Misia’s development in the age of cotton is something I haven’t quite hashed out yet, although Europe still has most of South America and the Caribbean.
Where the River Flows: The Story of Misia: A Native American Superpower
- Thread starter JSilvy
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The vastly increased lands for Mishian peasants mean that they'll be much more comfortable with reforming land into enclosures, and along with it, the transformation of the peasant class into a land-owning one that can be receptive to capitalistic methods and exploitation.
With the entry of cotton and cash-cropping, along with the labour intensity of the three sisters agriculture, I'm... scared?
With the entry of cotton and cash-cropping, along with the labour intensity of the three sisters agriculture, I'm... scared?
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The plot twist where Misia makes OTL America look not hypercapitalist at all in comparison. My God.
Ironic. The plague caused so much depopulation that the natives themselves were able to become like the settlers and pioneers on their own land.
Also worth noting that while Misia is still (as of now) a bureaucratic empire (albeit with a great deal of authority bestowed upon local governors), the Eastern Seaboard is perhaps one of the most politically liberal places in the world. I mean, the OTL United States did base some of its own institutions off of the Haudenosaunee.
It's not just that I'm worrying about, but the method that they'll likely use to plug the labour shortage.
It'll not be feudal serfdom this time, and that alternative will be practiced from Shawasha, to Minnesota.
EDIT: Also, with a much more developed Native American cuisine, will the tomato-drenched pizza and pasta develop instead as a Hispano-American/Columbian food?
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Chapter 20: The Tip of the World
Chapter 20: The Tip of the World
Compared to the historically densely populated lands of Mesoamerica to the east and the Far West to the north, the peninsula of Cochima was historically quite barren. In the north, the Mediterranean climate was home to the Kumeyai. Still, most of the landmass was dominated by hunter-gatherer tribes such as the Cochimi, Monki, and Waikuri, illiterate people who wandered the mountainous deserts feeding on game and cacti and occasionally invading their neighbors– including both each other and Kutsan and Kumeyai. The eventual introduction of domesticated bighorn sheep near the end of the first millennium would cause many tribes to adapt a pastoral lifestyle, but pasture was often difficult to find. In other words, Cochima was like Oasisamerica, but with far fewer oases.
Towards the southern end of the peninsula, the Pericu people lived relatively easier lives than their northern cousins. The harsh desert gave way to semi-arid montane forests and grasslands, although most of their culture was actually maritime, fishing the Aztlan Sea to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. To the north, the mountainous terrain provided some protection from their neighbors, who would often attack. However, due to the greater Pericu population density, the Pericu were generally able to either fight off their attackers or at the very least retain their vibrant culture.
Naturally, standing where the Aztlan Sea meets the Pacific with a developed maritime culture, the Pericu were perfectly situated to establish mercantile centers. There is evidence that the Pericu were to some extent the facilitators of trade since ancient times, although this especially took off with the rise of Kutsan. In the 400s CE, shortly after the formation of the Kamya Channel permanently connecting the Haquat River to the Kamya Sea, the archaeological record shows a significant uptick in trade passing through Periqua lands. In around 570 CE, King Thaampo I, founder of a new dynasty and the first Maasawist king of Kutsan, established a formal presence in Pericu land, which Kutsan records suggest was in order to aid them against the invasion of the neighboring Waikuri who were disrupting trade. This Kutsan presence was mostly non-intrusive, but it resulted in significant developments. Although fishing, hunting, and foraging would remain important, Kutsan also introduced turkeys and agriculture. The coast was generally drier and less suitable for agriculture, but the somewhat more fertile hinterland that was not able to benefit from the mariculture could now benefit from growing crops. They would grow little barley, nopales, sunflowers, tomatoes, and even the three sisters, featuring varieties of maize relatively more suited to arid climates, and trade with the coastal settlements for fish and goods from far off lands that had arrived overseas. The Pericu would even begin to cultivate their own rare varieties of peppers that would become prized throughout the continent. By the year 1000, Pericu wool (much of which in reality came from other Cochiman tribes) came to be seen as a luxury on Mesoamerican markets.
