suppose the chinese fleet was never destroyed
they made it around africa and set up treade links across the western pacific and indian ocean. there are many chinese colonies throughout southeast asia and africa.
now either colombus can discover america as in ot or the chinese can do it several decades earlier.
after the discovery the chinese start sailing across the pacific ocean to mesoamerica. say the muslims and indians are also there.
so we have europeans, the chinese, muslims, and indians in the new world.
the mesoamericans possibly gain firearms and metal working and are able to support themselves without being destroyed by the europeans. so all the old world civilizations vie for influence with the mesoamericans.
what do you think