WI: Sri Vijaya discovers America

What if Sri Vijaya discovers America and starts the columbian exchange and the Galleon trade, how would this effect the history of the Americas, would the Sri Vijaya just trade or try to conquer the New World.
 

katchen

Banned
You would be talking about a junk trade using the winter monsoon to get as far as Fiji or Samoa and then beating to windward the rest of the way, stopping at every island they could, such as Tahiti, Rangioria, Pitcairn's Island and Rapa Nui to reprovision , possibly finally dipping down to the Westerlies from Rapa Nui to make it the rest of the way to the Mapuche Coast.

It would be too long of a trip to send an armada of conquest, so it would be a trip of trade only. And the Mapuche, the Aymara, the Quechua, the Moche, and later the Mixtec and Zapotec would have plenty to trade the ships from Sri Vijaya before their quick trip back across the Pacific using the Trade Winds. Gold, Silver and Platinum, but also Coca, Alpaca cloth and chili peppers. And balsa wood. And possiblyquinine, as a medication against the dreaded malaria. And rubber, which at some point, some Asian might accidentally discover how to vulcanize. And chewing gum. For which the
Yes, there would be a Columbian exchange. Of diseases for rice, corn and potatoes and sugar cane. And Hinduism would travel across the Pacific. Then Buddhism. Then maybe Islam.
Very interesting TL. And interesting to see who adopts what religion and do they keep it or change when something else comes along.

S
 
You would be talking about a junk trade using the winter monsoon to get as far as Fiji or Samoa and then beating to windward the rest of the way, stopping at every island they could, such as Tahiti, Rangioria, Pitcairn's Island and Rapa Nui to reprovision , possibly finally dipping down to the Westerlies from Rapa Nui to make it the rest of the way to the Mapuche Coast.

It would be too long of a trip to send an armada of conquest, so it would be a trip of trade only. And the Mapuche, the Aymara, the Quechua, the Moche, and later the Mixtec and Zapotec would have plenty to trade the ships from Sri Vijaya before their quick trip back across the Pacific using the Trade Winds. Gold, Silver and Platinum, but also Coca, Alpaca cloth and chili peppers. And balsa wood. And possiblyquinine, as a medication against the dreaded malaria. And rubber, which at some point, some Asian might accidentally discover how to vulcanize. And chewing gum. For which the
Yes, there would be a Columbian exchange. Of diseases for rice, corn and potatoes and sugar cane. And Hinduism would travel across the Pacific. Then Buddhism. Then maybe Islam.
Very interesting TL. And interesting to see who adopts what religion and do they keep it or change when something else comes along.

S
I think that Sri-Vijaya discovering and exploring Americas would start the Columbian Exchange earlier, I think this might be a win-win situation for both Asia and the Americas because the Americas gain immunity earlier...unless if the Asians want to colonize the Americas.
 

katchen

Banned
There are a few things that South America would have that Asia would not have and covet. Smelted Platinum for one thing; a metal which like gold neither tarnishes nor corrodes yet unlike gold is harder than iron. And the very habit forming stimulant, coca. Along with a steady enough supply of silver to keep any Chinese dynasty perpetually inflating it's currency.
 
What if Sri Vijaya discovers America and starts the columbian exchange and the Galleon trade, how would this effect the history of the Americas, would the Sri Vijaya just trade or try to conquer the New World.

Difficult to see this happening.

The empire was based on trade and coastal vessels so making the leap across the Pacific is hard to see. Even if they found the richest silver mine in the world they would still need to build ships capable of making the trans-pacific journey and protecting their trade.

Would be interesting to see Sri Vijaya discover America and then the Chinese exploit a la 1420 though. Kind of a Portugal - Spain type of relationship on the American West Coast.
 
There are a few things that South America would have that Asia would not have and covet. Smelted Platinum for one thing; a metal which like gold neither tarnishes nor corrodes yet unlike gold is harder than iron. And the very habit forming stimulant, coca. Along with a steady enough supply of silver to keep any Chinese dynasty perpetually inflating it's currency.

Difficult to see this happening.

The empire was based on trade and coastal vessels so making the leap across the Pacific is hard to see. Even if they found the richest silver mine in the world they would still need to build ships capable of making the trans-pacific journey and protecting their trade.

Would be interesting to see Sri Vijaya discover America and then the Chinese exploit a la 1420 though. Kind of a Portugal - Spain type of relationship on the American West Coast.


Yeah it is less likely, what is more likely is Japanese discovering the Americas, there is some evidences of the Japanese trading with the Pacific Islands.
 
An interesting nation!

However, there is a problem with most scenarios that have the Americas contacted by east asian sailors:

The Pacific is big. Much, much bigger than the Atlantic. It is, in fact, nearly as big as all the other oceans of the world -Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic- together.

It is simply much harder to cross due to size. You'd need some fairly good ship tech, and a very competent captain to cross it. And one of the hallmarks of competent captains is not sailing into the endelss unknown with a limited amount of provisions and no guarantee you'll find more.

Whats more, to get back, you can't just retrace your route, you need different current and wind patterns. So you got to strike out into the unknown again to get back.

Not saying it can't be done, but it is much, much more challenging than doing it across the Atlantic.

Maybe one freakisly lucky trip comes back with massive amounts of gold and silver. After that, you got the occasional desperate merchant willing to risk very poor odds of survival in exchange for a very big payout if he succeds?
 

katchen

Banned
The only people who did this on a regular basis in the Pacific were the people who knew the Pacific intimately: The Polynesians.
So.
Indonesian traders start expanding into the Pacific a little at a time trading for trepang and sandalwood--and going farther and farther afield for sandalwood as the nearer Melanesian Islanda are depleted of it. They establish trading depots and start planting rice on islands such as New Britain, Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Malakula, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa. They learn the Polynesian languages. At that point, the Polynesians begin to guide them from island to island and teach them how to find their way.

The last leap from Rapa Nui to the American Coast is the hardest. But they know it's there and it's no further from Rapa Nui than Bora Bora is from Hawaii. Made knowing that the trip back to Rapa Nui will take only two weeks before the wind. Yes, it could take several hundred years to get from the Moluccas to Rapa Nui. But it's doable, a little at a time, just the way the Polynesians did it.
 
The Europeans were willing to sail west across the Atlantic because they desperately wanted to trade with Asia. East Asia had all sorts of things - particularly spices - that were impossible for Europe to get any other way. Finding America was simply a fortuitous side product of attempting to find a short cut to Asia.

Sri Vijaya, or any other Asian trading power, though has no reason to send expeditions east across the Pacific. There is nothing and no one there they need to contact there. Europe has NOTHING unique to offer, (and even if it did, it's unlikely they would think sending ships east would be shortcut). Anything they can get from Europe, they can get from China, India, or the Middle East.

Sending maritime trading expeditions cost A LOT of money. Governments are not willing to do that unless the short term return on investment is worth it. I don't see anything worthwhile Sr Vijaya would get to justify sending multiple expeditions east across the Pacific until they happen to bump into the Incas.
 
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