What if there was no "New World"

For argument's sake, let us say there was no North or South America... it was all one big ocean until Asia.



How do you think history would be different?

The first thing people might say is that the Nazi's would have won- but really- there probably wouldn't have been Nazis to begin with. The Nazi party rose out of the humiliation and desperation of Germany losing the first world war- and that only happened because of the US Involvement... The allies may have prevailed in WWI without the USA, but the treaty would have been different. Either Germany would have had better negotiating power or they might have been completely wiped out- either way the situation likely would lead to the Nazi rise of power.

But even before the 1900's... how would the 1600s and 1700s been different?

Honestly- thinking about it- I think the people who started the early colonies would have left Europe anyway. They couldn't live under the situations there. If they couldn't come to America I suspect they would have started colonizing sub-Sahara Africa. Instead of the United States of America we may have had the United States of Africa. There would still be slavery, there would still be reservations for indigenous people. There would be some sort of Geroge Washington figure, a revolutionary war- and an independent county blessed with natural resources Europe could only dream of.

Thoughts?

I'd guess either Africa or Australia would be where a USA-like country began. I suspect all of history from the 1500s on would be quite different.

skeptic said:

I'd guess either Africa or Australia would be where a USA-like country began. I suspect all of history from the 1500s on would be quite different.

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Australia was my first thought too. Or, Germany may have become the free world.

whiskey tango said:

Or, Germany may have become the free world.

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Can you explain that a little more?

BirdOPrey5 said:

Can you explain that a little more?

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The colonists would have gone somewhere.

Of course England would have stood a better chance fighting them if the revolution happened in their backyard.

You think the colonists would have moved to Germany?

I was down with Autralia (my first thought) and Africa, but he's really lost me on Germany.

No logic. Just tossed it out there since he mentioned the nazis. Who knows where they would have ended up. They obviously would have left England whether there was a new world or not.

Australia or Africa are the most logical choices but who knows? Maybe Russia or India.

The Earth would be too off balance, and would have flown apart long ago.

Al Johnson said:

The Earth would be too off balance, and would have flown apart long ago.

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MIND = BLOWN

Al Johnson said:

The Earth would be too off balance, and would have flown apart long ago.

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Not even close.

I don't think Africa or Australia would have been viable for the colonists. Australia was entirely part of the British empire and half of Africa was as well. Same with India and the countries around it. Their only options would have been Russia or far eastern Asia and I don't think either of those scenarios would have worked out very well in the end. So in reality, they would not have been colonists. They would have had nowhere to go and anywhere they went would not be a place that could be colonized. So they would have remained where they were and either started a revolution or given up on the idea of freedom.

shit would have been different far before the 1600's.

Maybe we'd all consider ourselves Roman.

John said:

I got troll controlled, but Joe left Al Johnson's obviously joking post.

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That's right, because he wasn't instigating anyone.

Earth would probably spin around all wobbly...

I clearly didn't read any post

Without S America Spain wouldnt have been so rich and the Catholic church wouldnt have been so rich either, or so widespread. England would have traded directly with India and would likely have fought for control of the oceans around China too and either traded with China or kept it under control and had a much larger navy for that purpose. Quite probably we would have owned part of the Chinese mainland if they tried fighting too many times (HK was part of a peace deal when they lost to us once). Eventually we would have given them independence and they would have adopted western government styles which we would have given them.

Hawaii would have become a major English colony for our ships to re-stock supplies and been a drop off point for goods headed to Oz/China/India

Oh, and the slave trade wouldnt have become so large as there woudl have been nowhere to farm sugar/tobacco

Interesting points on the Catholic Church.

You think English ships would still said west to go east if there was no New World?

Seems it would be quicker to go around Africa or later, through the Suez Canal.

they would have went west at some point as they wouldn't have know better.

perhaps ENG-RUS would work better to the west?

Rammer said:

they would have went west at some point as they wouldn't have know better.

?

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This

Rammer said:

they would have went west at some point as they wouldn't have know better.

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Yeah but they would have died... Columbus's expedition barely made it... if they still have 4x the distance to go they'd surely have perished or turned back.