to the Vikings via assimilating the shattered peoples and lands of their rivals, or perhaps some Celto-Norse state emerging as one of the main portages develops into a proper Kingdom with a strong naval tradition, who could then explore west.
 
Well I’m writing a timeline about this very thing currently which has been linked a few times XD

The 6th and 7th Centuries offers you chances for “accidental” discoveries, such as the POD I use in my work.

Beyond that, you need to focus on keeping Ireland a tenable power. Somehow find a way to unite the petty Kingdoms into a more unified polity, without England’s interference. A cop-out method that comes to mind right now (meaning I don’t know how it would actually work) could be having Ireland come under the rule of a branch of the same dynasty as on the English throne, keeping Irish and English relations decent and preventing total English conquest.
 
I don't know if this is way too ASB, but what about an Irish Iceland needing to develop great sailing techniques to keep in touch with the motherland and eventually stumbling into the Grand Banks and Northumberland?
 
Last edited:
GURPS AE 1 had a TL where the Carthaginians accidentally discover America, and the Romans and later Celts follow suit. The Irish found a colony on Manhattan Island called Manannan, after their sea god.
 
I say out upon Irish settlement of *Canada! Let them come across it, sure, and set up an outpost or so, but give me a Hibernian South America any day over that (blame @DanMcCollum ). Chalk it up to my standing contempt for keeping non-Iberian European settlers confined to the temperate zones :p.

EDIT: In all seriousness, I can see a Gaelic *Canada being relatively simple to do with the right series of events. And should a unified, navally-inclined Eire (necessary for the OP in general) wish for their own place in the tropical goods market, there's always the smaller Caribees or Jamaica.
 
An Eire that colonised the Carribean islands could outclass Scotland or Wales and actually militarily rival England or a united Great Britain up until the Industrial Revolution with the profits of its sugar, spices and timbers. It would have actual resources to outclass their greater latent resources.
 
I say out upon Irish settlement of *Canada! Let them come across it, sure, and set up an outpost or so, but give me a Hibernian South America any day over that (blame @DanMcCollum ). Chalk it up to my standing contempt for keeping non-Iberian European settlers confined to the temperate zones :p.

EDIT: In all seriousness, I can see a Gaelic *Canada being relatively simple to do with the right series of events. And should a unified, navally-inclined Eire (necessary for the OP in general) wish for their own place in the tropical goods market, there's always the smaller Caribees or Jamaica.

You know, I never DID confirm Gaelic South America in my Amalingian timeline ;). Though the irony of having the Irish colonize Brazil and call it ... Brazil would be pretty good :p
 
You know, I never DID confirm Gaelic South America in my Amalingian timeline ;). Though the irony of having the Irish colonize Brazil and call it ... Brazil would be pretty good :p

I shan't say anything further on the matter, but I'm sure you know my stance on such things :cool:

In all seriousness, while I don't at all hold to the determinist notion that things like access to currents and relative location in Iberia is a prerequisite for a Western colonial power, I will admit that it does help. That being said, if there's any nation outside of Portugal/Spain in kick-starting a westward/long-distance colonial and exploratory fleet (with the right shipwrighting and at-home stability established that is), it's Eire.
 
I shan't say anything further on the matter, but I'm sure you know my stance on such things :cool:

In all seriousness, while I don't at all hold to the determinist notion that things like access to currents and relative location in Iberia is a prerequisite for a Western colonial power, I will admit that it does help. That being said, if there's any nation outside of Portugal/Spain in kick-starting a westward/long-distance colonial and exploratory fleet (with the right shipwrighting and at-home stability established that is), it's Eire.

Well, a careful reading of my most recent chapter would indicate that there is always Dal Coiahme ;)
 
I think the only way is a timeline where the Vatican doesn't give the British a free pass at conquering Ireland,then maybe it isn't united,and some enterprising souls from the west coast scout out Newfoundland,Labrador and coastal Maine.
 

Kaze

Banned
The Saint Brenden Time line might work, but improbable.
I would rather go with the Irish go Viking time-line, where in instead of the Vikings you get raiding / exploring Irish.
Or Independent Ireland going east.
 
I think you would need to kick England very hard. But it could be done.

Not really. The English showed no interest in taking Ireland before Henry II, and even after him most of their kings just ignored the place. (English control had lapsed pretty much everywhere outside Dublin by the sixteenth century, and nobody in England seemed to care all that much.) If Henry II doesn't decide to go in, it's perfectly possible that none of his successors bother invading. If the Irish kingdoms unite, the prospects of an English conquest attempt go down even further.
 
Top