What about the isthmus of Gibralta and the Suez Straight

Suppose the natural link between the Mediteranian and the Oceans had been on the Eastern rather than the Western end.

Would this have significantly retareded North Western Europe's development?

Would it have delayed European contact with the New World?

Might it have made outside contact with Austrailia happen earlier?
 
This is pretty interesting, I think. The paths from Italy, Greece, Turkey, and North Africa to India, Indonesia, and China are now wide open, and Egypt becomes about the most important place in the world.

This would lead probably to an earlier discovery of Australia, for whatever that's worth, and there's less interest in settling the British Isles if there's no way to reach it from the Mediterranean.

Of course, any established civilization in that region is going to need ships to work the North Sea, and without Mediterranean trade, they may be eager to push off to the West to see if they can shortcut the route to China.

And this is, of course, an ASB thread.
 
As far as I know the trade route by sea from the Mediterranean round Spain and up to northern Europe wasn't very important in medieval times; a lot of trade went up the Rhine to/from central Europe and through the Baltic to Asia, and people going to e.g. Italy from England would go by land (there was a medieval pilgrimage route down from Calais through what is now eastern France).

This might lead to the English exploring more of the Americas. Possibly with more of a north European contribution. Although the Portuguese would have even more of an incentive to sail round Africa, or go elsewhere.

As for Australia, I'm less convinced. The Chinese, despite being significantly closer, didn't get there in their voyages of discovery. It is a very long way away. South Asia on the other hand would be even more attractive if trade could go via Egypt rather than round Africa - although who would colonise it, because the British couldn't get there any quicker - maybe the French who had interests there.

The sea might act as a brake to expansion of the Caliphate and lead to north Africa remain in European (or Byzantine) control. The Persian and Arab empires in the middle east might be more or less powerful depending on whether they could control traffic via the new straits.

But certainly interesting, if fanciful.
 
Well, ignoring the dramatic effects this will have on ancient civilizations and assume that everything goes the same until the middle ages...

Yeah, trade with the East will be easier and therefore much bigger than OTL. Arabic and Berber influence on Spain will be greater due to the ability to walk or ride from Morocco to Iberia, expect a larger Arab/Muslim population in the region. So therefore, either no Reconquista, or a much bloodier one (I would think it would be the former, as Islam wouldn't be seen as something to be purged from Spain by its OTL leaders if it is firmly ingrained in the region's culture). Egypt gets richer, and thus you may see mercantile Egyptians traversing Europe. So maybe even some Egyptian/Arabic influence on Europe, maybe even large Arabic minorities in countries particularly prone to traders settling down there.

If Egyptian traders form the backbone of the European economy, and Spain is even more Muslim than OTL, there will probably be no Crusades. Therefore, less Italian domination of Europe's trade. Since the path to the east is and has been wide open, ideas, inventions, goods, and crafts from Asia will have spread to Europe and the Middle East long before OTL. So we could see the printing press and/or gunpowder coming about centuries earlier than OTL. Because of easier spread of ideas due to an earlier printing press, the many Catholic schisms will probably result in new churches rather than internal struggles within the Church. So, earlier and bigger Reformation. The Mamluks will be rich and powerful, possibly dominating Arabia and Anatolia, maybe even breaching into Europe...

Done plausibly, this could be a very interesting TL.
 
Should not this thread be moved to ASB?

The consequences would be huge, but it all depends on when the POD happens. If you mean the formation of the continents is changed then the entire human migration in these regions is changed, and the civilizations formed would be completely transformed. For example, a different people can settle around the Suez Strait, and that can affect the formation of the Hebrews, which would butterfly Christianity among other things.

Anyway, I would expect any civilization that holds Northern Egypt to be a very important merchant power. For Iberia, there would much more cultural exchanges with Northern Africa. Also, who controls the Isthmus of Gibraltar still controls the easiest way to send products from the Mediterranean basin to the Atlantic lands. Maybe there would be the formation of a strong kingdom in that region, in order to protect such strategical point.
 
Ok, I really think that you get so importance to West Europe.
If Suez is open and Gibraltar close, what could lead the phoenicians or greeks to install there? Yemen would be more interesting place to establish a trade colony.Western Europe could be a periphery region and they would evolve differently. I do not know if it would be able to discover but an underdeveloped England would be unable to conquer America. In contrast, a power in Central Asia would be very capable expanding in Western Europe.

But if you want an ASB, what if the civilisation originated in the Sahara and remains in the Nile because was the only site that remained wet after the ice age. WI they got another way of finding a more comfortable place crossing Gibraltar
 
Going to be much harder for all those invaders from the Middle East to conquer Egypt and a lot easier for Europeans to conquer Morocco and North Africans to conquer Spain. Successful naval invasions aren't very common.
 
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