In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He landed in the Caribbean and the rest is history. But what if that hadn't happened? What if Columbus was right about the size of the world, and his voyage took him to the East Indies, like he predicted? This timeline will explore the (historical, not scientific) consequences of a geographically different Earth where the Americas do not exist and Asia wraps around close to Europe.
Early Viking forays into Asia (1000)[]
The story of Columbus Was Right begins long before Columbus himself was born, during the age of the Vikings. Around AD 1000, a group of Vikings led by Leif Erikson land in far eastern Siberia. In the following years, the Vikings will raid up and down the coast of Siberia, as far south as the Kamchatka Peninsula. They set up a number of settlements on this continent, but eventually abandon them while their colonies recede to the British Isles.
Columbus' expedition (1492)[]
The story of Christopher Columbus' expedition is well-known. He received sponsorship from the royalty of Castile and went on a transoceanic voyage to the Orient. In this timeline, Columbus succeeds in his original goal of reaching the Indies, landing on the island of Samar in the Philippines 30 years before Magellan. But in the hostile, uncharted islands, he suffers a similar fate to Magellan. After trying to subdue one of the islands by force, Columbus is killed by a tribesman's arrow. His crew returns to Europe without him.
Columbus' legacy (1492-1600)[]
Following Columbus' expedition, Europe becomes aware of the continent on its doorstep. The response is much the same as in OTL, as the Europeans believed that it was indeed Asia that lay at the other end of the Atlantic until such theories were disproved by Amerigo Vespucci and others. Spain is the first to capitalize on this new knowledge, quickly conquering the Philippines by the 1520s.
Other European monarchies will soon follow suit, with Portuguese and English merchants becoming active in Manchuria and Siberia, and Dutchmen in Japan. Trade links between the Indies, China and Europe are immediately established, bypassing centuries-old overland routes and destroying the Muslim monopoly within a few short years. Australia is also discovered before the turn of the 17th century, with the fertile east coast becoming the site of a prosperous Portuguese colony.