Our friend Columbus and his crew don't return

To prevent the Europeans from discovering the New World, perhaps we could use two PODs in the 1300s:
  1. The Marinids win the Battle of Río Salado and restore enough of al-Andalus to prevent Portuguese expansion into the Atlantic.
  2. The Hy-Brasil legends in Britain are either branded as heresy, or simply forgotten, so that John Cabot's exploration or similar voyages could not occur.
 
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raharris1973

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More people would have knowledge of John Cabot as he'd be credited with discovering the New World.

I think studio Henry VII only greenlighted the Cabot script because studio Ferdinand and Isabella's "Columbus" was such a smash hit.

I don't see why tightfisted Henry would see the transatlantic expedition as a decent risk Columbus was not such a blockbuster.

Even if people land in Brazil or site it because of mishaps using the Volta Do Mar technique, are they going to do much following up at anything like the conquistador pace, especially as these same Portuguese mariners are gaining more and more of an accurate fix on where all the good spots in Asia are, and thus just know there is a crapton of unknown sea (and maybe land) between the Brazil coast and the produce of Asia?
 
I think the main difference here is that it might butterfly entirely the way Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire are conquered.

The Portuguese likely already knew that there was land out there, just not where especifically. They were more interested in the India route at the moment
 

Lusitania

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I think the main difference here is that it might butterfly entirely the way Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire are conquered.

The Portuguese likely already knew that there was land out there, just not where especifically. They were more interested in the India route at the moment

Yes the Aztec king believed the Spanish riding a horse to be prophesy to coming of god who had four legs. A different king probably would not of been friendly to the Spanish and offered them tons of gold but instead attacked them and offered their hearts on the alter to their gods.

The Inca were conquered in way that not every European meeting them would emulate. So good chance that these two empires would of survived longer. At least till European disease weakened them.
 
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