Continued from Thread:4355.
Sorry I've been gone a while, I had a cold and things have been crazy. My computer is soon to be repaired (replaced, technically, as it was kind of beyond repair) and I will be able to upload my maps. Think I'll start with a new Mesoamerioca map, one that doesn't kinda suck.
Reagrding the Incas, let's suppose there was a storm or something and one of their ships landed in South Africa, or they started exploring across the Atlantic. what would they find? Would they land on the shores of the Kalahari Desert? If that were the case, I don't imagine widespread colonization would take place. If they were to reach a more promising shoreline, on the other hand, and ran into the Zulus, how would first contact play out? Were the Zulus a particularly warlike people, or could peaceful contact be a possibility?
I don't exactly see why a storm is required for someone to cross the Atlantic.
It's possible that they may try to colonise the Kalahari desert, as there was a lot of desert west of the Andes that the Incan Empire already presided over, and there's always the option of trying to cross the desert. I mentioned something about the Incans reaching Africa here, but to answer your question properly I still need to know when the Incans arrive so that I can correlate that with the alternate history of Africa. Do you have an arrival date (in the post I linked to, I mentioned AD1720 at the earliest, contingent on how long after developing advanced sailing the Incans cross the Atlantic)?
Well, as you mentioned, 1720 seems a bit early, especially given how long it took for Europeans to cross the Atlantic. Maybe if I give them 500 years, then have some Inca sailor come up with a crazy idea of sailing across the Atlantic and discovering South Africa? That would be 1770, and in Hijri, that would be about 1184 AH.
You may be right about them trying to colonize the Kalahari,and but I'm not sure if they'd try to cross it, since they wouldn't have any reason to suspect there's anything on the other side. On the other hand, if they start exploring the shores of this continent and find some more promising coasts, they might start to explore inland and find the Okavango Delta or something.
If they do stay in the Kalahari, they could colonize it, but I doubt they'd be too enthusiastic about building a society in a semi-barren desert (although if they managed to tame some desert elephants, possibly ship a few across the ocean, the possibilities would be intriguing...)
...actually, I'm not totally sure how I got that date. Plus, you were the one who said 1720 AD, I just added on to that and I think I horribly flubbed the math XP
Ah, I see! It looks like you took 1720 and accidetally added 50 instead of 500. Anyway, it looks like the Inca might be visiting South Africa around the same time that the British began settling there, so you could research British colonistion of the region, as well as their relations with the Zulu, to get an idea of what it would be like for the Inca.
On the subject of flags, it appears that the Inca (who actually called themselves Tawantinsuyu) used a banner, so it's possible that the use of banners could be predominant in regions influenced by the Inca in Atra Mors.
Sorry, my head was full of fog all day :P
OK, add the 5 to the 7, not to 2, and you get... 12. Two more zeroes is 1200 years. I'm thinking... 2220? Hang on, let me get my calculator...
Alright, I was correct. In Hijri, that's 1647. And our present day is 1781, so it's about 100 years before the present day. Stream-of-consciousness math calculations aside, I'm not sure how that's around the same time as the British began settling there, but I think that's a good tip for handling first contact.
Interesting fact about the banner. I wonder, did any other Mesoamerican nations use banners to represent themselves? Could such practices be common in regions of Mesoamerican culture? Actually, could Mesoamerican culture influence the Zulus, creating a mixed culture blending African and South American influences? I could imagine elephants grazing on trees growing on old, abandoned pyramids/temples. Then again, didn't they use pyramids as tombs unlike their Aztec and Maya cousins? Does it matter?
And I'll try to refer to them as the Tawantinsuyu in the future (although it's a bit of a cumbersome name...) Did the Aztec and Maya have different names for themselves too?
"I'm not sure how that's around the same time as the British began settling there"
You hadn't said that you were referring to AD2220 before, and I didn't know if you were talking about 500 years after AD1350 (the start of Atra Mors), AD1438 (the birth of the Inca Empire) or AD1720, so I just had to make an assumption of one or two centuries after AD1720. The British Cape Colony was founded in the late 1700s and released in the early 1900s.
"I wonder, did any other Mesoamerican nations use banners to represent themselves?"
I know that the Aztecs used symbols and emblems (each of the three states in the Triple Alliance had its own emblem), but I'm not so sure on the Mayans.
"Actually, could Mesoamerican culture influence the Zulus, creating a mixed culture blending African and South American influences?"
The Aztecs and Mayans are visiting South Africa aswell? I thought it was the Inca? Mesoamerica.
"I could imagine elephants grazing on trees"
According to this map, the South African region is pretty much devoid of elephants, and there are definitely none where the Inca would land, unless for some reason they sailed further north (in which case it wouldn't be the Zulu they were dealing with). There were no elephants in South America; only Africa and Asia.
"Then again, didn't they use pyramids as tombs unlike their Aztec and Maya cousins?"
Yes, they had pyramids. Every civilisation in the New World had caught pyramid fever!
"And I'll try to refer to them as the Tawantinsuyu in the future (although it's a bit of a cumbersome name...) Did the Aztec and Maya have different names for themselves too?"
Personally, I think it's okay to use the contemporary names. Otherwise we'll have to dig up every native name for each of the civilisations we use! Anyway, even in the real world different countries have different names for each other; I remember going to Switzerland once and all the signs and coins there said Confederatio Helvetica. In the canton I was in, they also called England Angleterre.
In fact, if I look into it some more, the native name for Finland is Suomi. If we start using the native names for these places, we might as well start writing the articles in the nations' native languages!
Fair enough! I sure don't want to research every First Nations name for my home country, Canada. And sorry I mixed up the Inca and Mesoamerican cultures. Like I said, brain fog :P
Also, there are desert elephants in Namibia, which is part of Zulu territory along with OTL South Africa in Atra Mors. Besides, before widespread poaching, elephants doubtless had a much wider range that included OTL South Africa and our Inca settlers' territory.
Incidentally, I'm gonna be away a few days, starting tomorrow evening (Pacific Time). I might be reached tomorrow afternoon, but after that I'll be gone 'til Monday or even Tuesday. Also, this thread's starting to get cumbersome for my iPad again, could we start a new one please?
Continued on Thread:4586.