Santa Cecilia

Points of Divergence
The original point of divergence is set 40 MYA, when the Santa Cecilia hotspot opened latitudinally, creating a divergent rigde and the formation of a barrier submarine volcano, akin to a much smaller version of the Siberian Traps. 20 million years after, this geologic accident would emerge to the surface, creating a fastly-growing island, which was easily colonized by neotropical vegetal and animal species in few millions of years. Still growing, the island reached a size comparable to Hainan in historic times (around 33.000 sq. km), but with a heavily sloped terrain, plenty of active volcanoes and rift valleys.

The first point of divergence happened in the mid 11th century C.E., when the growing population of Rapa Nui (Easter) Island sailed eastward to find another land to populate: while the northbound travellers found the coasts of South America and the much useful sweet potato which they bringed back to their islands, the southernmost adventurers were grabbed by the swirling currents of the South Pacific Gyre to the land they called Hou Hiva