WI: Columbus Sails for Maximilian I?

NapoleonXIV

Banned
"We have fish! Lots and lots of fish!" is the cry of the Hansa.

Thirty years later the English, who have a centralized government, take the fishing grounds away.

Now that's a thing. Weren't the Grand Banks already known to the Hanse by 1492?
 


In OTL the Aztecs and Incas were found remarkably fast.

On the main topic, I would imagine that there honestly would not be that much empire building if Europeans landed farther north. I imagine it would be more gradual, and more like the early settlement of Canada (at least in ATL's initial stages) with small outposts founded to find and hunt beaver. That is until any large group of Europeans decides to cross the Atlantic. The more important effects, I think, will happen to the Native Americans. They'll be decimated by disease, but at the same time may have more time to rebound.

It takes ten days to sail from the islands to the mainland of Mexico. It took ten years for the Spanish to find Mexico and all the gold of the Aztecs, and another five to actually get it. Let's not even talk about the Incans and silver.
Columbus got thrown into jail because he promised to find wealth for the King and Queen of Spain. Instead, he just raided and raped the islands. Read his trip reports, his travel logbooks.
England did far better trading fish from the Grand Banks than Spain did on gold and silver, and one reason is that they started earning back their investment much faster than the Spanish did.
 
Just some silly questions:

How would the portuguese and the castillian react to ships crossing by their waters with riches? (Notice we are talking of two of the most important naval powers of the early XVI century)

Do you really believe who discovers America is the essential question? ("Oh! What a pity they discovered America, we have better location to explore and take it, we have a bigger navy, they are heretics, but... they arrived first!").

Why would the Habsburg become lutheran? Lutheranism spread among imperial noblemen as a form of rebellion against the Emperor! Having access to more riches the Hanseatic towns would look to differenciate more with the Emperor and if he converted to lutheranism they would go for catholicism!
 
Just some silly questions:

How would the portuguese and the castillian react to ships crossing by their waters with riches? (Notice we are talking of two of the most important naval powers of the early XVI century)

Do you really believe who discovers America is the essential question? ("Oh! What a pity they discovered America, we have better location to explore and take it, we have a bigger navy, they are heretics, but... they arrived first!").

Why would the Habsburg become lutheran? Lutheranism spread among imperial noblemen as a form of rebellion against the Emperor! Having access to more riches the Hanseatic towns would look to differenciate more with the Emperor and if he converted to lutheranism they would go for catholicism!

He's got a point there.

Another thing, how would the Germanic colonizers interact with the local Aztec and Inca Empires? They wouldn't probably besiege their capitals and convert them to Christianity. So, that could possibly mean Tenochtitlan and other Mesoamerican cities remain intact, preserving Mesoamerican culture.
 
He's got a point there.

Another thing, how would the Germanic colonizers interact with the local Aztec and Inca Empires? They wouldn't probably besiege their capitals and convert them to Christianity. So, that could possibly mean Tenochtitlan and other Mesoamerican cities remain intact, preserving Mesoamerican culture.

Assuming no one else tries to conquer them... ;)
 
It is funny that when we talk of the Americas we see the conquest by the Spanish as something completely unusual and weird. They would not probably be conquered at first, but sooner or later the "Big Ones" in Europe will want a exclusivity and they would take the whole pie. Mesoamerican civilizations were doomed, they would suffer anyway the different plagues, they would suffer the ambitions of greedy european traders/kings/adventurers...

I repeat again my question: How could the hansa defy the naval power of Portugal in this scenario?
 
It is funny that when we talk of the Americas we see the conquest by the Spanish as something completely unusual and weird. They would not probably be conquered at first, but sooner or later the "Big Ones" in Europe will want a exclusivity and they would take the whole pie. Mesoamerican civilizations were doomed, they would suffer anyway the different plagues, they would suffer the ambitions of greedy european traders/kings/adventurers...

I repeat again my question: How could the hansa defy the naval power of Portugal in this scenario?

It is rather simple actually, Portugal put its focus in other areas, with the sole expectation of Brazil. So it is more then likely the two would not of competed so directly with each other. Also Hansa was the ship makers for most of Europe and had a good navy in its own right.
 
Top