In addition to agriculture, Kutsan would also bring Maasawism. Being isolated from the primary centers of the already decentralized religion to the north, Pericu Maasawism developed its own flavor. It was influenced by Kutsan Maasawism, which itself had absorbed many elements of local pre-Maasawist mythology and customs, but also largely by its own traditional mythology. Maasawists all over shared a common belief in a powerful creator god with a son typically known as Maasaw who guided and watched over humanity, instructing him in his peaceful ways, as well as common religious texts and a veneration of Orayvi as a holy city. In Pericu, the local creator god Niparaya was merged with the Maasawist figure, taking on its own name. Niparaya’s third and final son, referred to as Wac or Tuparan depending on the sect (with Tuparan eventually winning out and becoming more common), was merged with the figure of Maasaw, and a number of local stories came to be ascribed to Maasaw. Through trade, the Pericu sect would come to influence other sects on the Cochiman Peninsula. In addition to existing religious texts, these stories were written down and made part of the local religious canon as well, making use of the writing system that was also introduced by Kutsan.
With the rise of major civilizations in the north and the advent of agriculture, the Pericu grew richer and more populous, and major Pericu settlements grew into thriving ports. The two most dominant of these were Yenecami, located on the southern tip of the peninsula, and Airapi, located on a natural harbor by the Aztlan Sea towards the northern end of Pericu land near the border of historically Waikuri territory. Facing the open ocean, Yenecami and nearby settlements would have to develop as expert sailors, while Airapi with its protection from the ocean and the threat of invasion from the Waikuri and other tribes would have to develop militarily. Typically, especially with the influence of Maasawism and the interconnectedness of trade, there would be relative peace compared to antiquity. The cities would often join together to fend off invaders from the Cochiman desert, although there were still periods of intense rivalry and even conflict, with Yenecami and Airapi typically being the major players.
As the population increased, some Pericu began to expand. Some tried to go east to the mainland where they already had a mercantile presence, but following a large influx of men with their sheep, the local rulers with their vastly superior forces sacrificed them, killed their sheep, and outlawed shepherding. The Pericu would maintain some presence on the west coast of Mesoamerica, but purely in a mercantile role, for which they were typically exempted from human sacrifice. Relations with Mesoamerica would also remain important for access to greater quantities of wood for shipbuilding. By contrast, the Pericu would succeed in establishing themselves as a dominant force in settlements to the north on the coast of the peninsula and on the islands off the coast. Some time before the year 800, the Pericu would establish a thriving port at Awaa Cala, a port on a large Pacific lagoon with great salt formations, leading the city to become not only one node on a vast trade network, but also a primary center of the salt trade, making it one of the wealthiest cities on the West Coast. They famously built the Great Tupuran Kiva of Awaa Cala in the middle of the tenth century. Although Pericu architecture was usually famously rather plain, the Great Tupuran Kiva made use of gold as well as imported marble, the latter of which being meant to represent the wealth from the salt trade with its white color. It would be conquered by a Cochimi tribe in the following century, which would establish their own dynasty to rule over the city. In the year 1342, Hamla Hathpa, the king of Awaa Cala, would make a famous pilgrimage to Orayvi, passing through the old Pericu heartland, the Aztlan Sea, and up the Haquat River, distributing gold, spices, and salt to many of the villages he encountered on the way, not unlike Mansa Musa in Africa, albeit on a smaller scale. A number of Pericu would also settle on the Awnichma Isles farther to the north alongside the Tongva and the Chumash.
The expansion of the Pericu would also bring a small degree of agriculture to the nomadic tribesmen of the desert. One group originating from Airapi would settle in the oasis of Kaaman Kagaleha, which had been settled by the Mulehe tribe of Cochimi for over a century. The Pericu were welcomed by the Mulehe, happy with the wealth which they brought, and allowed the Pericu to develop farms and manage plum groves. The Mulehe and other tribes in the region would also begin practicing modest agriculture in the small oases that dotted the landscape. Kadakaaman would become the most famous inland oasis, with Awaa Cala importing its famous plums.
This development led to another population increase among the Cochimi and Waikuri, resulting in a series of wars between the various tribes, particularly heating up in the 11th Century. In the year 1076, Ahmil of the Kuhagi tribe invaded the fertile Haquat Delta to the northeast that formed the heart of Kutsan. The ruling dynasty at the time was rather unpopular, so with little struggle he was able to seize Paruk, gaining control over the Lower Delta and the Kamya Channel, installing himself as king.
