Hey, Don’t Do That!

…Do This!

The Doclopedia #3,112

Alt. History Snippets: Columbus arrives in America, October, 1492

What Happened: Columbus arrived in northern Florida instead of Hispaniola and found out that he was not the first European and was not welcome. It turned out that Leif Erikson landed in 1018, but not in Newfoundland. He landed in southern Nova Scotia in the early spring. From there, he explored all the way down to the area where Boston is in our world. By 1025 he had brought nearly 1,200 Norwegians over and had three settlements going. By 1080 the population was close to 6,000. Trade with the Native Americans was going well, and intermarriage was not unknown.

The End Result: One of the main things the Vikings traded to the Native Americans were iron weapons and tools. Livestock was another popular trade item. Of course, ideas and histories were also shared. Over another century, the number of Viking/Native people grew. What also grew was the Native American ability to mine and use iron, and the Viking desire to expand their New World Empire.

In roughly 1200 AD, three things happened. First, the Vikings in North America started to get sick and die from what would, in 1996, be identified as a form of bird flu. Second, this virus made it back to Europe on a Viking trading ship. That stopped Viking trade with the New World pretty much dead.

Finally, a Native American alliance of 9 nations decided to exterminate the Vikings that had survived the flu. Then they started a system of conquest that eventually had a nation of Viking influenced and genetically mixed peoples that stretched from Newfoundland to Florida.

Which brings us back to Columbus almost 300 years later, landing in Florida and finding a much more advanced people than he did in our world. They didn’t like him claiming their land for Spain, so they just went ahead and killed him and most of his crew. The crew that managed to escape sailed back to Spain and reported “hostile blue eyed savages”, as well as things they had made up after seeing things like alligators and oxen clad in armor. Further exploration of the New World was put on hold for years.

But by then, the Eastern Natives had made it far enough west to encounter the Western Natives, who had encountered the Chinese about 300 years earlier and learned much from them, including how to build ships and make gunpowder. They had also sailed as far south as Cape Horn, and settled in many areas.

In the end, the North American Nations aligned, spread across North and South America, and eventually established trade with Europe and Asia. In 2032, they are the dominant world power.