In that alternate reality, Emeril Lagasse would have been Spanish. BAM!
Posted on 10/10/2011 3:36:57 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
Okay, today is Columbus Day observed (real Columbus Day comes in 2 days) and normally I just look at it as a low level holiday in which banks and post offices are closed. However, today I got to thinking: What if Columbus had not discovered America? I don't mean if he tried and failed. What if he never bothered in the first place? He could quite easily have given up on attempting to put together such an expedition. It would have been quite easy to have given up the attempt. One interesting thing is that 1492 was the very first year that Columbus could have even made the attempt. Had he gone to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand a year earlier he would have been told that it would be impossible as long as the Muslims were still in Granada. 1492 was the year that the Muslims, after centuries, were driven out of Spain.
However, let us start from the assumption that Columbus didn't make the attempt. Then WHO would have been the first to reach the New World and how would that have impacted history? My guess is that it would have been Pedro Alvarez Cabral of Portugal who in 1500 discovered Brazil while performing a "volta do mar" (a turn to the West to catch the westerly winds) in order to cross the southern tip of Africa. Had that happened then instead of South and Central America currently being mostly Spanish speaking countries with the exception of Brazil, that whole area would have been primarily Portuguese speaking today. Yes, even Mexicans would be speaking Portuguese today.
How else do you think history would have been affected if Columbus was like those lazy OWP protestors and decided to just sit on his keister instead of organizing and expedition to sail West?
the natives still wouldn’t have a wheel 6k yrs after the rest of the world had one. sarc/
Then neither ganja nor coke would have been discovered, and forget about Angelina Jolie.
If not Columbus then Al Gore would have discovered America.
Christopher Columbus Craft? lol
No Al Gore would have *created* America.
The Vikings hold last place in the NFC North.
More likely it was smallpox contacted through Basque fishermen who were following the cod runs.
There is some circumstantial evidence that the Basque were aware of some parts of North America due to their wide ranging pursuit of cod.
The story goes when the Native Peoples saw these monster boats coming from the sea. They fled in panic to the villages and told of beasts with horns being born from these big beasts of the sea. The Vikings did not know where they where and facing over 5,000 very scared people. The warriors of the tribes came and massacred everything that belonged to the Vikings. They never returned home, were Columbus did. That is the difference in history.
In that alternate reality, Emeril Lagasse would have been Spanish. BAM!
p.s. When I was a kid in Puerto Rico one of my favorite foods from street vendors was Bacalao Frito. Fried salt cod. YUmmie!
See #29... :-)
Lol. Bam.
A lot of place names would be different as many of them were named for the Saint of the day of the discovery or landing.
Portugal was actually the lead nation in terms of exploration back then. Because of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, the world was split between Spain and Portugal in terms of settlement. This treaty gave Brazil to Portugal and Spain got the rest of the New World. If the Portuguese had been first in the New World, then they would have had a monopoly there since Spain would not have been a player or just a bit player.
Don’t forget the (now feral) pigs!
“They didn’t stick around nor even told other Europeans about a New World so their impact on the settlement of America was ZERO.”
I’ve read knowledge of the Vikings’ route WAS published in sea voyager circles, and was a reference for Columbus, among many others, influencing his navigation.
Okaaay. What if, what if. Yeah if the Spanish hadn’t banished the Jews they could have managed their wealth better too, but hey, they didn’t! The Spanish had more wealth than any other people in history and they blew it!
just proves that some people can be wrong.
According the an article online, he was accompanied on the trip by a fellow that sailed with Columbus.
Sailing for Spain
In 1499 I sailed from Spain with 4 ships commanded by Alonso de Ojeda who had sailed with Columbus on his second voyage. After 24 days we reached the Northern coast of South America. Ojeda and I went our separate ways. I headed south and became the first European to see Brazil and to explore the mouth of the Amazon River. During the return to Spain I stopped at the Bahamas and took 200 Native Americans back to be slaves.
but then again, I heard that six year olds were a lot smarter way back then : )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.