The Bering Bridge

Lets see what would be the consequences that if the Bering Strait Passage to the Americas had survived? Nothing in the ASB sense, possibly minor geographic extension of the size of the land bridge and height or a fragmentation rather then complete submersion of the area.

This Bering Strait bridge would be nothing like 'Beringia', but something substantianly smaller connecting the Seaward and Chukotka Peninsula's together. Or maybe a long extension of the Aluteian Islands to Kamchatka Krai with greater prescence of humans in the area leading to greater interaction of these northern peoples and the more southern cvilizations.

This would likely also contribute to more successful succesive waves of human and animal migration to North America and likely greater contact with people as far as China and Japan.
 
biologically, I'm not sure it'd make much difference. The submersion of the bridge was so recent (geologically speaking) that pretty much every animal species that could do so did make it over. The one species I'm not sure about is the tiger (don't know if they ever roamed so far east)... it's a possibility. As for humans... not sure. Wasn't there regular contact between the natives of western Alaska and eastern Siberia already? A land bridge would make it easier, I suppose.
The big question is climate... would having a land bridge closing off the Arctic from the Pacific have any major affects?
 
biologically, I'm not sure it'd make much difference. The submersion of the bridge was so recent (geologically speaking) that pretty much every animal species that could do so did make it over. The one species I'm not sure about is the tiger (don't know if they ever roamed so far east)... it's a possibility.

There is some disputed evidence of tigers colonizing SW "Alaska", then being wiped out during some glatial maximun. Of course, there is the problem of identifying the purported remains as tigers with no doubt, since cave lions (especially American cave lions) have some tiger-like features in their crania. Anyway, your doubt is reasonable since the tiger's recent distribution seems to be limited to the Russian maritimes/Amur region, not Kamchatka/Far Eastern Siberia.

Far easier would be seeing the musk ox, that did originate in Eurasia and became extinct here at the end of the last Ice Age, recolonizing NE Siberia. It survived in Alaska until around 1900.

The big question is climate... would having a land bridge closing off the Arctic from the Pacific have any major affects?
I have to say my source is nothing but a bunch of currents maps, but in my opinion if the link is around OTL Seward's Peninsula the currents would not change at all.
 
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biologically, I'm not sure it'd make much difference. The submersion of the bridge was so recent (geologically speaking) that pretty much every animal species that could do so did make it over. The one species I'm not sure about is the tiger (don't know if they ever roamed so far east)... it's a possibility. As for humans... not sure. Wasn't there regular contact between the natives of western Alaska and eastern Siberia already? A land bridge would make it easier, I suppose.
The big question is climate... would having a land bridge closing off the Arctic from the Pacific have any major affects?

The Kamchatka peninsula is very near Manchuria, Goguryeo and Jin Dynasty expanded to Manchuria remember so there is more chances for the East to discover the New World by accident...;)
 
It is close on a map. That doesn't mean a damn thing in history.

Guess what? Turns out getting into Siberia is far harder than just going up a few pixels in paint.
 
The Kamchatka peninsula is very near Manchuria, Goguryeo and Jin Dynasty expanded to Manchuria remember so there is more chances for the East to discover the New World by accident...;)

Would it really be considered the 'New World' though? All they would find would be more of the same they'd been seeing Manchuria & Siberia. And that's even if they make it that far. 'Expanded into Manchuria' is a long way from 'exploring/colonizing OTL Alaska.'

More likely, as kasumigenx suggests, natives on the north-western Pacific coast would have a higher tolerance to Eurasian diseases such as smallpox. Might even see some knowledge transfer as well. AFAIK the early Yupik Eskimos had metallurgy up to and including iron-working, a stable land-bridge connecting the two continents might allow for such a skill to survive the founder effect, and perhaps even spread.
 
Would it really be considered the 'New World' though? All they would find would be more of the same they'd been seeing Manchuria & Siberia. And that's even if they make it that far. 'Expanded into Manchuria' is a long way from 'exploring/colonizing OTL Alaska.'

More likely, as kasumigenx suggests, natives on the north-western Pacific coast would have a higher tolerance to Eurasian diseases such as smallpox. Might even see some knowledge transfer as well. AFAIK the early Yupik Eskimos had metallurgy up to and including iron-working, a stable land-bridge connecting the two continents might allow for such a skill to survive the founder effect, and perhaps even spread.

That is what I am doing in my TL, the Manchus and Yupiks trade with each other but without a surviving bering land bridge...
 
The world would be slightly colder in the north, with no water travelling from the (slightly) warmer Pacific to the arctic, and also the arctic current would be stronger. Alaska would be quite a bit colder in the north, which is now further inland. More continental steppe probably. The far coastal arctic peoples (Inuit, Thule etc.) would be smaller and more marginal, less practice by going over the Bering sea.
 
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