AHC: Make Buddhism and Islam the two most dominant religions in the Americas

[holycookie]

Maybe the Shi'ite Fatimids survive and cut the Sunni Andalusians off from pilgrimage to Mecca?

Just make the andalusians that suport the shu’ubiyya take control of the nation. This would force the nation to look for another way to the Indies.

 

[Luuuma]

The scenario is far harder for Buddhists, but I think that SEA is a better bet than China or Japan. The Majapahits, perhaps? There's evidence that Javanese sailors sailed very far, idk how well they'd do over unfamiliar open ocean though.

 

[Lalli]

The scenario is far harder for Buddhists, but I think that SEA is a better bet than China or Japan. The Majapahits, perhaps? There's evidence that Javanese sailors sailed very far, idk how well they'd do over unfamiliar open ocean though.

Wasn't Majapahit already pretty Islamic at least duringits last decades? I would put ratherly its predecessor Srivijaya which manages to stay together and stay as Hindu-Buddhist kingdom.

 

[Luuuma]

Wasn't Majapahit already pretty Islamic at least duringits last decades? I would put ratherly its predecessor Srivijaya which manages to stay together and stay as Hindu-Buddhist kingdom.

I know that islamic traders gradually grew in influence over the later part of Majapahit, but the monopolisation of trade routes with Malacca and various other islamic polities by islamic traders might encourage the disfavoured hindu-buddhists to look for other trading partners. If contact with the polynesians is the goal to encourage them to cross the Pacific, at least. I guess the major problem is that Papua was never a huge draw for traders so it acts as a natural book-end to the interests of any traders, though Majapahit did hold territory there, unlike Srivijaya which was more western-oriented.

 

[funnyhat]

Americas would are found eventually sooner or latter. Cabral ended to Brazil accidentally and Basque fishers had already some knowledge already long time before Columbus. Americas probably would be still found in couple decades or at least by early 17th century.

They would be found, but whether the rulers of Al-Andalus want to go to the effort of colonizing them is another question. Colonizing was an expensive gamble and often failed.

 

[holycookie]

They would be found, but whether the rulers of Al-Andalus want to go to the effort of colonizing them is another question. Colonizing was an expensive gamble and often failed.

Yes, that's why it has to be a specific type of Andalus. An Arab-controlled Andalus will emulate the Middle East, especially the Eastern Caliphate, due to the Arab elite (with the Umayyads in particular) wanting to make a new Arabia in Iberia (with the idea of Arab supremacy being one of the factors in its downfall). A Berber controlled Andalus will be similar to the Almoravis and Almohads. So that leaves the muwallads (Muslim Iberians) as the only option, even then there has to be a greater reason for exploring the sea. This leads to the idea of the Shu'ubiyya, a political movement which opposed the privileged status of Arabs within the Muslim community. That morphed over time in Iberia as an anti-Arab and Berber movement (with the Andalusus putting both in the same group) and pro-Muwallads. With the reason for the exploration of the oceans in this case being driven by a political factor not religious (the non-dependence of the Arab and Berber markets).