Columbus Day

October 12th, 2004

in 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in India. Although the voyage was hard, it did cut some time off the land route, and soon, the western trade to India, spearheaded by Columbus, outpaced the eastern. The only problem seemed to be that the western Indians were nothing like the eastern ones.

in 1492, after sighting no land for weeks, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria turn back to Spain. The crew had beheaded the captain, Columbus, and were unwilling to grant any more time to his foolish plans of finding a western route to India.

in 1492, Cristobal Colon planted the Italian flag on a small island on the far western edge of the Atlantic. Although he thought he had found a route to India, he had actually brought Italy an entirely new continent to subjugate. With the wealth of this New World, Italy became the most powerful nation in Europe, and its colonies spread across Colonia del Nord and Colonia del Sud.

in 897, after almost 2 months at sea, Ali ibn Rashid landed on an island in the western ocean. It was the first land he and his crew had spotted since leaving Espagne, and they rejoiced at the sight of it. The natives seemed to be fairly primitive, so Rashid brought them back with him to Espagne. With Rashid’s new land, Islam now circled the world.

in 11-13-12-4-4, the islands of the Yucatan Gulf sent word to the Emperor in Oezteca that strange barbarians had landed on their shores. The Emperor sent several warships, but the barbarians fled at the sight. The islanders told the sailors that the barbarians had been pale men with strange markings and color on their bodies; this disturbed the Emperor enough to place a permanent naval base in the Gulf.

in Hellenic Year 5253, Herakleus of Sparta’s expedition to seek the edge of the world found a land inhabited by a people that called themselves the Seneca, who were part of a larger polis known as Iroquois. Herakleus inquired about the edge of the world from them, but they had no knowledge of such a thing. Herakleus continued across the vast unknown continent, undaunted in his quest.

in 2245 AUC, Colonius Maximus Agrippa landed his vessels at what the ancient northern barbarians had called Vinland, and claimed it for the greater glory of the Republic of Rome. Vinland’s legend as a land of great bounty was sadly untrue, and Agrippa sent back word that the continent across the Atlantic seemed to be a frozen wasteland. Subsequent expeditions, though, found a more fertile country and civilized people to the south, and Rome soon had many ships plying the Atlantic to trade with them.

in 1997, an alternate historian tied the knot with a lovely songbird in a ceremony punctuated by beautiful singing. In another timeline, perhaps they have more mundane occupations…