The point of divergence is when Tupaq Inka Yupanaqui not only follows up on his voyages but, after the same stalemate with the Mapuche at the Battle of Maule as in actual history, expands into Amazonia.
By the time Wayna Qhapaq takes the throne, Tawantinsuyu is, as in actual history, the largest empire on Earth. But, while smallpox strikes the empire just as forcefully as in actual history, Wayna Qhapaq does not contract smallpox, for as he is campaigning eastward in Amazonia, rather than the northern Andes of actual history, and thus is able to live — and reign — until 1547.
With a strong leader throughout the time of the smallpox crisis, Tawantinsuyu does not fall into civil war as in actual history.
When the Spaniards arrive, they meet not an Atawallpa with a disputable claim to the throne in provincial Cajamarca but a Wayna Qhapaq with uncontested legitimacy in the great city of Qusqu. Furthermore, in this timeline Wayna Qhapaq is more cautious with his encounter with the conquistadors, having them disarmed and escorted to the capital before announcing their fate to them: Similarly to Atawallpa's doomed plan in actual history, Wayna Qhapaq would order that the conquistadors be interrogated about Eurasian technology, and be punished by being castrated and forced into being chosen “women”, serving the Inka and his empire for the rest of their lives; meanwhile their animals would be kept for breeding.
Not long after the capture of Pizzarro's force, Spanish and Inka forces fight several great battles and many smaller ones. Though the Spanish have vastly superior numbers of advanced weapons, cannon, harkbuses and crossbows, the overwhelming numerical superiority and logistics of that the Inka is able to wield lead to repeated crushing defeats for the Spanish. But even after the Spanish cease serious attempts to conquer Tawantinsuyu, they repeatedly make raids and harass Inka maritime activity in an attempt to establish some sort of hegemony over their empire. But the Inka are rising and Spanish naval supremacy is nearing its end.
In 1548, Atawallpa takes the throne. Specifically chosen by the late Wayna Qhapaq as his successor to the throne due to his cunning and intelligence, Atawallpa continues to further his culture and his people.
Once Eurasian naval technology has been acquired by the Inka, they start to move away from a strategy of coastal defense to one of interception and reconquest. Using timber from forests of the southern and northern Andes, the Inka, after expelling the Spanish from their littoral waters, Atawallpa, following in his grandfather's footsteps, sends the greatest exploration out since the time of Zheng He. Not only does the voyage reestablish control over Rapa Nui and rediscover the Galapagos but it begins Inka domination of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand and even Australia. And the armada marks the first encounters with three other great civilizations: The Indosphere, the Islamic World and China. When the great fleet returns to its home port, it is clear that Tawantinsuyu, and thus all Andean Civilization, is no longer merely safe from Western destruction, it is now a rising superpower.
By the dawn of the 17th century, Inka forces are marching closer and closer to Spanish Mexico, with the oppressed locals more often siding with the just and benevolent Inka than the cruel and greedy Spaniards. Furthermore, the expulsion of Portugal from the Americas is complete with the surrender of Belem, leading to an explosion of mutually devastating conflicts between Europe's two greatest powers, further weakening Western grasp on North America and crippling further expansion elsewhere.
In 1602, Atawallpa takes his last breath. In his place, the late emperor has appointed Manqu Inka Yupanaqui to succeed him; this sets a precedent for a system of succession that would end competition for the throne.
Soon after Manqu Inka's enthronement, the last major battles against the Spanish in Mexico are fought and the Spanish retreat to the Caribbean and Florida, the last major Western-occupied lands in the Americas, though, with the coming of a greatly expanded Inka Imperial Navy's Amazon Fleet — and the Amazon Basin's eclipsing the peripheral Andes as the dominant shipbuilding part of the empire — Spain's days as a major power are clearly numbered.
By the time Wayna Qhapaq takes the throne, Tawantinsuyu is, as in actual history, the largest empire on Earth. But, while smallpox strikes the empire just as forcefully as in actual history, Wayna Qhapaq does not contract smallpox, for as he is campaigning eastward in Amazonia, rather than the northern Andes of actual history, and thus is able to live — and reign — until 1547.
With a strong leader throughout the time of the smallpox crisis, Tawantinsuyu does not fall into civil war as in actual history.
When the Spaniards arrive, they meet not an Atawallpa with a disputable claim to the throne in provincial Cajamarca but a Wayna Qhapaq with uncontested legitimacy in the great city of Qusqu. Furthermore, in this timeline Wayna Qhapaq is more cautious with his encounter with the conquistadors, having them disarmed and escorted to the capital before announcing their fate to them: Similarly to Atawallpa's doomed plan in actual history, Wayna Qhapaq would order that the conquistadors be interrogated about Eurasian technology, and be punished by being castrated and forced into being chosen “women”, serving the Inka and his empire for the rest of their lives; meanwhile their animals would be kept for breeding.
Not long after the capture of Pizzarro's force, Spanish and Inka forces fight several great battles and many smaller ones. Though the Spanish have vastly superior numbers of advanced weapons, cannon, harkbuses and crossbows, the overwhelming numerical superiority and logistics of that the Inka is able to wield lead to repeated crushing defeats for the Spanish. But even after the Spanish cease serious attempts to conquer Tawantinsuyu, they repeatedly make raids and harass Inka maritime activity in an attempt to establish some sort of hegemony over their empire. But the Inka are rising and Spanish naval supremacy is nearing its end.
In 1548, Atawallpa takes the throne. Specifically chosen by the late Wayna Qhapaq as his successor to the throne due to his cunning and intelligence, Atawallpa continues to further his culture and his people.
Once Eurasian naval technology has been acquired by the Inka, they start to move away from a strategy of coastal defense to one of interception and reconquest. Using timber from forests of the southern and northern Andes, the Inka, after expelling the Spanish from their littoral waters, Atawallpa, following in his grandfather's footsteps, sends the greatest exploration out since the time of Zheng He. Not only does the voyage reestablish control over Rapa Nui and rediscover the Galapagos but it begins Inka domination of the Pacific Islands, New Zealand and even Australia. And the armada marks the first encounters with three other great civilizations: The Indosphere, the Islamic World and China. When the great fleet returns to its home port, it is clear that Tawantinsuyu, and thus all Andean Civilization, is no longer merely safe from Western destruction, it is now a rising superpower.
By the dawn of the 17th century, Inka forces are marching closer and closer to Spanish Mexico, with the oppressed locals more often siding with the just and benevolent Inka than the cruel and greedy Spaniards. Furthermore, the expulsion of Portugal from the Americas is complete with the surrender of Belem, leading to an explosion of mutually devastating conflicts between Europe's two greatest powers, further weakening Western grasp on North America and crippling further expansion elsewhere.
In 1602, Atawallpa takes his last breath. In his place, the late emperor has appointed Manqu Inka Yupanaqui to succeed him; this sets a precedent for a system of succession that would end competition for the throne.
Soon after Manqu Inka's enthronement, the last major battles against the Spanish in Mexico are fought and the Spanish retreat to the Caribbean and Florida, the last major Western-occupied lands in the Americas, though, with the coming of a greatly expanded Inka Imperial Navy's Amazon Fleet — and the Amazon Basin's eclipsing the peripheral Andes as the dominant shipbuilding part of the empire — Spain's days as a major power are clearly numbered.
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