Legacy of the Conquerors

[ChineseWarlord]

We all know how Genghis Khan basically laughed at the Geographic determinism theory of history and radically altered the world.

But what if there were two men of power and skill around the dawn of the late Middle Ages?

I present to you, Legacy of the Conquerors, a world in which Chinua Chima, the Great Conquerer, born in what would in our timeline be Nigeria, has his name added to the annals of "great men" along with Alexander, Julius Caesar, and of course Genghis Khan.

All well and good, but where's the map?

You guys create the history andthe nations of the aforementioned world in 1775 CE albeit with the following restrictions:

Chinua Chima's empire, may or may not still exist, but its influence across Africa is undeniable; Many African states are independent and strong by European standards.

The Middle East by contrast, was not as lucky. Hit harder by the Mongol (and possibly African) Empire(s) in this world than our own, many states have already fallen victim to European colonization.

Mesoamerica was left relatively untouched because the weakened, Islamic Middle East was more enticing to European colonizers. By the time Europeans turned their eyes to it, it had already consolidated and was able to resist conquest to a great degree.

Because of the successful inroads into the lands held by the Saracen by the time of early colonization, the European people's faith in the catholic church was much stronger, and so the Protestant Reformation either never happened or had less of an effect in history.

Hope this is enough to pique people's interest and creativity.

 

[thomas.berubeg]

The Baaid Maghreb

The first wave of Old World Expeditions to the West came from Morocco.

The reasons for the Arab expedition are twofold. First, the United Kingdom of Spain had recently made significant gains in Al-Andalus, causing a burst of migration into northern africa. Secondly, the young Sultan Jafar Ibn Harun of the Zidanid dynasty was greatly taken by the viking Sagas, which had been recently translated into Arabic. Putting much of his fortune into this expedition, he imported skilled arabic and european shipwrights, and put them to work building an exploration fleet. Jafar argued that the tales spoke of riches beyond measure, and that the gains of the expedition would be well worth the costs.

On August 3rd, 1421 AD, ten ships set sail under great pomp and circumstances, instructed to find the lands to the west for the glory of Allah. The ships were commanded by Muhammad the Explorer, a cousin and childhood friend of the sultan, and carried aboard a number of scholars, teachers, and sages, tasked with recording everything they saw, and a number of colonists, tasked with building a colony.

On the 12th of October, land was spotted. Setting ashore, it was determined that these lands were inhabited by tribes of semi-sedentary people who referred to themselves as the Taino, and the island on which they lived as Ayiti. Determining that the Taino had no kings, nor knew of the Allah, Muhammad’s expedition claimed the Island for the Sultan and for Allah, and set the colonists ashore to build the first Arabic Colony, Baaid Tangeirs. Muhammad stayed with the colony for a year, exploring and claiming the larger islands of Al-tain’i, Boriken, Xaymaca, and Al-Carib, for the Sultan, before taking five ships and sailing back to Morocco.

Over the next years, numerous colonies were established, repatriating both Moroccans and Andalusians, while the wealth of the Baaid Maghreb flowed back over the ocean. The Sultan even visited in 1436, and the local populations of Carib or Taino were either assimilated or eradicated, depending on their disposition towards the arab explorers.

In 1441, however, contact was formally made with the Baaid Maghrebi mainland. An expedition led by Hassan Ibn Fadlan landed in Tampico, in the kingdom of Tamaholipa. Shocked to find stone buildings and complex societies, he quickly realized that the usual Arab methods of imposing their power over the natives would likely not work. He did note that many of the Native’s faces were pocked with the scars of the pox. Exchanging gifts and promises of friendship with the Tlatoani of the city, Cacama, Hassan established the Arab protocol for interacting with the powerful cities of the mainland.

By 1500, Arabic had become the de jure trade language of Xolal, and the written alphabet of the Nahua and Maya languages. A number of Arabic colonies had been established on the mainland, on land bought or leased from the various local powers. There were mosques in most cities of Xolal, with the grandest being the Great Mosque of Lakamha. Arabic Fashions had swept the elite of Xolal, while Xolal fashion had become extremely popular in the courts of Morocco.


(Will write more later)