WI: Seperate, Advanced and Unified Orinoco Civilization encountered by Conquistadors?

[Oba]

What would the effects on world history be if a unified state with a culture similar to, say, the Tairona, as distinct from both the Andes and Mesoamerica as the latter two are from each other, was found in the Orinoco Basin and the far Northern Andes, with cities in the hundreds of thousands (like the Aztec), a standing army (like the Inka), highly productive terra preta agroforestry/orchard farming (like the Amazonians), and some form of writing, coupled with at least basic free public education (like the Aztec)?

Basically, I'm talking about giving a major technological boost to the Isthmo-Columbian Region.

What else would it take for such a culture to be able to keep out the Westerners long enough to modernize? How hard would the fighting be?

Ideas and criticism are both welcome!

 

[LSCatilina]

What else would it take for such a culture to be able to keep out the Westerners long enough to modernize? How hard would the fighting be?

All depends on the level of development this region known. If the land and farming is definitly too much like you have in lower Mesoamerica (aka from Guatemala to Costa Rica), any conquest would be hard.
A road net, on the other hand, could facilitate a conquest, but even there, it won't be easy at all.

It also depend on their political development : politically divided as Mesoamerica or a civil war à la Inca would make confrontation against Castillans a really hard game.
More unified, they could have better chance militarly, but would still have to overcome both epidemic shock and technological gap.

At best, I think, they could be integrated into Spain or another european colonial empire as clients; more or less quickly swallowed by colonists. In this situation, you could end with a metis/native state on northern southern America after a wave of independence. Sort of big Bolivia.

 

[The Sandman]

It collapses after 75-90% of its population dies from successive waves of epidemic disease, and the pieces are likely picked up by European colonizers long before the remnants of what was once a unified civilization can rebuild themselves enough to keep out the invaders.

If they're lucky, there's still enough of them left alive after the plagues that they at least still survive as a distinct ethnicity in their homeland, instead of being expelled or annihilated; on the other hand, if there isn't anything in their own homeland that the Europeans would want to extract, they probably end up being raided into oblivion to provide slaves for the mines of Mexico and Peru or the plantations of the Caribbean.

The wholesale importation of African slaves might be delayed for a few years by the additional local source of slaves ITTL, so Africa might take a little less of a population hit.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Dont forget, there was aa thriving amazonian civilization that was so completely wiped out, presumably due to disease, that we are only now starting to learn about it.

In addition to the smallpox, measles, etc, etc., that devastated the temperate climate natives, the tropical nations also had to deal with yellow fever and malaria.

So, what The Sandman said - except worse.