What kind of world would we have today if the European never sailed across the ocean and discovered AMERICA?

Question

What would happen to the Native American civilization? Will they advance into modern civilization and become developed country? Or perhaps the Native American WERE the one who sailed across the ocean and discovered EUROPE?

What do you think will happen then? What's your argumentation? Will we have a better world now... or worse?

Answer 1

I think that contact between Europe and the Americas would eventually happen, but I think that the question in of itself would be really good to answer as I feel that there would be some unexpected results.

One of the consequences of the discovery of the Americas was a shake-up in the institution of the Roman Catholic Church. Before the Americas were found by Europeans, Christians felt that it had accomplished its goal of spreading the Gospel to the world. They pretty much believed that Muslims were following a false prophet, but at least they had the chance to convert. However, with the Americans, suddenly there was the realisation that they had been without the Gospel for centuries (LDS beliefs excluded). This caused a crisis of faith in the authority of the church hierarchy, which was a contributing factor in the Protestant Reformation. I will thus argue that if an attempt at Protestantism would have been made, it would have been unsuccessful due to smaller numbers.

This would obviously change the history of Europe totally. The German states would not have been ravaged by religious war. Henry VIII of England might have had to settle for a female heir in Mary, and the Inquisition might have expanded well outside of Iberia.

Other obvious results would include Spain not becoming a major power in 16th century Europe, although with Henry the Navigator's programme of trade, Portugal might have become ascendent. I could see Portugal and England vying for naval supremacy, with sea routes to India being the top prize.

I can also see the conquest of Grenada being a spark for a new series of Crusades, likely focusing on re-taking Constantinople from the Ottoman Empire. However, given the troubles that the Church was having with national rulers, it doubt that those would be anymore successful. Instead, I could see the foundation of the Church collapsing and perhaps a spread of Orthodox Christianity to the West.

And what of the Americas? That would be difficult to judge as we wouldn't know what the Aztec and Incan civilisations would have become. I could see the occassional rise of commerce, much like Cahokia near the Mississippi, but I think that North America would have been more or less status quo. However, this would have to be re-thought if Asians made their way to the Americas across the Pacific.

Answer 2

No one DISCOVERED America; it was already here when Europeans sailed over and began claiming the land as their own. But I agree with a previous answer that was given, it was eventually going to happen because the middle class in Europe wanted a taste of the riches being enjoyed by elites, so they began to look elsewhere for gold and other spices that would make them rich... The Americas became their next conquest because they wanted land, riches, and slaves to perform all the labor... essentially they subjugated an entire population of people that were living here (whom we now refer to as Native Americans), the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, and so on down the line and this was done through greed.

Answer 3

Well, it can probably be assumed that some other European would have made it anyway. There had already been Europeans at least as far back as the Vikings on North America; they just hadn't made a big deal of it. The Native Americans would have probably had just a matter of 100 years more at most to develop and probably would still have been wiped out.

Answer 4

There was no way to prevent Europeans from crossing the Atlantic. If Columbus hadn't done it the English or Dutch or Portuguese would have. Native Americans did not have the technology for an ocean voyage and even if they would have, the results would have been the same, because they would have brought Europeans and European diseases back to America with the same results.

Answer 5

I worked as an archaeologist for many years and believe me, the pre-Colombian civilizations were FAR from Utopian. There were many North American tribes that survived by preying on the more agrarian groups. Many South and Central American societies religions were based on death and fear and most self destructed before the arrival of Europeans.
The average love span of a Navajo was 28 years, Mayan 30 years and Mohawk 25 years.

Answer 6

A German map maker played a major role in getting the name of Amerigo Vespucci on the continent he wrote letters home about. Columbus had a different group of supporters with a different agenda. Many from Asia had come before but they did not take the same intiative in claiming ownership. So, who really OWNS this country now? I suppose your question will help the Bering Land Bridge gain more space in the textbooks being prepared for the next generation of parents, teachers, and screenwriters in schools now.

Answer 7

No one thought they would fall off the Earth. That is a myth that has sprung up recently. Basically, they assumed that there was nothing in between Asia and Europe in the Atlantic Ocean. They thought the Earth was much smaller in circumference than it actually was. When Columbus landed in the Caribbean, it makes perfect sense that he would think he was in Asia because he had traveled about the same distance that had been predicted. Unfortunately, he didn't know that the Earth was much bigger than he thought and that there was a huge continent in his way.

Answer 8

If European never discovered America ,then human beings live together in peace and harmony.

Answer 9

Well, we'd all be European living in castles or we'd all be Native Americans still living in huts.

Answer 10

I think we'd have been populated by Russians instead. I can't even guess, though, how they would have developed over 200 years.