The Legacy of Saint Brendan: A History of the Western Hemisphere, 512 to 1400
- Thread starter Rognvald
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- americas dark ages exploration
Will the Americas ITTL see other races apart from Europeans and Natives*? I mean, being around 1000 years earlier than IOTL, I don't really think that millions upon millions of slaves will be brought to the continent...
*By this I refer to being dominant, or at least a considerable part of the population.
*By this I refer to being dominant, or at least a considerable part of the population.
Meso and South America should be totally unaffected at this point, as should anything south of the St Lawrence Valley. Why should butterflies be touching anything beyond the Atlantic Coast of Canada...other than, perhaps, a limited spread of disease?
I'm in agreement. Disease will only start spreading with any degree of consistency once regular voyages are made to these areas. Maybe once mercantile activity takes a greater hold of the region you'll see expeditions to chart the New World; once the actual disease vectors(Europeans) make contact with more dense population groups will you see it travel. IMO once you hit the Caribbean or the Mississippi, you've hit critical mass for disease to organically spread throughout the rest of the Americas' major population centers, considering the existing trade networks between Central Americans and the Andes, as well as Caribbean trade with the Maya. Not too sure on the Amazonians though.
Chances are disease will spread a lot slower than IOTL without active Spanish mercenary bands that are weaponizing disease to conquer land, and that native states will pick up on the idea of quarantine without serious external pressure. I'd bet that by the time it hits the Andes that the traders who spread it there will be well aware of quarantine and that the idea will be adopted quickly. The early people that are hit with disease won't be so lucky, but they'll undoubtedly be much better off than IOTL.
Thule.
Otherwise known as OTL Iceland.
Askraland was my second choice. The first honestly was Snowland, but I couldn’t look at that without laughing.
That would be a funny one. Or call it the Polar Express.
Is the term Skin People used for any natives even where they have explored further? Perhaps the Irish word for skin will become what Indian became in our timeline. And have any of them or at least the mestizos (I can spell that word without looking for it
) been to Europe?What about Hyperborea? It was a semi-mythical land "beyond the North Wind", was referenced many times in classical writings and so would have been known to Brendan and other Churchmen, and it was said that the sun there shone 24 hours a day (which is what the Irish would experience passing through in the summer).
Any Irish name would have been superceded by the Ostish Askraland after the 10th century, but Thule was used by the early church authorities to refer to Iceland.
I am also saving Hyperborea for another land
I have indicated that Britons are incoming, and the other major candidate is currently raiding across the North Atlantic.
Continental Europeans currently have too much on their plate to care about a territory that is, to some, semi-mythical. Turkic raiders based in the Pannonian Basin are currently riding havoc across Western Europe, the Ostish are raiding the coasts, and the Ismailis are becoming increasingly active in the Mediterranean. In addition, wars between Christian Kings and nobility are quite common. They may get more of an interest in the West later on, but their attentions are needed at home.
Any Irish name would have been superceded by the Ostish Askraland after the 10th century, but Thule was used by the early church authorities to refer to Iceland.
I am also saving Hyperborea for another land
I have indicated that Britons are incoming, and the other major candidate is currently raiding across the North Atlantic.
Continental Europeans currently have too much on their plate to care about a territory that is, to some, semi-mythical. Turkic raiders based in the Pannonian Basin are currently riding havoc across Western Europe, the Ostish are raiding the coasts, and the Ismailis are becoming increasingly active in the Mediterranean. In addition, wars between Christian Kings and nobility are quite common. They may get more of an interest in the West later on, but their attentions are needed at home.
Could there be an Irish-Ostish(alt-Norse?) hybrid culture in Thule/Askraland?
I’m personally eager to see how the Irish would expand across the land.
Maybe when the Britons come they could settle further south into the Maritimes and New England. Depending on how much the POD has affected folklore one of the Briton explorers could half-jokingly suggest naming the colony “Arturia” after the legendary King of the Britons. It’s just too bad that the defining work regarding the King Arthur myth won’t be written for about two to three centuries.
There’s no way that the eventual Frankish colony wouldn’t be named after Charlemagne.
Personally I’m thinking that by the time the colonists reach Mesoamerica I’d think that the local states would be strong enough to avoid colonization.
I have mentioned cows as being rare yet present, and a few (stressing few) horses have come over. But none have escaped to breed or be coopted by natives yet. They’re super valuable and so have most keep a very close eye on them.