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The East was able to resist the first wave of European explorers in the XVI century. The Mughals in India, Japan, and others quickly adopted Western weapons (= gunpowder, guns and cannons), and avoided suffering the fate of Pre-columbian civilizations* (at least for several centuries). Yet none of these countries, as far as I know, adopted Western shipbuilding technics.

The Ottomans had a good fleet, but it was good in the Mediterrean, not in the Ocean (their Oceanic ships were inferior to the Portuguese ones). I think Japan had a British captain build him a ship, but then it chose to forbid its subjects to go overseas.

So, what if they had decided to adopt MARITIME Western tech? Which is the best suited country for this? What would have happened if this had been the case?

* I know there were many reasons for this different fate: mainly, their tech level was far behind that of the East.
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