Let's say the colonization of North America goes differently, and instead of having one dominant colonial power on the East Coast of the US there are two or three (one creative scenario could be Basque Canada/New England [called New Navarre] and English Carolinas and Virginia with someone else in between). With more respectful policies towards native land on the part of Europeans, could tribes like the Iroquois consolidate themselves into something close to nation states, and would these states be able to or want to industrialize? The Iroquois iOTL controlled much of what would become the Steel Belt, now the Rust Belt, so geographically their state would be in a good geographical setting to industrialize, but would they be able to reconcile the necessities of industrial production with traditional values of protecting and preserving the natural environment? How and where would industrialization occur without the development of infrastructure like the Erie Canal or Water Level Route through the heart of Iroquois lands to provide a link between the Old West and the Northeast?
AHC: Native American Industrialization
- Thread starter Teutoberg Forest
- Start date
Didnt the Iroquis have like smaller population, 10k only compared to the valley of Mexico the inca and mainly Latin America where its like 100k or 500k in Mexico city alone iirc. And their civilizations having like millions 20 or more so people alone iirc was in Mexico alone pre small pox and others.
Its gonna be very implausible if population is that like small, probably first thing is that increase it. Settlers intermarrying and others couldve helped
Its gonna be very implausible if population is that like small, probably first thing is that increase it. Settlers intermarrying and others couldve helped
More plausible is an indigenous majority (and identifying) state breaking away from the Spanish Empire later on and then industrializing. Say Tupac Amaru's revolt in colonial Peru succeeds in 1781. Alternatively, have at least some of the Latin American states that break away in the 1810s wars of independence identify with their indigenous rather than European heritage along the lines of contemporary Bolivia. Not sure how that would happen though.
Paraguay is an obvious possibility since "identifying with their indigenous rather than European heritage" is more or less OTL. If you avoid the disaster of the War of the Triple Alliance, the instability of the early 20th century, and the military dictatorships of the later part of the century, perhaps it could go somewhere better than it did IOTL.