When plague hit the Cochiman Peninsula in the late 15th and early 16th Centuries, the population, already quite small and spread out, would decline. This drop in population was, to a certain extent, seen as quite welcome. The early to mid 16th Century was a rather peaceful time in the region. The decline in trade between west and east meant fewer ships were coming around the Cape of Yenecami, but it also caused people to spend less time fighting over the control of trade routes. Many merchants who survived returned to their home cities, easily sustaining themselves off of fishing and trading that fish for crops grown in the Pericu hinterland. In some cases, tribes that were at a loss for leadership would band together into larger tribes, resulting in a consolidation over the course of the century that was typically quite peaceful.
War would come to the peninsula with the introduction of the horse. In the mid to late 16th Century, a number of Cochimi tribes adopting the horse would wage war on another. From the north, a now united band of formerly distinct tribes known as the Mulagi would journey south, uniting the remainder of the Cochimi before conquering all the way to the southern tip. The Mulagi Kingdom would establish its capital in the centrally located oasis of Kadakaaman. Around this time, the Pericu had begun to recover both in population and in their role as merchants, with increased trade between the ports of the West Coast and the Sea of Aztlan, trade on which the Mulagi placed heavy taxes. Both the Pericu and the Dinei Empire grew angry over the arrangement. In 1599, an excursion sent out from Kutsan into Mulagi territory failed, and they were promptly repelled. Later that same year, with several skirmishes already taking place in the Pericu homeland, the Dinei sent an emissary to the Pericu to tell them that if they revolted, they would receive aid from the empire, and if they succeeded, they would come under the benevolent protection of the Dinei. In 1600, several Pericu tribes and settlements began to rebel against the Mulagi, while the Dinei and Mulagi were both launching raids into each others’ lands that typically did not get very far. This state of ineffective warfare was the situation when the French arrived.
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The environment just makes sense for it though, for better or for worse; for one it's not as if they can easily mechanise the three sisters, and by the time they did, profit capitalism and slavery is well-established in the society by then.
The best they realistic can do I think is have the imperial bureocracy heavily watch over transactions and the ever-increasing corporate blocks
Some form of capitalism may be inevitable but if the Misian government is better than OTL America it could ensure economic interests dont triumph over the rule of law and businessess for the most part play fair
We can hope, certainly - but in the way you see many romanticize surviving Amerindian nations in alternate history as somehow being more intricately better and well-functioning than the settler-nation of America, imagine Misians in TTL seeing our USA as somehow a place that swept away an “evil” rotten imperialist nation when it had the chance to be and set up a “healthier” (by their standards of hypercapitalism) nation with stronger individual liberties and freedoms (as mentioned, America adopted Iroquois Confederacy governmental elements and both it and TTL’s east coast are much more politically liberal than bureaucratic, absolutist Misia). It just makes me laugh wryly at such an allohistorical irony!
Incidentally - is Misia pronounced with a long or short I in English?
Incidentally - is Misia pronounced with a long or short I in English?
IDK, this view might reek a bit too much of noble savage - the Misians here are very reminiscent of imperial China, a hegemonic power with a disproportionate amount of cultural and military influence in their corner of the world, if the Misian leadership were less myopic than China's and saw capitalism as a way to go toe to toe with the powers of Europe, they'd implement it top down just like modern China, and with similar enough consequences; perhaps, they'd be less destructive than the PRC, due to the lack of a Cultural Revolution, but that's it.
Hell, even the IRL Iroquois were planning to Generalplan Ost the Great Lakes at one point.
Agreed wholeheartedly, I was just trying to provide the "most optimistic scenario" I could think of involving a misian capitalism, since like you said if they figure out that free market economy would allow them to match the europeans they'd go all in
Whether they'll pursue a free market or state capitalism, the infusion of African slavery in it will make it "just as evil either way". The government managing a strong accounting regime in the plantations, if not practically controlling it, does not make them any less evil in turning a blind eye, and even wholeheartedly embracing slavery.
Also, considering that Misian culture is disproportionately widespread, how is Misian philosophy like? I guess that it had its own version of warring-states era religion like Confucianism and Legalism for the government along with the traditional Shinto-similar Sun-worship replacing Taoism. Their distance from Greek analogues in the form of the Mesoamericans means that they're also infused with western-style Philosophy (if obsessed more with the concept of death than their Western counterpart) and astrological mysticism, though the Misians may still dismiss them as a lesser nation.
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Agreed, but a state capitalist Misia with a strong bureocratic class could prevent the adoption of african slavery within it's territories, not that it would and I certainly doubt it will
The most likely scenario is that it'll use slavery in the same way as modern China but with the trans atlantic slave trade, but hey we can still hope it wont come to that, though if it does I wonder if there will be a Misian Civil War arc