What If Columbus had not Set Sail for Spain?

Keenir

Banned
England is a definite possibility, although Henry VII was very tightfisted about his money. Not to mention, if Columbus sets sail from a more northerly climate, he'll make landfall around OTL Canada and such, won't he? Might actually put off colonization if he discovers essentially 'useless' land...

depends on where in the Gulf Stream he ends up.

How about because Ireland was partially under English control and partially ruled by a few hundred Gaelic chieftans? Also, it would be Hibernowank. ;)

and if Columbus found the Aztecs or Mayans and brought back riches, betcha the King of England would seize upon the riches that he didn't have to spend a ha'penny to get.
 
Oh, c'mon. That's like Werner Von Braun escaping Germany in 1945 and offering to build rockets for the Mexican space program.

That'd actually make for a pretty interesting TL, and escaping to Mexico is not so ASB. There's already a German immigrant population there in the north and in Yucutan.

But as for this TL, an English expedition that goes by the same route Columbus used IOTL would probably deal with the Americas much like IOTL.

The biggest question will be will the English question the morality of their conquest as Spaniards did, with the debates and criticism led by Las Casas and Montesinos. In 1492 the English crown won't be Protestant just yet.

It'd be interesting to imagine Thomas Moore leading the criticism of English conquest and any enslavement of Indians. IOTL Moore's Utopia may have been influenced by accounts of Indian tribes. I realize Utopia has slavery, but it also has religious toleration and esp a lot of defense of communal land systems.
 
But Mexico wasn't exactly the most stable or prosperous nation to flee to at the time (though Trotsky went there for some reason). He would have been better going to Brazil, or Argentina like the other Nazis.
 
Well, one of the bigger issues Columbus is going to have is that seafaring nations like England and Portugal will have plenty of very experienced navigators who can point out everything wrong with Columbus's plans, like the massive, massive mathematical errors in his calculations regarding the travel distance between Europe and Asia.
 
Top