WI: Columbus's Voyage Fails

Ferdinand and Isabella sure would have wasted their money. I think it means Spain is not the nation which colonizing the new world. In fact, it might also mean that another nation would kick off colonizationan and might even do it in a different place. For example, the English might start settling the around the Grand Banks area which from what I understand, that was a *relatively* well-known fishing ground to seafarers at the time.
 
It would be a matter of time before someone else made the trip.
1) Basque, Briton and English (from Bristol) fishermen were regularly fishing in the Grand Banks off of Newfoundland and there is belief that some may have known about the land to the west as a place for salting and drying their catch for the trip home and as a place to repair their boats.
2) The Portguese were sailing along the coast of Africa on their way to India and the Orient. One of their vessels, blown off-course (or possibly acting under orders from the Portuguese crown), was captained by Pedro Álvares Cabral who in 1500, discovered Brazil.
3) About the only way to slow this down (unlikely to completely stop) might be for the Church to ban westward travel on the Atlantic, but after Luther and Henry VIII, all bets are off in that direction.

Regards,
John Braungart ;)
 
Why? Apart from this, I agreee with all your other points.

Because some fanatical priest (insert bishop or cardinal here - your choice ;)) gets the ear of the Pope and convinces him that a) sailing westward is a suicide mission and the Church frowns on suicide, b) sailing westward is a slap in God's face (and God needs these people to protect His rights :rolleyes:) and therefore must be stopped and c) we still have Islam to contend with, who knows who might be out there to stir up trouble? Or any combination of a, b, or c.
Basically I'm positing a scenerio similar to what Galileo had to put up with eight or ten years later. And again, but by (and after) the time of the Reformation, a lot of notible astronomers all seemed to live in Netherlands or England. And that wasn't just for the excellant local cuisine.

Regards,
John Braungart ;)

 
Differences in the Americas

If Columbus fails, it fairly certin that whoever gets to Mexico first would probably come after Cortez did in OTL. Since the Aztec Empire was already failing and Cortez needed a crazy amount of stuff to go his way in order for him to be successful (and he was acting against orders to begin with), is there a realistic chance that the Meso-Americans are able to resist being conquered, at least partially?
 
If Columbus fails, it fairly certin that whoever gets to Mexico first would probably come after Cortez did in OTL. Since the Aztec Empire was already failing and Cortez needed a crazy amount of stuff to go his way in order for him to be successful (and he was acting against orders to begin with), is there a realistic chance that the Meso-Americans are able to resist being conquered, at least partially?

Spain never had intentions of conquering the Mexica. Cortes was sent by Governor Velasquez to open trade relations. He is the one who acted against orders and to be honest, he had a lot of luck. Just because he was successful does not imply that any person who can just waltz in and suddenly lead a campaign of conquest and subjugation that leads to success. There are so many ways how anyone who plans on conquering Mexico can screw up and lead himself to his and his men being slaughtered.

Yes Mesoamerica can resist the initial wave of colonization.
 
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