alternatehistory.com

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=38481&highlight=Moorish+Newfoundland <-- the original thread that got me wondering.

Since I can't see to fire up a post that gets a responce I hope this one rolls my way since it's pretty out there.

Suppose Phillip II does not reconcile with the softer elements of society that prevented him from deporting the Morisco population of Spain following the revolt in 1568 and he decides to take much more drastic action (pretty drastic in OTL too). He resolutes to deport the whole Morisco population to la Isla de Terranova. He decides this is the right thing to do, despite massive skepticism and uneasiness from the church because 1) he thought keeping the Moriscos in Spain would eventually lead to a Turkish invasion of some-sort, or a Barbary attempt at a reconquest of Spain (aided by the Moriscos- this was a common notion at the time and was part of the reason why the Moriscos were being so ill-treated) and 2) he thought simply expelling the Moriscos southward to the Barbary lands or eastward to Christian kingdoms would simply give more man-power and soldiers to his enemies, and resoluted the only way to remedy the situation was to deport the Moriscos to some far off corner of the world where they couldn't cause any trouble. For good measure, the King thought it best to expunge as many Jewish conversos as well (although they were few in number enough would get overseas).

How would this whole thing be carried out?

The King would use a number of slave trawlers, overload them with prisoners, minimizing rations and provinsions because he and his advisors had no expectations for the Moriscos to survive (nor did they care much). Many Spanish soldiers and sailors however did give food and drink to the Moriscos, with many leaving them with animals and such (it depended on the ship however and was still not common). According to wiki (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_ship) an offhand comment with no validity whatsoever said the deaths were about 1/3 of all slaves. We can pretend this holds for the Moriscos, and perhaps a bit more due to the fact tens of thousands are being moved overseas. The actual "expulsion" is over a 2 year period, with periodic dumpings done throughout the year. I don't think it'd be possible to deport the whole Morisco population, and the dumpings would be interspersed with rumor in Morisco ghettos; so I'm sure hundreds would try and escape (and probably succeed). Assuming perhaps at the highest number, out of an estimated 300,000 Moriscos Spain manages to deport 180,000 to Newfoundland, about half of whom die on the voyage there and another 30-60% from poor weather, disease, malnutrition etc. what are the immediate and long-term ratifications of this?

I don't think Newfounland is very fertile (as mentioned), and the Avalon Peninsula perhaps a few sparse coastal settlements would be about all they'd have to live on. I'm not sure though; is there anyway Newfoundland could sustain a local population? Undoubtably, if their population stabalized they'd look for better; in which case, is Labrador or Acadia possible points of migration and if so, are they fertile enough to sustain a population?

Another factor is; would all the ships get there? There's a good chance many would lose their way and perhaps simply dump their human cargo on any old island or even in the ocean =/. These would make for horrible tales but might spread the Morisco population out over a larger area. Newfoundland was quite far and explorers were notoriously bad back then at re-finding already explored areas; would it be fair to say the Moriscos might be dumped mostly on Newfoundland, but with other scattered populations in and around the Atlantic region?

As well another question would be that of the Morisco religion, status and culture. Newfoundland was considered a Spanish possession at the time; would Moriscos be considered Spanish subjects? It's undoutably true that some Moriscos would return to Islam, hating Spain for deporting them and basically treating them like dirt for years. Without anyone to boss them around they could return to some of their older customs such as dress, and perhaps if society was going well enough they could rebuild the bathhouses or what have you. Would this lead to a resurgance in Islamic literature as well and perhaps even an Arabic alphabet for the Spanish language (assuming they get very hardcore about their religion and language?) Perhaps even "New World Arabic"? Their relations with the Beothuk are also in question; let's assume the lighter path and they are able to adapt to the fishing life-style. Do they make war? Conquer? Inter-mix?

Discuss!
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