Where would an English Columbus land in the Americas ?

Where would the most plausible English Columbus route be ?


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Let's say the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers decided to fund Columbus's four voyages with the approval of the English king to find a route to Asia.

From the previous posts of similar premises, there's two ways Columbus could have approached his routes.
  • On one hand, some people suggest that Columbus would attempt to go through a more southern route, taking a pit-stop in the Canarias with a friendly Castilla and jumping ahead westward to land in the Carribean isles. They state that Columbus had already had knowledge of the more southerly route from his journals acquired from his marriage as well as his familiarity with the southern ventures.
  • On another hand, some people suggest Columbus would first land in Newfoundland or New England, taking the Viking route and heading west towards the northeast regions of North America
How exactly would an English-funded Columbus go about his four or so journeys to the west ? Would he take the northern route or the more southern route via the Canarias ?

I'm going with the Southerly route, for two reasons. One, the Canaries were relatively well-documented and Columbus would've previously worked in circles where that route would've been better known than the Vinland route. Two, I jump for any chance to buck the "the English always go north/NW, never Equator/tropics-bound, and vice-versa with Spain/Portugal" trope purely as a matter of contrarian principle and opposition to geographical determinism.
 
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What about sailing to the Azores and then heading south and then west from there? As Divergent54 pointed out, I can't see either the English nor Spanish being super interested in launching an English expedition from a Spanish holding.
 
What about sailing to the Azores and then heading south and then west from there? As Divergent54 pointed out, I can't see either the English nor Spanish being super interested in launching an English expedition from a Spanish holding.

That's another possibility but what would Portugal's reaction be when a ship with an English decided to go west from their isles ? Would they follow suit in a similar expedition a few years later ?
 
How would Castilla react to a ship with an English flag sailing over to the Canarias and then sailing west to the unknown ? Would they follow suit in the following years, say, by 1495 ?

"Ha! Good luck, putamadre, enjoy your precious bacalao!"?

And even if they did follow in the years after that, so what? England may not have been the Might of the Seas in the 15th-16th Centuries, but neither was Spain, and they have as many (if not more) boiling pots to watch than England regarding European developments (i.e. integration of ex-Moriscos, the Inquisition, fighting in the Western Mediterranean, etc.).

If de-confliction needs to happen, there's always the English aping the Portuguese trade routes and settling their own colony/ies along the way. However, something to keep in mind is that neither Iberian power was naval combat-savvy more than anybody else; they can have problems with the English (or whoever) doing their own overseas trade, but good luck to them being able to do anything about it as a guaranteed success pre-1540-ish.
 
That's another possibility but what would Portugal's reaction be when a ship with an English decided to go west from their isles ? Would they follow suit in a similar expedition a few years later ?

Possibly but the Azores are pretty remote and insignificant even compared to the Canaries. The only reason that we know Columbus even stopped there OTL is that his logs mention it. It doesn't seem to have been considered of any interest by anybody else.
 
Possibly but the Azores are pretty remote and insignificant even compared to the Canaries. The only reason that we know Columbus even stopped there OTL is that his logs mention it. It doesn't seem to have been considered of any interest by anybody else.

So to summarise, which routes do you think is the most plausible out of three if Columbus got into England :
  • south to the Canarias then west
  • south to the Açores then west
  • north via Viking route then west
 

yoyo

Banned
I highly doubt they would pick a southern route, since the english were looking for Hy-Brasil for sometime now. Columbus would probably secure funding by coaxing a voyage to hy-brasil which means if succeeds, he would've discovered eastern canada or new england.
 

yoyo

Banned
That's another possibility but what would Portugal's reaction be when a ship with an English decided to go west from their isles ? Would they follow suit in a similar expedition a few years later ?
The english would get arrested, and Columbus and upper-management might even get executed. Portuguese might panic that Columbus gave various proprietary secrets to the english in regards to their new trade routes.
 
The english would get arrested, and Columbus and upper-management might even get executed. Portuguese might panic that Columbus gave various proprietary secrets to the english in regards to their new trade routes.

So northern route then ? Would Columbus make subsequent second, third, and fourth journeys ? If he lands in northeast North America, he would've considered it to be the lands of northern Japan or China, a climate way to cold for the likings of the Spice lands. Would Columbus attempt a second or third route or would English merchants give up on the funding to ? Would they attempt to continue forward with more journeys to find, say, a Central or Northwest Passageway across the new continent through Asia ?
 
