TTL is yet another "solution" of the „Viking colonization of Americas“.
About the title: google translate says that „samfelag borgaranna“ is „commonwealth of citizens“ or „civil society“ in icelandic. Lets believe it for now, until someone in higher command of the scandinavian languages than google and me together, fixes the mistake, if any.
The main protagonist is of course Eric the Red, who's actions diverge ( PoD) the history. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_the_red ). Like in OTL Eric visits Greenland in 982 AD, explores the place in about 3 years and after successful „branding & PR“ operation, Quote: „... аfter spending the winter in Iceland, Erik returned to Greenland in 985 with a large number of colonists and established two colonies...“.
One of the „fished“ colonists ( investors ) is Bard Hejolfsson, father of Bjarni Herjolfsson (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarni_Herjolfsson according to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grœnlendinga_saga ). Bjarni lives in Norway, but visit his parents in Iceland every summer. In the summer of 986 AD, upon landing in Iceland, Bjarni finds out that his father have followed Eric the Red ( Eirīkr hinn rauði ) in Greenland. Although, Bjarni's people do not know these seas, he takes the risk and sails off towards Greenland, but diverted by the oceanic currents stumbles upon the Nothern American shores. Quote: "The land looked hospitable, but Bjarni was eager to reach Greenland to see his parents and did not land and explore the new lands. He reported his findings both in Greenland and in Norway, but no one at the time seems to have shown interest in them."
Lets not argue with the Sagas, and the results of the consequential archeological surveys, and accept that this was the way the things happened, so far. In OTL Bjarni stays all these 15-16 years in Greenland, on his own choice. For one or other reasons N.America remained outside the scope of the contemporary scandinavian society and polities.
Here comes The PoD:
Eric the Red „arrests“ Bjarni in Greenland. Eric swears him to keep secret the newly found lands with obvious plenty of resources and starts to organize financing of preparatory expeditions to Helluland (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helluland ), Markland (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markland ) and Vinland (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland ) - led by Bjarni, together with Eric's son – Leif Ericsson ( born 970 AD ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson ). Anyway in OTL winters the about 3000 Greenlanders have been organizing „armies“ of men who went hunting up North, so the picture of series of planned regular exploration, collection and preparatory expeditions involving a „mini-army“ of several hundred men and small two digit number of ships „commuting“ between Greenland's two colonies and American coasts, appears not only highly probable, but in fact reflects the real situation in OTL, less the planning and strategy in the final goal.
Given the fact that Eric have had the IQ to name Greenland with good name in order to attract customers to buy this investment, we can conclude that he also quickly realized that in long run Greenland is not a viable and self-sufficient project, without import of people, materials, goods. Such import is economically pointless, because Greenland can not accommodate comfortably even the comparativelly small number of OTL colonists, not to speak about growth opportunities. The fact is that Greenland is giant bottleneck on its own. As well Iceland, as Greenland, are inhospitable and infertile countries, which can support only insignificant human populations, on poor and dangerous economical level ( In both countries, even the wood for ships and barley must be imported from overseas ). The bitter conclusion is that Eric no matter how good marketing uses can not expand his business in Greenland.
From the other hand, the situation turns upside-down with the discovery made by Bjarni. The new lands south are HUGE. Bjarni sails up north for days along these shores. Eric concludes logically that NOW he DOES have the space to expand his business operations, but the little two Greenlander colonies do not have the human and other capital, to reach up and grab the opportunity. If Eric discloses widely in the old Scandinavian fatherlands about the discovery as means of advertisement of new profitable business – to attract new colonists, etc., that would inevitably lead – IF the people back in Iceland and Norway believe the stories about forrested Vinland, than far richer „enterpreneurs“ , having on disposal entire fleets of brand new, big ships, herds of cattle and sheep, and huge hosts of ready to follow them people would stomp in the mad the petty business organization of Eric, and he won't be any nearer to success and wealth, with this unique knowledge about vast new lands, than before without it and with only „inhumane“ Greenland in the bag of tricks.
Except the „arresting“ of Bjarni and the engaging of him in regular missions to Vinland, there are other measures necessary, thinks Eric, in order to play his new opportunities right. Per instance with Vinlandish wood, could be built ships, but logically all the wood west of Faroes comes from continental Europe or the British Isles ... hence Greenland built ships to Europe would generate serious reasons the secret to be broken at some point... Eric considers to limit the sailing from and to Greenland to only Greenlander ships, and stalks for an opportunity to open. ( Precedents for such bans in the contemporary OTL scandinavian societies are present, per instance, Quote: "King Olaf, who immediately adopted a more aggressive stance towards the Icelanders. He refused Icelandic seafarers access to Norwegian ports " ). Eric also considers various schemes for attracting of new coloinists, who to be directed to Vinland, instead to Greenland, after the Greenlanders achieve point of enough preparedness of the selected sites which are now under preparation. ...
