I had an idea for a timeline, but there are quite a few details I need to acquire before I can even consider doing a timeline, but here is the idea. I wanted to get the colonial powers of Europe to colonize different areas of the Americas, or at least switch the British and Spanish ones.
The idea I had was what if Columbus, sailing under Spain, landed in the Chesapeke instead of the west indies? Of course this would require either a PoD at sea with some storm butterflied in to set him off course of the Gulf Stream, or he would need to leave from an alternate location on the Iberian peninsula. All I know is that I still want him to sail on behalf of Spain.
With this kind of PoD there is one main hypothesis I generate; Colonization will be delayed. How I come to this is that when Columbus landed in the west indies he found a tropical paradise and lots of wealth in gold and other valuable materials. If he landed in the chesapeak all he would find is an area infested with mosquitos, causing disease, and probably some natives, who would most likely be reported as hostile. So instead of stories of Glory and Gold, they would send back stories of Disease and Savages. Those are not good selling points and would probably delay any major colonization attempts.
Now, assuming my hypothesis is true, how long do you think it would take before a major colonization attempt is tried, and which country would likely try it first? If my hypothesis is wrong, then what pattern of Colonization would we see from the different nations with Columbus landing in the Chesapeak?