From Wikipedia -
The 1780s one seems to be the most non-butterfly-prone POD as the 1860s one necessitates more important world-changing events to do with German unification. Possible? I mean, Britain would probably just take Crab Island back again a few years later during the Napoleonic Wars
It would make a big difference if the 1780s offer was made before or after the eruption of the Laki volcano which wiped out 25% of Iceland's population...
Awwww.I was gonna do this.Anyway,in short,have the Vikings conquer England succesfully.Then,have it be quite a moderate rule,with the Vikings trying to give England equal footing in decisions,and trying to Anglicize themselves.Slowly,we end up with a bigger United Kingdom,with Norway,Sweden,and England,while seperate,become united.Eventually,in this scenario,the English Vikings become civilized,something like the Ottoman Turks did with Constantinople.They become a military class of elite knights of sorts heading a English professinal army.The Celtic kingdoms fall to English rule,and become more Anglican as time goes on.This all leads to the eventual result,which is a major English naval buildup earlier on.The Viking(slowly becoming British)colonies are more succesful in this scenario,with many more ships and signifigantly higher technological capacity availiable.The center of power naturally shifts to London as a result of informal soft power,and the kingdoms of Scandinavia become subservient to Britain.One of the results of all this is a slightly different English language,instead of the French-influenced English that came about after the Norman conquests,the the English language becomes somewhat influenced by Swedish.However,English rapidly expands through Scandinavia.
Now with much more developed versions of longships,by the 1300s England has somewhat secretly explored all of Vinlands coast,and has discovered the Hudson Bay,which may be named something else.The English develop a sustainable presence on Vinland,with a total population of about 200000 in several different colonies.Early forms of informal democracy begin to take shape,as the colonists are primarily landowing yeomen,instead of knights and serfs.A central government develops therein that can manage each of the various colonies.Expansion southward from Newfoundland results in the discovery of what we today call Nova Scotia.
I am getting tired now and will probably continue this later once I come up with more ideas.In short,I eventually have Britsh northern France and Flanders.
