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Thread: 1492, the Ottomans, and Columbus

  1. #1
    VOP2288's Avatar Smokey the Bear
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    Default 1492, the Ottomans, and Columbus

    Here's an interesting thought - suppose, for certain reasons, that the Ottoman domination of the Mediterranean did NOT inhibit European travel and trade to the Middle East, India, China, and the South Pacific.

    This in turn would not give Europeans the need to search for other sea routes to their destinations in the East - thus negating Christopher Columbus' voyage that ended up "discovering" the Americas.

    Would such circumstances only delay the European exploration and colonization of the Americas? For how long? What could've possibly been drastically different about this colonization and exploration?
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    Default Re: 1492, the Ottomans, and Columbus

    Portugal would most probably would discover it lil later then Spain did.

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    VOP2288's Avatar Smokey the Bear
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    Default Re: 1492, the Ottomans, and Columbus

    I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been much activity with this "what if..." I guess the simplistic "who would win Spartans or British grenadiers" threads are more this crowd's style....

    Anyway I like your thoughts about Portugal. I honestly overlooked them when thinking of this. When I think about Portugal I see two things possibly happening.

    1) If there's no economic competition in the Mediterranean and the Indies then Portugal's existing presence there wouldn't be as important or unique - possibly having a negative effect for them economically.

    Yet...

    2) If Portugal, now free from the more violent effects of economic competition, had the chance to further explore and establish trade routes then it is possible that either a) Portugal would've had a showing in the Americas and/or b) Portugal would've remained and become a more powerful economic and imperial force to be reckoned with.
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    D.B. Cooper's Avatar Tribunus
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    Default Re: 1492, the Ottomans, and Columbus

    I made a kind of similar thread way back: What if the New World was not discovered when it was?.

    Maybe Portugal would colonize Brazil and America more intently rather than an afterthought.

    Spain might have a harder job at conquering the Aztecs and/or Incas than when they did, since they might be stronger and more united.

    This is all me guessing though.


  5. #5

    Default Re: 1492, the Ottomans, and Columbus

    Portugal had already discovered the Americas, and before them, the Vikings did. Columbus actually got the "idea" about the "lands in the west" from his stay in Madeira island. It was, like most Portuguese explorations, a top secret discovery, and even more obscure due to the trips being by private enterprises, rather than directly patronized by the king (don't know if I'm using the right words here) as were the ones exploring the African coast. The Portuguese discoveries are far more than most people know, and are possible even greater, because most of the reports, records, registries, etc etc were lost in the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, where the Royal Library burned along with countless books and pieces of art.

    So, Columbus arrival on America wouldn't really matter, maybe it would be delayed by a few years or decades at least. Anyway Portugal was already under it's way to reach India by the time Columbus arrived, so it's colonial empire would still be the same. There's some speculation that Brazil was not an accidental discovery at all, but rather ordered to be "discovered" by the Portuguese king.

    In the end one thing is certain, Columbus or not, the America's would end up being discovered sooner or later because the Portuguese and the Spanish had already started their explorations. A better question would be, what would happen if the Portuguese had not started the discoveries? I'm sure other countries would eventually, but it would take a long time before "real" progress would be made I think.

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