The Americas - Writers Forum

Ezigh of Agnitarius · 06-08-2007, 11:16 AM

I'm not quite sure about how this story is going to piece together, so just bear with me and look at what I have. The story is about Europe's "conquest" of the Americas, except I flipped it upside-down. Intstead of the Europeans being advanced it's the Native Americans. I explain this by saying that the Indians created gunpowder and found its deadly uses. They then used it in battle and advanced their defence accordingly.

Then, one of the Native American groups decided to sail off and go exploring. They sailed from the west coast of what is now the USA and landed in China. As they made their way inland they sold their new inventions of gunpowder and even a type of early bulletproof vest. After a while they had gained a great wealth and stayed in China mixing into their culture.

Then, years later Marco Polo came to China to trade. He obtained gunpowder as one of his items and held it dearly. He brought it back to Europe, where they put it into mass production. Then Columbus came along, and you know what happened there. He was given his three ships which he used to sail to this "India." His arrival was quite differant than it was in the history books. As he saw that these people were advanced almost to the European's level he treated them with respect. He traded and brought back gold and spices. He had been fortunate, he had landed next to a nearly isolated tribe, they had very primative guns and other weapons. Had he landed on the mainland he would have been met with hostile forces armed with early semi-auto weapons and advanced cannons. Later explorers looking to conquer where not so lucky.

I'm not quite sure what I'll put in the middle of the story. It will probably be the stories of varius explorers that visited the Americas. I do, however, know the ending:

The story ends with the colonists settling the east cost. The lands are a little more than the original thirteen colonies. Then the Native Americans will slowly reclaim and take the land, like we did to them, untill they blend the cultures of the rest into their own.

dwellerofthedeep · 06-08-2007, 01:33 PM

Sounds difficult to pull off. It appears more like a fantasy setting than anything else but I also see a major step missing: Who and what the story is about. If this story is about a spanish merchant trying to survive the war years it would be very different from one that focused primarily on the setting like a historical epic.

meerkat · 06-08-2007, 01:58 PM

Thoughts that arise:
I am impressed by the premise. I imagine native Americans establishing colonies in Europe. This would require that European civilisation had remained in the Stone Age, I think. This in turn would mean that the Roman empire had never existed, I suppose. One imagines British tribal leaders occasionally dressing in native American clothing in order to mix with native American high society.

donteatpoop · 06-08-2007, 07:36 PM

Very cool concept. Definately going to take a lot of work to effectively pull it off, but I applaud the idea itself and wish you luck. I am curious as to what you will call the Native Americans... Incas, I'd imagine?

Ezigh of Agnitarius · 06-15-2007, 12:35 AM

Actually I needed some help deciding wether the Americans should be united or in tribes.

donteatpoop · 06-15-2007, 03:23 PM

As the civilization evolved, they would have had to unite at some point. I couls easily see the Americas split into territories that function similar to the states (of course less of them). Sort of seperate but together. The tribes occupyt various designated areas, but are otherwise untied. That's how I'd do it, anyway.