Evilprodigy
Donor
AS the title says, what if Portugal and Castile merged to form Spain instead of Aragon and Castile?
Yes the same time period.
Discuss...
Yes the same time period.
Discuss...
Well, I guess it's possible, but locating the right POD seems a bit challenging.
Isabella marring a Portuguese monarch rather then an Aragonese one?
That seems like rather late of a POD, but the consequences could be interesting. The question is why Portugal when Aragon is larger and more influential at the time Isabel was looking to marry?
I thought she was Spanish, not French.![]()
Isabella, the mother of Miguel de la Paz was already born on this POD.Both John II and Henry IV had Portuguese consorts, so did eventually Joan the -ahem- legal heir of Henry IV ahead of Isabella. At the outbreak of the war of Castilian succession in 1474 Joan controlled most of Andalusia, Extremadura, New Castile and Galicia and she had Portuguese and later French support.
So take out would-be Ferdinand II's expertise as a military commander and Isabella will be doomed to exile, if not outright kicked to an Aragonese convent since the Papal bulla that aproved their marriage in 1469 was a fake.
Net result: Castile and Portugal are de facto united for a few years. Afonso V was probably too old to make heir by then, but the trend will continue with Joan re-marrying into the Avis if there is one available.
Nope- Spain only took the Americas because they wanted to bypass the Portuguese monopoly on trade with the East. Aragon's geographic position makes it unlikely it will cross the Atlantic and discover the New World, so the Dutch/French/British are probably the first to discover it instead. Of course I'm ignoring the Basque awareness of Atlantic Canada and possible Portuguese awareness of Eastern Brazil... so first colonization attempts would be a better phrase.It's very likely that almost all of the New World would become Spain's, with those extra ports and the absence of Portugal.
Nope- Spain only took the Americas because they wanted to bypass the Portuguese monopoly on trade with the East. Aragon's geographic position makes it unlikely it will cross the Atlantic and discover the New World, so the Dutch/French/British are probably the first to discover it instead. Of course I'm ignoring the Basque awareness of Atlantic Canada and possible Portuguese awareness of Eastern Brazil... so first colonization attempts would be a better phrase.