The Colonization of the Western Hemisphere describes the history of the exploration, settlement, and establishment of control over the continents of Kolumbia (OTL North America) and Meridia (South America) by most of the naval powers of the “Old World”, particularly Europe.
Contact between the two hemispheres was first established as early as the 10th century with the Norse settlement of Greenland and later Vinland, however, these colonies did not lead to widespread settlement or the spread of knowledge about the new world to the east. Systematic colonization did not begin until 1491, with the discoveries made by Christopher Kolumbus and Nicholas Sommer on behalf of the Hanseatic League. Their expedition sailed west in the hopes of discovering a new trade route to the Far East, but instead landed in what became known to Europeans as the “New World”, and later the continents of Kolumbia and Meridia.
Norse Exploration[]
Norse explorers are the first known Europeans to set foot in the western hemisphere. The Norse first journeyed to Greenland from Iceland in the 980s, establishing a colony that would survive well into the era of greater European colonization of the continent. Additionally, around the year 1000 settlers from Greenland led by Leif Eriksson are believed to have first traveled west to what would become the New World, settling the territory of Vinland. Leif Eriksson’s contingent settled a number of small towns and trade posts, made contact with the native population, which they called skrælings, and opened up small scale trade between Vinland, Greenland, and Europe as a whole for a short time. Contact with Vinland was eventually lost for the most part by the 15th century. In the early 16th century European explorers rediscovered Vinland, discovering that the descendants of the original Norse settlers had survived and developed into their own distinct culture heavily infused with native Beothuk traditions.
Hanseatic Kolumbia[]
The expedition of Christopher Kolumbus and Nicholas Sommer began the Hanseatic League’s interest in the New World, although early colonies were primarily centered in the Caribbean and the northern coast of Meridia. The first Hanseatic colony in the north would not take shape until 1533, when the Hansa launched an expedition to the Outer Banks of what eventually became known as Carolingia (OTL Carolinas). A settlement in the Outer Banks, the town of New Hanover, would be christened the following year. Initially trade posts along the Kolumbian coast served as outposts between Meridia and Vinland for Hanseatic traders. Unlike colonies established further south, which were largely envisioned as lucrative plantations for sought after crops, the Hanseatic government envisioned Carolingia as a true settler colony; the growth of the Starkite movement prompted the government to seek a land where religious dissidents could be sent to, which many Starkite leaders found mutually appealing. Toward the end of 1534 a Starkite community led by Johann Schmied would lead the colonization of Roanoke Island.
The discovery of the New World coincided with the end of the reign of Henry VIII, Holy Roman Emperor, and he took a personal interest in the matter. In the year following the voyage’s return and while preparations were being made for a second voyage, Henry VIII traveled to Lübeck and met with the explorers and Hanseatic officials, where he bestowed a series of titles upon Kolumbus and Sommer. Henry VIII’s diplomatic mission was also partially motivated by the Emperor’s own mission to establish an Imperial Navy, which relied upon Hanseatic support. The Emperor’s adventure endeared him to the Hansa, and in 1492 the League agreed to transfer the island of Heligoland to the Emperor’s navy. Upon returning from his second voyage, Sommer would also gift a draft of his world map, which the Emperor displayed in the Reichstag in Frankfurt, while the newly founded Hanse Waffenfirma (Hanseatic Firearm Company) gifted the Emperor an artisanal hackenbüsche (arquebus) adorned with gold, iron, and red palmwood found in the New World.

German explorer Sebastian von Speyer leads an expedition around the northern Chesapeake, 1543.
In part due to Henry VIII’s early intervention, and also due to the environment it was born out of, the Hanseatic colonies adopted many of the customs of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1492 the Emperor drafted an edict addressing the Imperial military, which also carried a handful of terms regarding the new discoveries. These terms would have great ramifications for the future colonies, and would be later expanded upon. In particular, a trend began in which the many titles of nobility and honor associated with the ancient empire would be transferred to the New World as well. Explorers, leaders, and key figures of merit in the development of New World colonies would see their efforts rewarded with hereditary positions much like those in Germany, embedding a partially feudal, albeit far more liberated, theme upon Hanseatic Kolumbia. Additionally, in an effort to quickly expand their colonies in competition with the Spanish, the Hanseatic League would begin a policy of awarding grants of land to settlers from various German communities outside the Hansa itself. This would lead to a patchwork of settlements all dependent upon and nominally a part of an overlord Hanseatic colony, but locally segregated based on nationality and religion.
