# Alternate history: in which Native American cultures prevail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [April 14, 2023, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651 "2023-04-14T02:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651/41 "2023-04-14T17:57:44Z")
A woman from England I met, born in Poland, was quite surprised to find out Native Americans ever lived in the northeast US. Her knowledge was primarily based on movies and she assumed the original Americans were all nomads living on the plains hunting buffalo. She was astonished they could live in the cold conditions of the northeast because of their minimal clothing. Telling her about our Pilgrims and Indians based Thanksgiving story that she thought she was familiar with just confused her further. It became quite clear I should change the subject to the extras 'u’s they put in words back in England. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651/42 "2023-04-14T20:16:16Z")
GURPS Alternate Earths (an RPG supplement with a bunch of alternate world you an play in) had setting called Ezcalli where the Aztecs dominate the world and North America is dominated by Native Americans. Europe is a chaotic mass of city states. They “solved” the issue of disease by having Carthage come to the Americas hundreds of years earlier than our time line which allowed American populations to get diseases and recover. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651/43 "2023-04-14T20:46:51Z")
I think it’s useful to contrast this type of alternative history with what happened in other parts of the world. When Europeans first sailed ships to Africa, South Asia, and East Asia, the native populations didn’t crash. The Europeans still exploited the natives, but there was no wholesale replacement of the populations. Widespread territorial subjugation didn’t happen until much after the initial contact and trading ventures. If the populations in North and South America had survived contact, the colonization would have proceeded similarly to what happened in the rest of the world. Subjugation of local powers would be later than our timeline, with Europeans settling in some areas, but remaining a minority. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651/44 "2023-04-14T22:04:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You couldn’t just point to the nearest casino? “But those aren’t real Indians, are they?” – I swear to god that was their answer when I mentioned the reservations. To be fair, we don’t have reservations in Central Arkansas. We have plenty of things named after Native Americans, but they were driven from the area long before most of us were born. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651/45 "2023-04-15T06:28:18Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Robert Silverberg wrote The Gate of Worlds, an adventure set in a world where the black death was far worse, the Ottoman empire conquered most of Europe, and the Aztecs were able to repel incursions and develop technology. It was entertaining enough. I won’t comment on its plausibility. Reminds me of _The Years of Rice and Salt_ by **Kim Stanley Robinson** , in which the Black Death kills 99% of Europeans instead of ~40%. Most of it focuses on what happens in Asia, but IIRC the North American tribes form a continent-wide confederacy and fend off the RotW forces. I don’t recall offhand what happened in South America. It was a great read and I recommend it! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2023, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651/46 "2023-04-15T12:49:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > When Europeans first sailed ships to Africa, South Asia, and East Asia, the native populations didn’t crash. Which isn’t surprising. The vast majority of deaths in American populations was due to the new diseases they’d never been exposed to. But there’s been an almost constant mixing of people all over Europe, Asia and Africa for thousands of years prior to the European Age of Exploration that brought them into contact with the Americans. Any disease that showed up anywhere in the Old World would spread to almost every corner of it within a relatively short period of time, so there was little chance of running into some new disease just be visiting a place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-history-in-which-native-american-cultures-prevail/982651.md?page=2)