Thanks for your responses everyone! I agree with some saying Polynesian contact is the most ideal. With outrigger canoes, trade between Mesoamerica and the Andes would be even greater than OTL and the pigs could provide a new source of food. Knowledge would disseminate and other areas could join the trade network. I wonder if the sailing technology could cross into the Caribbean and spread to the Gulf of Mexico or the Amazon?
Any European contact would probably have to be on the periphery of a trade route so as to keep the expeditions sporadic. They could trade tools, sheep, horses, etc little by little.
If anyone else from Europe, Africa, or Asia shows up on the shores of the Americas, I believe a lack of gunpowder on their part would make things easier for the indigenous peoples, by virtue of having one less thing to replicate (at least until they are back on their feet relatively speaking).
Any European contact would probably have to be on the periphery of a trade route so as to keep the expeditions sporadic. They could trade tools, sheep, horses, etc little by little.
If anyone else from Europe, Africa, or Asia shows up on the shores of the Americas, I believe a lack of gunpowder on their part would make things easier for the indigenous peoples, by virtue of having one less thing to replicate (at least until they are back on their feet relatively speaking).