Saving the New World
Aug. 5th, 2009 12:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowI've been thinking a bit about the question of alternate histories in which the contact between the Old and New Worlds did not result in the devastation of the civilizations and cultures of the latter. It seems to me that the crucial problem is that of disease: the long separation between the two regions, and the absence, in the Americas, of the kind of population density and close animal/human contact that makes epidemic diseases possible, meant that virgin-field epidemics would rip through the native peoples. Even if the European invaders had acted on the purest of motives, this would have happened. (Indeed, there is quite a bit of evidence that it did - that the peoples of the Americas had already suffered enormous losses even before large-scale European colonization began.)
The only way I can see around this is to maintain some sort of steady contact between Eurasia and the Americas, and the simplest possibility is to play a little with geography. Uplift the Bering Straits area - not much, just enough to maintain the land bridge even after the glaciers recede. We don't want enough of a corridor to encourage invading armies, but just enough to permit caravans to pass back and forth (and bring their nasty little germs with them).
So. Some random thoughts about the consequences of this change. First, geographically: I think (subject, of course, to correction) that the west coast of North America might be a little warmer. The prevailing offshore current, the California Current, descends from the north after mingling with Arctic waters; with the Pacific cut off from the Arctic, that current should be a little warmer. What the consequences of that would be, I don't know.
Culturally, I would expect one more major center of civilization in the Americas, this one in the Pacific Northwest. The cultures of that area were quite advanced as is, and with the enriching effects of trade with the Far East there could well have arisen full-blown civilization. There's a catch, though. In our timeline, one of the major handicaps of pre-modern Europe was a longstanding balance-of-trade deficit with the civilizations of the East; what the Europeans wanted to purchase, mostly, were luxury goods - fine fabrics, spices, and manufactures - and most of what they had to export were raw materials. The result was a constant outflow of precious metals, which contributed to the stagnation of the early Middle Ages. (The opening of new silver mines in central Europe in the twelfth century helped with economic recovery.) Now, the Americas are not lacking in precious metals. The major sources early on were in Mesoamerica and the western Andes, but of course central California, Nevada, and the Yukon also had rich supplies, so our putative Northwest civilization would be able to withstand balance-of-trade problems for a while. Later, it might have to draw on the riches to the south; this would probably require them to develop luxury goods desirable to the nobles of Mesoamerica and Peru. What those might be, I'm not sure.
Other cultural influences.... I don't know enough about the Northwest cultures to speculate on how congenial they might find Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism. (What little I do know makes me think the first two, in particular, might find a foothold.) Whether any of those would spread any further south, or conversely whether the Mesoamerican cults might spread north, is something a worldbuilder would have to consider as well. (There is, if I recall correctly, some evidence that the religion of the Mound-Builders was influenced by Mesoamerica, and with increased trade along the Pacific coast, religion might spread that way as well.)
I'm assuming, by the way, that the Far Eastern civilizations would have arisen more or less as they did in our timeline, and that the breakthrough to civilization in the Pacific Northwest would have come as a result of Far Eastern influence. Mesoamerica is far enough away, and became civilized early enough, that I see its development also taking place as in our timeline.
Another thought: what impact would the early arrival of New World foodstuffs - potato, maize, tomato - have on the development of China? Again, I don't know enough.
Any thoughts, anyone?
The only way I can see around this is to maintain some sort of steady contact between Eurasia and the Americas, and the simplest possibility is to play a little with geography. Uplift the Bering Straits area - not much, just enough to maintain the land bridge even after the glaciers recede. We don't want enough of a corridor to encourage invading armies, but just enough to permit caravans to pass back and forth (and bring their nasty little germs with them).
So. Some random thoughts about the consequences of this change. First, geographically: I think (subject, of course, to correction) that the west coast of North America might be a little warmer. The prevailing offshore current, the California Current, descends from the north after mingling with Arctic waters; with the Pacific cut off from the Arctic, that current should be a little warmer. What the consequences of that would be, I don't know.
Culturally, I would expect one more major center of civilization in the Americas, this one in the Pacific Northwest. The cultures of that area were quite advanced as is, and with the enriching effects of trade with the Far East there could well have arisen full-blown civilization. There's a catch, though. In our timeline, one of the major handicaps of pre-modern Europe was a longstanding balance-of-trade deficit with the civilizations of the East; what the Europeans wanted to purchase, mostly, were luxury goods - fine fabrics, spices, and manufactures - and most of what they had to export were raw materials. The result was a constant outflow of precious metals, which contributed to the stagnation of the early Middle Ages. (The opening of new silver mines in central Europe in the twelfth century helped with economic recovery.) Now, the Americas are not lacking in precious metals. The major sources early on were in Mesoamerica and the western Andes, but of course central California, Nevada, and the Yukon also had rich supplies, so our putative Northwest civilization would be able to withstand balance-of-trade problems for a while. Later, it might have to draw on the riches to the south; this would probably require them to develop luxury goods desirable to the nobles of Mesoamerica and Peru. What those might be, I'm not sure.
Other cultural influences.... I don't know enough about the Northwest cultures to speculate on how congenial they might find Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism. (What little I do know makes me think the first two, in particular, might find a foothold.) Whether any of those would spread any further south, or conversely whether the Mesoamerican cults might spread north, is something a worldbuilder would have to consider as well. (There is, if I recall correctly, some evidence that the religion of the Mound-Builders was influenced by Mesoamerica, and with increased trade along the Pacific coast, religion might spread that way as well.)
I'm assuming, by the way, that the Far Eastern civilizations would have arisen more or less as they did in our timeline, and that the breakthrough to civilization in the Pacific Northwest would have come as a result of Far Eastern influence. Mesoamerica is far enough away, and became civilized early enough, that I see its development also taking place as in our timeline.
Another thought: what impact would the early arrival of New World foodstuffs - potato, maize, tomato - have on the development of China? Again, I don't know enough.
Any thoughts, anyone?
