What if Disease Didn't Wipe Out the Native Americans?

The plague on the New World wiped out around 90% of the Native population. It changed whole societies, social uprisings and paved the way for Europe. What if diseases like smallpox hadn't depopulated the continents? Here is one scenario.

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[EmperorTigerstar]

In this scenario the United States would basically stay the size of the thirteen colonies assuming they still existed. There's no way they'd be able to take the coast by the mid-1800s and pacify the natives.

[notbobby]

I am not certain the Spanish could have conquered the Incas in this alternate time line. Unlike the Aztec's, they were not horrific conquerors and the Spanish weren't able to gather large amounts of opposing tribes to fight them. The mountainous terrain and Incan fortifications made attacking them even in our timeline difficult.

In our history, the Spanish came to the Inca when the Inca emperor,  Huayna Capac, had just died of smallpox. This had thrown the Inca into a succession war as his sons fought for the throne. In this smallpox free timeline, the Spanish would have to fight an united Empire with a much higher population. Unless the Spanish pulled a miracle and managed to win a war of conquest, the various Inca cultures would be even more united against the Spanish so further succession crisises would be unlikely. Trade with other European powers would eventually remove or at least lessen the technological gap between the Inca and the Europeans putting further dampers on Europeans ability to conquer the Inca.

[ButterHaus]

What if North, south and central America wasn't discovered until the 21st century??

[AtzeHHouse]

Petition to change the name of the United Kingdom to "Good ol' Brit Land m8"

[siblilngs]

What if one simply did walk into Mordor?

[dylanstone]

literally one of the best channels on youtube.

[Farfromhere]

I think the Incas could have held out for 200+ years agaist the Spanish. Without disease the Incas could have easily defeated the first conquisidors and possibly united agaist the threat (the Inca empire was in a civil war at the time). If they held off the Spanish until the late 1600s they might have been able to obtain their own more advanced weapons through trade and breed horses. I think the Incas could have taken the Spanish, but I agree with you about the Aztecs. If you look at the large scale rebellions years after the conquest you will see that the Spanish did not have the best control on the lands of the Inca. Also the ablitiy to retreat into the jungle without disease the Inca and their allies could have fought a guillera war agaist the Spanish until they wore them down.

[aqgpandemic]

Honestly the Inca probably could've fought off the Spanish at least for long enough so that one of Spain's rivals might provide assistance. In our time line the Inca were at there weakest when the Spanish attacked as they were in the middle of a bloody civil war of succession because the king died of smallpox. With out that and factoring in that the last Incan king died in about 1600 the terrain if the land and the fact that the Inca were able to rapidly adapt (start using Calvary and guns in large quantities) towards the end of the Spanish conquests, it's not that hard to imagine the Inca surviving at least well into the 18th or 19th century.

[maledwarfwarrior]

I think you overlooked a very important part of the equation: The question of trade VS conquest. Even in our timeline the french preferred trading with native powers and buying land to outright conquest. Doubling your money on each part of a single trade route, furs to Europe and guns to America, is not to be underestimated. We would see the french becoming much more powerful in the colonies, as there are simply MUCH more natives to trade with and arm as proxies.

This buys the natives a valuable commodity: time. The Meji restoration worked because China had suffered from the Opium wars, but Japan had time to modernize and the support of the people. Consider what the Apache and Commanche accomplished in our timeline, now give everyone more time, extended support from the french, and enough people to fight off the colonies on the defensive if nothing else. We could see a timeline where colonialism failed due to modernizing the people it was meant to oppress.

[elvismendoza]

What if spain was mostly muslim and turkey was mostly christian?

[KayinDreemurr]

Actually, with this scenario, you could see some of the native empires resist and take on some European ideas, or at least the technology, especially with the larger civilizations. The Inca especially woud benefit from not being weakened by the plague and other diseases.

[Valk]

What if Germany fell into Civil War after WW1?

[terrorcop]

I'm rather inclined to think that if this scenario did take place, several Native Americans probably would've formed into nations based off of European models, like the Cherokee did before they were forced out of their ancestral lands.  I think that without disease to screw up the demographics and with the additions of European technology and livestock, combined with traditional Native battle tactics and alliances they would've garnered enough (grudgingly-given) respect with the Europeans to develop diplomatic relations with them and then ultimately been so overwhelmed by the European cultural knowledge base that they would've started to mimic European fashion, mannerisms, and government, similar to what happened in Hawaii after Captain Cook's voyages and the opening of trade with British merchants.

[jakedather]

I believe in this timeline North America would end up very similar to Africa and become a series of small independent nations

[yabbadabbindude]

I think the effects of a population 10x as large and acquiring goods through trade would've made the native Americans far tougher to overcome then the vid suggests.

we can't account for the effects of human ingenuity, the adoption of fresh cultural ideas, the boost of physical strength that prosperity creates and other unseen variables. perhaps they wouldn't resemble any other civilization

[edge]

What if WWE Champion John Cena lost the Title at the WWE Superslam?

[EnigmaHood]

America would have turned out a lot more similar to Africa and Asia where the local population is largely intact and not displaced by european settlers. At best you might have a South Africa scenario where europeans establish a small settlement that grows, but that settlement would eventually constitute a much larger local population than european population as was what happened in South Africa. However these incursions would not take root until much much later as was the case with Africa. The race for Africa only occurred in the late 1800s, compared to the American conquests which occurred hundreds of years prior. 

Also europe would not have the massive influx of resources and wealth that it got from the new world, and as such may not have had the capability to project power across the globe so it's entirely possible that these settlements would never take root and grow at all especially since the Ottomans would be in a much better position to take over Europe.

[georgewesley]

Dude! How do you not have over a million subscribers?! Your videos are waaay better than most history dedicated channels that have more subscribers... Hope you grow and more people are able to enjoy your content.

[ShadesMP]

The scenario asks more questions than answers. On thing can be certain. The US and most New World nations would not exist. The New World might resemble a hybrid of Asia's modest colonization and Africa's extensive colonization. So somewhere in between the two. Depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the individual tribe and the European power's interest in a given territory.

[lukehorn]

I love this channel. I stumbled across it a couple of months ago whilst revising for my history test, now I can't get enough of it!