The Kalmar Union



Throughout the early medieval period Europe nations danced on knife edges. Tiny little changes could have produced an entirely different world.

What if Norway never unified into a single kingdom? Maybe the continued fighting in Norway spurred more and more families to leave for the fresh lands of Iceland, Ireland and even Vinland?

And what if England had never been reunited after the partition between the kings of England and Denmark? Would that mean no Hundred Years War, continued independence for its Celtic neighbours... no British Empire?

And what if Vinland had never been abandoned by the Norse. All the disease that decimated the native civilisations and paved the way for an easy conquest of America would have happened 500 years before Europe could properly exploit it...

Point of Divergence
Norway: 934 AD.

The union of Norwegian lands falls apart permanently under Harald Fairhair's sons. The breakdown of the kingdom into 3 parts creates havoc as the brothers continually fight for the crown.

The continued warfare destabilises the whole region. In OTL Sweden, King Eric V fails to unite Svealand and Gothenland in 970.

It also speeds up emigration to Iceland, the Western Island kingdoms, which means Iceland and Greenland 'fill up' quicker. When Vinland is discovered it is not abandoned as it is in OTL 1005. The subsequent interaction between native Leifians (OTL Native Americans) and Norse allows the natives to build up resistance to Old World diseases and eventually to have comparable military forces. The wheel, horses, wheat, iron etc spread from Vinland across the continents as far south as the Inca.

Relations between the Danes and Saxons in England are improved by the Danish opposition to the Norwegian kingdom of Jorvik. When Edmund II Ironside and Cnut divide England in 1016, it remains divided. Anglia retains a distinctly Scandinavian flavour whilst Wessex builds a empire in Northern France.

The scene is set for world that is far more fragmented and technologically backward than the OTL. For instance; France and Germany never unite into single states, meanwhile, inventors are just about perfecting the first automobiles and film cameras.

Timelines
I have split these up for now (just to keep me sane as I build them up).

Leifian timeline

Scandinavian/Eastern Europe Timeline

Britain/Western Europe Timeline

List of European Nations
(*) = denotes leagues of sovereign states

Leifia
Leifia (OTL North America) was discovered by the Norse explorer Leif Ericsson in 1003 AD. Population pressures from Iceland and Greenland led increasing numbers of Norse to settle on the island they called 'Vinland'. As settlement increased the Norse soon came into contact with native tribes, with whom they traded, taught European technologies and farming techniques to and unfortunately devastated due to the diseases they introduced. However over time the populations recovered, and with the new farming techniques, horses, livestock introduced from Europe and further South, this allowed the tribes to flourish and form into nations.

In the present day the nations of Leifia can be roughly split into three groups.
 * The North and East - roughly those either under the influence of Vinland or Aniyunwiya. These are mostly republics or constitutional monarchies. This group also includes the various Carib and Taino island properties of European powers like France, Castille, Leon and Iceland.
 * The South and Centre - roughly those either directly controlled or heavily in the orbit of Mexica and tend to be military dictatorships.
 * The West - a mix of republics and heavily autocratic monarchies generally aligned to the Chinese Empire.

Map & List of Leifian Nations

People
People

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