Eric realizes that mostly in the name of the confidenciality, as means of incrementing enough agvantage of control over his new wealth, the best method is to BREED people, except to import them ... at least up to the moment in which they have wide and solid enough local demographic base and the Solution = Polygamy + aboriginal ( Skraelinga ) brides. The method is slow and risky, and its best way of implementation comes also with bigger scandinavian settles group: it would take ages to breed up its own big enough nation out of several thousand scandinavians and several thousands of local savages, who are not too friendly, too. Eric knows that cultural dissipation is impossible if the society kept comparativelly closed, and progeny raised in their father's customs, language, etc.
In 996 AD after 10 summers in which Eric, with the assistance of Bjarni and Leif, have established a network of foreposts for providing of basic goods: wood material, grain fields, cattle and other animals breeding points ( a business in which about 30-40% of the Greenlander population is egaged full time ) + veeeeery careful policy/diplomacy/trade with the locals for befriending them ... the Greenlanders of Eric the Red establish 3 permanent colonies, moving the depicted business above: on the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Saint_Lawrence ): 1. Ericssborg on the tip of Northern Newfoundland ( at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Anse_aux_Meadows where in OTL a settlement remnants have been excavated – for farming and cattle ), 2. Bjarniborg on Anticosti Island (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticosti_Island , as shipbuilding and other woodworks from local logging, lumbering; wood/timber industry ) and 3. Leifborg on Prince Edward Island (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Island ) -- small fortified settlements.
Several hundred Greenlander men on ages between 15 and 19 years are settled permanently there, with the task to acquire 4-5 aboriginal brides each and to start producing the first „hybrid“ generation...
In the mean time Eric very carefully watches the situation in Iceland and Europe, in order to harpoon into the first real opportunity which emerges. And it DOES exactly on time:
In 995 AD king of Norway becomes Olaf who starts to put it on too thick in his violent mesaures for imposing the Christianity in his realms. Regarding Iceland the things get escalated in 999 AD:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christi...xerts_pressure ( The PoD affects only Greenland so far. In Europe and Iceland everything is identical to OTL. The communication is virtually zero, so butterflies blow can not cross such distance ).
This is the way TTL Iceland diverges from OTL Iceland.:
Quote: "The Icelandic Commonwealth's limited foreign policy consisted almost entirely of maintaining good relations with Norway. The Christians in Iceland used the King's pressure to step up efforts at conversion. The two rival religions soon divided the country and threatened civil war."
Here I dare to remind you the specifics of the Icelandic Commonwealth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Commonwealth for the sake of ease of referring.
Eric maintains a network of „spyes“ in Iceland and ( indirectly ) in Norway ( mostly sailors and relatives gossips ), and in the beggining of the fateful summer of 1000 AD sends his old comrade Bjarni in Iceland. ( In OTL Bjarni also leaves Greenland in 1000 AD, after his father's death, but goes to Norway, where he tells the story of his discoveries, and has been reprimanded for not reporting in the due time. This OTL fact shows that TTL Eric is way too paranoid, for thinking that the other nordic people will flood his new, vast, rich land, but purelly objectively analyzed we must admit that he have had his good reasons... ).
Bjarni quickly decodes the situation and matches it with the previous information he had from Eric. After the summer Althing on which is decided the Christianization of Iceland to be put on arbitration (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christi...by_arbitration ) by Thorgeir Thorkelsson (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorgeir_Thorkelsson ) , Bjarni manages to meet Thorgeir and speaks out to him a message from Eric. THUS, when Thorgeir lies down for 24 hours silent meditation covered overhead by the bear skin, he doesn't as usual overconsume halucinogenic mushrooms, in an attempt to force from his brain out the solution for the religious destiny of his country... because Thorgeir already knows the right answer!!!
In OTL: Thorgeir decides, Quote: that Iceland was to become Christian, with the condition that old laws concerning the exposure of infants and the eating of horseflesh would remain, and that private pagan worship be permitted.
In TTL: Armed with the secret knowledge of the new opportunities comming from Eric, the presence of enormous, new, real Promissed land, prepared for settlement of bigger masses of colonists for more than 15 years... with resources which can feed and accomodate millions, Thorgeir decides the following: The Tripple option. The Icelanders either: 1. Leave, 2. Convert or 3. Die.
The Christians ( i.e. the king ) will pay huge part of the expenses for these who leave. They have 10 years to leave, during which time they must live separately from the rest of the population ( in West Iceland ), and during which time only they are protected by the King from persecution.