Colonies such as New Hanover and Burkhart (OTL Lejeune) remained highly Hanseatic, while around the same time the lands further south (OTL Myrtle Beach) were first settled by Saxons and Poles, the southern Chesapeake Bay was settled by Rhinelanders and Thuringians, and the northern coast of the bay was settled by Bohemian settlers. Appointments by the Hansa itself tended to be more republican and meritocratic, while appointments by the imperial government were often granted to people of noble birth or great wealth in Europe. By the late 1500s, as the Empire competed with Sweden and England for the Chesapeake, titles of nobility became more structured. For example, the settlement of the Chesapeake involved the promise to grant the title of “Baronet” to any man who settled and supported eight or more people, or financially supported the settlement of eight people while in Kolumbia, knightship for any man who led a settling or successful expedition of discovery (based on the value of returned goods), and the title of freiherr to the founders of cities and key defensive installations.
In 1547 following the Kerpen War religious violence in the Hanseatic League was intensified, and the League hoped to alleviate tensions by both establishing penal colonies for dissidents, and also safe havens for religious minorities so that they would leave Europe. The earlier, decentralized approach in Carolingia was augmented by stated-sponsored projects and government-supported charters. In 1547 a colony was established on the upper half of the Petronellia peninsula (OTL Delmarva) as a colony primarily for Catholics exiled in the wake of the Hansa’s protestantization. Additionally, multiple joint-stock guilds established in Germany competed for exclusive rights to colonize select areas, leading to the establishment of the Hamburg Company in 1540 and the Carolingian Company in 1546. These two companies established competing colonies in northern Carolingia focused on the raising of lucrative cash crops.
In 1548 the Hamburg Company established the settlement of Neueden (OTL Edenton), however the colony failed within a year. Upon the arrival of new settlers the following summer the colony was restarted, but by 1560 only some 400 settlers remained out of a total of 1,500 transported to the region. The colony struggled for the next decade, primarily surviving through trade with native populations and the selling of excess crops to plantations in the Carribean. It would not be until the introduction of tobacco that the colony began to thrive. The settlement also paled in comparison initially to the success of the nearby Sommer Isles Company, centered on Bermuda. Although Bermuda pioneered the growing of tobacco as an engine for economic growth, it was later outpaced by colonies in the Caribbean and in southern Carolingia, although the Sommer Isles Company prudently expanded there as well, staving off bankruptcy. The settlers of Bermuda would organize themselves into a diet in 1578 and petition the revocation of the Sommer Isles’ charter, transitioning from an economy based on agriculture to one of shipbuilding. The native juniper of the islands, nicknamed the Bermuda Cedar, proved to be excellent timber for ships, and Bermuda became a hub of local shipbuilding, trade, and maritime activities, such as whaling and privateering.
The Carolingian Company had success as well, settling the town of Jasmund (OTL Jamestown) upon a defensible island along the River Rhoda (OTL James River). The location would be a strategic choice, defended on each side by the river, and devoid of any native populations due to the area’s swampy and isolated features. However, this made farming difficult at first, and by 1550 about half the settlement’s initial population had died. However, surviving into that summer they were greeted by ships carrying several northern German and Czech craftsmen, who replenished the settlement’s population and established glassware as a foremost Carolingian product for exportation back to Europe. In 1551 the dire conditions forced a number of foreign settlers to defect to the local Powhatan tribe, bringing their equipment and supplies with them. Unsatisfied with the poor performance of the colony thus far, the Carolingian Company dispatched another group of settlers to the colony, along with leader Sir Reinhard Maack and other dignitaries, with set instructions to hopefully turn the colony profitable and self-sufficient.
This expedition would become separated by a storm, leading to nearly half the expected forces for Jasmund landing instead at Bermuda. Maack arrived in Jasmund in early August bringing much needed supplies and soldiers to defend the colony, while the detachment from Bermuda did not arrive until the following spring. Under Maack’s leadership the colony slowly rebounded. The “Ancient Planters” class was created to describe the most senior settlers with the largest farm plots, and the first tobacco seeds were planted at the colony. In 1554 another expedition landed on the southern end of the cape and explored the interior, calling the region Jinramys (OTL Cape Henry). Over the course of the next decade land would be cleared and numerous plantations would be established all along the River Rhoda centered around a series of forts, such as Jasmund. This expansion quickly soured relations with the native Powhatan Confederacy, leading to the first widespread outbreak of violence between the colonies and the natives.
Following the Eight Years’ War, which saw the Hanseatic League and Sweden go to war, several prominent towns in Carolingia became increasingly autonomous. In 1598, as the Forty Years’ War damaged the Hanseatic holdings, the city of Halbmond became the first settlement in Carolingia to model itself after the Free Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire and declare itself an “independent city”, separate from the colony, beginning a trend among major cities outside the control of the overarching governor to become self governing, and adding another level of complexity to German polities in the New World.
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