World History

[Kaiser Kirk]

We actually have a lot of the World History written down.
It is scattered throughout many threads and some PMs.

Trying to get Maddox updated on who the INCA are in this Navalism,
I found I could not point to any one place to look.

My intent is to in April or May 2020 consolidate and sort the various histories.
I will then organize a time line with the main departure points for the various nations.
and one big exhaustive list.

So this will be a sort of 'working' thread, which I will then delete when I make the official one.

[Kaiser Kirk]

The Sim starts in 1910.
At that time, no state has attempted colonies.
Something happened to trigger the sudden expansion.

For Navalism 7, we've taken the idea that these ancient historical empires did not fall.
Rome IS the historic Rome. Much of the Roman Empire was lost to barbarians, but some survived.
The historic wars/ Plagues/ barbarian invasions happened, but critical portions of the ancient Empires stayed functioning and reclaimed their land.

The important events in World history have mostly happened, with some critical departure points.
This allows players to make assumptions that person X or event Y happened in some form.
An example would be the Ottomans and Persia - neither state exists. But the conflicts they had translate to Byzantine and Parthia unless otherwise specified.

It is also important to know that the Player nations have 'sufficient' strategic materials, they may be 'limited' but they happen to be at least 'enough'.

The remainder of the world has been in contact together with sailing trade routes since 'the age of exploration'.  Many of these have now become steamship routes.  Small independent trade posts are scattered along coastlines. These have small amounts of coal for fuel.

The NPCs are the native empires, equipped with mid-late 1800s technology, and adapting to the new technologies coming from Europe.
The real Chinese Empire  at the dawn of the Sino-Japanese war would be an example - some very modern ships and other firearms, but also much older weapons

The gray areas are small kingdoms or tribes. The further from a trade route, likely the more primitive.  In some cases these are old Empires which have collapsed, such as the Mali or Great Zimbabwe. The Pacific Northwest, far from the Aztec, Japan, China, or any European nation, is likely among the most primitive, but would still have some trade rifles and knowledge of the outside world. Trade posts for fur trapping are likely in these areas. Fishing and whaling might also be supported.

We did not define what triggered the expansion. An example could be :
1908 :   Some trigger event, perhaps a book like "The Influence of Sea Power on History",  makes the case that states can expand through colonies, not state-state conquest, and secure their power with Navies. This leads to the 1910 colonization.  The power of 1900 military weapons against the early 1800s weapons of the minor states of the world (gray areas), allows conquest.  Canning, knowledge of disease vectors, reliable shipping with steam engines - all make this viable.  Exploding domestic populations create a need to immigrate somewhere. Industrial technology demands more resources, and allows exploitation of areas not previously possible. 

[Kaiser Kirk]

A key concept here is that the Americas did not have the native populations wiped out by disease and fall to the Spanish.
The Americas were exposed to Old World diseases 1400 years ago.

For the Americas, there have been 4 early contact periods.

200- 600AD : Roman outpost in Cape Verde islands provides trade with West Africa. Improved ocean going ship designs. Accidental contact with South America leads to trade.
Along with the idea of Roman technology, European diseases up to the Plague of Justinian are transferred. Collapse of Rome isolates outpost, which maintains limited trade until it dies out. Invaders in Mediterranean lead to knowledge of the outpost being lost. 

999 : Erik the Red finds Vinland. Trading posts are established and continue. Native tribes are exposed to disease and Norse technology.  Limited contact until current day.

1311 :  The legendary Mali expeditions to the new world under Abu Bakr II  do in fact occur.  After the Mali Empire reaches the coast, records of the Roman ships are founds, as is knowledge of the trade routes. Abu Bakr II explores west and north, coming into contact with the Aztec Empire.
The Aztecs stop sacrificing captives on pyramids, and become Muslim. Still warrior like, but a state the Players can reasonably have diplomatic relations with.
The Triangle trade commences to a limited degree. With the Aztecs exerting a limited control over the Caribbean, which is later lost when Laksmanavati enters the sugar trade.

The New world gets a new infusion of disease, and later some early gunpowder weapons.

1492 :  Iberia, which beat off the Muslim conquest around 660, has conquered North Africa, and sends an expedition to find who the West Africans are trading with.
Christopher Columbus leads the expedition, which blunders around the Caribbean. 

At that point the locals have domestic metal working, ships, limited guns...think Mughal India before the British.
Conquest is not possible, and so limited cross-ocean trade is commenced.