The Iceland population around 1000 AD is about 50 000 people in total. The religious dispute cuts it roughly in two halves. In the next 10 years groups of 2500-3000 per annum ( or 2-3 ships per week ), or the totally 25-30 000 islanders leave the island in direction of Greenland, to be landed in the Greenlander settlements in North America. Almost all of them arrive, because of explorational and adventuristic the route turns into regular line and the fleet it well funded. The leaving pagans do not have any other direction to take except towards Greenland because of back to Europe is equal to Christian terror.
Eric is happy. The Fate hit him with the unbelievable luck of not only to find dozens of thousands of colonists right in time, but also with someone rich and dedicated to pay for. All the property of the pagan Icelanders is turned into money. The funding rased + the church sponsorship are used for massive purchase and shipping to America of seeds, breeds, tools and everything necessary from Norway and Europe. The opportunity of the „last ships“ is used also by many who are not happy with the christianization and centralization in Norway. Thorgeir Thorkelsson boards the last ship from Iceland and is delivered in Thorgeirborg ( another fortified settlement in Newfoundland – in the location of OTL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John's,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador ). At OTL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corner_Brook location is built another town – Thorkelssonborg.
The total number of longships commuting between Iceland and Newfoundland is about 100-150. In the period 988 ( when Bjarni and Leif comenced Ericsborg )-1012 ( when Thorgeir set foot in Thorgeirborg ) AD the whole island of Newfoundland has been entirelly integrated into the Samfelag Borgaranna. All the island's 3-4000 pre-Erican inhabitants are absorbed into the Commonwealth – very small number of them killed in scirmishes, bigger died from deseases, but most asimilated in the towns and their descendants of mixed origin made „real borgarians“. The same is the situation on the other islands of the Gulf of St.Lawrence plus steady wave avalanching into the mainland along the St.Lawrence river, later the Great lakes and the Mississippi system and along the oceanic coasts.
Only about quarter century after commencing the Greenland project of his Eric now „possesses“ an already mastered green, lush, fertile country bigger than Iceland, with the same population of >40 000 people ( in fact bigger at that moment of TTL ), and million times better natural conditions, located just at the doorstep of virtually endless, hospitable continent. The Borgarians military power is without match in this world. Their fertility rates due to the polygamy policy is unprecedented. Every man is supposed to buy/obtain/steal 4-5 or more wifes, the only way to obtain citizen / borgar status is via being landlord and father. The population doubles each 15-20 years. The towns emit colonies similary to the Ancient Greece, thus expanding their own civilization. Giant cultural converter which consumes the whole pouplation and the whole territory of the both Americas for couple of centuries.
The society is patterned after the classical pagan Icelandic „anarchism“ with strong mechanisms of ad hoc centralization when necessary. A commonwealth of city commonwealths.
Back in Iceland and Norway the Church and the King are happy too. In their view the pagan are leaving to meet their certain death, and they celebrate that without fight ( huge expenses ) they win Iceland only for the eagermost Christians.
Since 1001 AD the trafic between „Greenland“ and Iceland and Europe is done only by „greenlader“ ships. After anouncing the Thorgeir's Decision, Eric's people notify Icelander and the other Scandinavians that every non-greenlander ship trying to land west of Iceland will be confiscated and the crew arrested. After 1011 AD, when no even single pagan left in Iceland, gradually and in planned way the contacts between the New and the Old world are rarefied... less and less in number and more and more miserable ships and crews visit Iceland from the West. The last Greenlander visit is recoded in some disputable content and dating Saga as of 1020-es. The last drying out trickle of visitors leaves a trail of worse and worse tales of dragons, monsters, satanic creatures, harsh lands, suffering... Greenland and the west and the Lost pagans ( sent straight to Hell by the Church, which serves as serious propaganda and behaving tool for children and new christians ) are in a large degree forgoten. From time to time some adventurous chaps head west, but constantly disappear and nobody returns, nor comes from there. Very nasty horror-folklore evolves on that base – the tale about the evil pagans sent in Hell beyond the Sea of Darkness.
The complete isolation and short memory, keeps the butterflies only in the Americas.
In 1492 the Columbus fleet is detained by the local Borgarian towns in the Carribeans. Real technological treasure. Borgarians learn new ways of navigation. Gunpowder. Etc.
Because no ship returns from the West, the European powers never discover Americas. In fact Borgaranna discovers them because the Portugese, Spanish, Genoese, Venetian and other seafaring christian polities slam into the Borgarian expansion front in places like Indian ocean, Africa, Japan, Siberia, etc.
===
this is my first attempt to seed a TL, so please be forgiving