I highly doubt they would pick a southern route, since the english were looking for Hy-Brasil for sometime now. Columbus would probably secure funding by coaxing a voyage to hy-brasil which means if succeeds, he would've discovered eastern canada or new england.

Except that didn't rule out a southern or middle route either; the patent authorizing John Cabot's expedition (which, as per the OP, has been replaced by Columbus) said so, in that western and southern seas were fair game.

Besides, the idea of a Northern exclusive route wasn't the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers' but Cabot's; the specific routes travelled during the Age of Exploration were set by the explorers themselves. Thus, Columbus > Cabot = no Northern route as a default or inevitability.

The english would get arrested, and Columbus and upper-management might even get executed. Portuguese might panic that Columbus gave various proprietary secrets to the english in regards to their new trade routes.

Good thing the Spaniards never took any East Indies or South American territory, or they'd be in REAL trouble with Lisbon!

Sarcasm aside, any proof that Columbus even had enforceable proprietary secrets from Portugal to spill in the first place? And considering that such an expedition would been a three-shipper minimum, I don't see the English rolling over for a tenuous claim that could well lead to an Anglo-Portuguese war unless cooler heads prevail.
 

yoyo

Banned
Except that didn't rule out a southern or middle route either; the patent authorizing John Cabot's expedition (which, as per the OP, has been replaced by Columbus) said so, in that western and southern seas were fair game.

Besides, the idea of a Northern exclusive route wasn't the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers' but Cabot's; the specific routes travelled during the Age of Exploration were set by the explorers themselves. Thus, Columbus > Cabot = no Northern route as a default or inevitability.



Good thing the Spaniards never took any East Indies or South American territory, or they'd be in REAL trouble with Lisbon!

Sarcasm aside, any proof that Columbus even had enforceable proprietary secrets from Portugal to spill in the first place? And considering that such an expedition would been a three-shipper minimum, I don't see the English rolling over for a tenuous claim that could well lead to an Anglo-Portuguese war unless cooler heads prevail.

I'm basing my assumption on previous attempts in the early 1480s to find hy-brasil. I would assume Columbus would try to sell his idea under the cloack of hy-brasil. He wouldn't exactly replace Cabot's patent since Cabot's patent was a consequence of Columbus. A southern route through portuguese or spanish possessions would be viewed as suspicious and subject to violent interference by the Iberians. .Based on likelihood, I think the english would explore east canada before the caribbean.
I'm not familiar about the Bristol Society, could you please elaborate.
 
I'm basing my assumption on previous attempts in the early 1480s to find hy-brasil. I would assume Columbus would try to sell his idea under the cloack of hy-brasil. He wouldn't exactly replace Cabot's patent since Cabot's patent was a consequence of Columbus. A southern route through portuguese or spanish possessions would be viewed as suspicious by the Iberians. .Based on likelihood, I think the english would explore east canada before the caribbean.
I'm not familiar about the Bristol Society, could you please elaborate.


https://www.merchantventurers.com/who-we-are/history/

« proto-corporations » in Catholic England that funded Cabot with a patent approved by the king
 

yoyo

Banned
So northern route then ? Would Columbus make subsequent second, third, and fourth journeys ? If he lands in northeast North America, he would've considered it to be the lands of northern Japan or China, a climate way to cold for the likings of the Spice lands. Would Columbus attempt a second or third route or would English merchants give up on the funding to ? Would they attempt to continue forward with more journeys to find, say, a Central or Northwest Passageway across the new continent through Asia ?
I'm not entirely sure, but it sounds plausible.
 
We also have to remember that England and Portugal were fairly close allies. It wouldn’t be as if they departed from Bretagne or Picardie. I don’t think that in particular would have been a problem.
 
Okay I added a poll that now has a third option : southwards via the Açores. Please feel free to state which is the most plausible
 
If setting sail from England, Columbus may land on the coast of the delmarva peninsula.

How would they do so if they haven't charted off their route yet ? They're sailing through unknown waters which means if they go through the northern route via the Vikings, they'll follow the currents and head first to Newfoundland or Nova Scotia as a previous poster have stated. A southerly route would have landed them either as far north as South Carolina or around the Carribean Isles. The Delmarva Peninsular would take awhile, probably around a decade or two of exploration to chart out the waters, at least, in my opinion from looking at the currents maps
 
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