Juana supporters win the War of Castilian Succession

Alliance, yes. Union - not necessarily - unless Affonso V's legitimate line of descent still goes extinct as OTL. Portugal was more interested in the Indies than the Americas, so they might turn Columbus away. As to Aragon, I could see them concentrating more on the eastern Mediterranean and north Africa - maybe Italy.
 
Alliance, yes. Union - not necessarily - unless Affonso V's legitimate line of descent still goes extinct as OTL. Portugal was more interested in the Indies than the Americas, so they might turn Columbus away. As to Aragon, I could see them concentrating more on the eastern Mediterranean and north Africa - maybe Italy.

But Colombus wasn´t looking for any Americas, since he did not know it existed (as far as I understand he died believing that he had come to India).
 
Columbus' pitch was that the world was actually a lot smaller than people thought; he was wrong about that, but the Americas, it turned out, were about where he thought the Indies would be.

I'd wager that no other ruler, other than Isabella, was willing to buy this, so his little scheme doesn't happen TTL. That means that the first expedition that tries to cross the Atlantic will take the northern route (a la Cabot), completely changing the history.
 
Could he have got support from Aragon, which would not be in union with Castile in this time line?
 
OTL Enrique of Aragon, duke of Segorbe and paternal cousin to Fernando, projected to marry Juana c. 1472 but as his cousin had already married Isabel in 1469, he was not supported by his uncle King John II. If Fernando is eliminated, either by the survival of his elder brother Charles of Viana or by his own death, an Enrique-Juana ticket is still possible. In 1492, you would have in Castilla Enrique and Juana and in Aragon Charles and Catarina of Portugal. There is a crackpot theory that Colombus was actually the illegitimate son of Charles, but I do not buy it. On the other hand, one of the early supporters of Columbus was Luis de la Cerda, Duke (well it was an Isabellian title, so he might be still Count ITTL) of Medinaceli, and husband of Charles' illegitimate daughter, Leonor. So there was a connection between Colombus and King Charles (even if Leonor died 1477). If you want to spice it up a little more, you can have the Basque ports given to Navarra (of which Charles was also King) in exchange for Charles' support of Enrique and Juana in the Castillan Civil War. So there is both a connection and a departure harbor.
 
OTL Enrique of Aragon, duke of Segorbe and paternal cousin to Fernando, projected to marry Juana c. 1472 but as his cousin had already married Isabel in 1469, he was not supported by his uncle King John II. If Fernando is eliminated, either by the survival of his elder brother Charles of Viana or by his own death, an Enrique-Juana ticket is still possible. In 1492, you would have in Castilla Enrique and Juana and in Aragon Charles and Catarina of Portugal. There is a crackpot theory that Colombus was actually the illegitimate son of Charles, but I do not buy it. On the other hand, one of the early supporters of Columbus was Luis de la Cerda, Duke (well it was an Isabellian title, so he might be still Count ITTL) of Medinaceli, and husband of Charles' illegitimate daughter, Leonor. So there was a connection between Colombus and King Charles (even if Leonor died 1477). If you want to spice it up a little more, you can have the Basque ports given to Navarra (of which Charles was also King) in exchange for Charles' support of Enrique and Juana in the Castillan Civil War. So there is both a connection and a departure harbor.
Actually, a marriage between Juana and Francis Pheobus of navarre was proposed since the two are both rival claimants to the crowns of aragon and castile..
 
Actually, a marriage between Juana and Francis Pheobus of navarre was proposed since the two are both rival claimants to the crowns of aragon and castile..

Indeed, but Phebus was in a more weaker position than any potential aragonese prince as he is a minor, his domains in Spain are minimal and his claim to Aragon is frankly unfounded.
 
OTL Enrique of Aragon, duke of Segorbe and paternal cousin to Fernando, projected to marry Juana c. 1472 but as his cousin had already married Isabel in 1469, he was not supported by his uncle King John II. If Fernando is eliminated, either by the survival of his elder brother Charles of Viana or by his own death, an Enrique-Juana ticket is still possible. In 1492, you would have in Castilla Enrique and Juana and in Aragon Charles and Catarina of Portugal. There is a crackpot theory that Colombus was actually the illegitimate son of Charles, but I do not buy it. On the other hand, one of the early supporters of Columbus was Luis de la Cerda, Duke (well it was an Isabellian title, so he might be still Count ITTL) of Medinaceli, and husband of Charles' illegitimate daughter, Leonor. So there was a connection between Colombus and King Charles (even if Leonor died 1477). If you want to spice it up a little more, you can have the Basque ports given to Navarra (of which Charles was also King) in exchange for Charles' support of Enrique and Juana in the Castillan Civil War. So there is both a connection and a departure harbor.

Out of curiosity, why was the marriage turned down? Do you know. It seems to me good logic that should Isabel have died in childbirth or been rendered barren by the birth of her eldest daughter (something that was only too common), that Aragon would want a second opportunity to inherit Castile. It's not as though Segorbe could successfully muster an army to contest Isabel's right to the Castilian throne.
 
Out of curiosity, why was the marriage turned down? Do you know. It seems to me good logic that should Isabel have died in childbirth or been rendered barren by the birth of her eldest daughter (something that was only too common), that Aragon would want a second opportunity to inherit Castile. It's not as though Segorbe could successfully muster an army to contest Isabel's right to the Castilian throne.

I am only guessing here, but I think Juana wanted an army, so when Enrique did not get support from John II, she went to Alfonso of Portugal. It would have taken a mastermind evil planner to get both Castillan enemies princesses to marry the two aragonese cousins and fake a war between them, just for a case of "heir and spare". By all accounts, John II of Aragon was not such a man.
 
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