Roland Clarke's Blog, page 44

U is for Uppsala

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

U is for Uppsala: 19 March 1756, Uppsala, Sweden –  Renowned Swedish mathematician and scientist, Samuel Klingenstierna, invites German-born engineer and entrepreneur, Carl Wilhelm Siemens, from his adopted home in northern Albion to Uppsala University. His contacts at St Andrews University in Scotland say that Siemens has been experimenting on improving the blister and cast steel production.

Setting up a site on the edge of eastern banks of the River Fyris, with access to Uppsala’s trade centre, Klingenstierna ensures ready access by water to Sweden’s phosphorus-free ore. At the new works, Siemens succeeds in manufacturing quality durable steel efficiently and sustainably using a regenerative furnace, or open hearth process.

Siemens calculates that the furnace recovers enough heat to save 70–80% of the fuel. Applying the knowledge that he gained as a student at St Andrews, where energy and fuel saving was taught as a primary endeavour, he has discarded the older notions of heat as a substance and accepted it as a form of energy. The two scientists combine forces to revolutionise and advance the production of steel and the efficient use of steam engines, essential to Nordic trade and industrialisation

[image error]

Uppsala in the 18th century – Elias Martin – Malmo museum (Public domain)

 

In our timeline: One of the earliest forms of steel, blister steel, began production in Germany and England in the 17th century and then improved as cast-steel, but the cost ensured that was only ever used in speciality applications. The first major breakthrough was in 1856 when Henry Bessemer came up with a more effective way to introduce oxygen into molten iron in order to reduce the carbon content – the Bessemer Process. In the 1860s, German engineer Carl Wilhelm Siemens further enhanced steel production through his creation of the regenerative furnace or open-hearth process, which largely replaced the Bessemer Process.

Samuel Klingenstierna was a very renowned Swedish mathematician and scientist, and a professor at Uppsala University from 1728-1752.

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

T is for Texas

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

T is for Texas: 1836 – Thirty-three years after the Dixie States acquired territory from France by the Louisiana Purchase, the Mēxihcans attempt to claim Texas. The port of New Orleans is no longer in Kanatian hands, as it was the only concession that the Dixies received after invading the Chesapeake Bay area in 1812 and instead lost their capital at Richmond in the peace talks. From their new capital in Memphis, the Dixie States control the Mississippi all the way to the Gulf of Mēxihco, but Kanata still has trading posts all along the coast.

On the 13 February 1836, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna leads a Mēxihca army of six thousand troops north to wipe out the massively outnumbered Texian army garrisoned at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio de Béxar.  From there, seizing Texas will be straightforward. However, the unusually low temperatures in Texas, including snow, slow his progress and he is unaware that Kimantsi scouts have detected the army as it heads north and alerted the Mjölnir Militia at the trading post on the Nueces estuary. As the senior merchant, Donat Migisi values dealing with the Texians over the Mēxihcans. Kanata is anxious to see the buffer territory in the south of the continent strengthened.

With two hundred Kimantsi and Mjölnir guerrillas divided into two groups, Santa Anna’s army is harassed by a fast-moving enemy. After two weeks of ceaseless assaults, and with his forces disillusioned, Santa Anna reaches the Medina, where a final ambush decimates the invaders and only a thousand remain. The delays allow reinforcements from the other Dixie States to reach the Alamo, along with another fifty Mjölnir Militia led by Donat’s sister, Daina. Traps are set everywhere from covered pits, fire trenches and barricades creating pinch points for sharpshooters. The harassed army is driven forward by relentless marauders, and Santa Anna is forced to sue for peace. “We’ve ensured the Mexicans remember the Alamo, and remember to stay south of the Nueces,” say Colonels Travis and Bowie.

 

[image error]

The Fall of the Alamo, painted by Theodore Gentilz in 1844, depicting the Alamo complex from the south. The Low Barracks, the chapel. and the wooden palisade connecting them are in the foreground. – Texas State Library – Public Domain.

 

In our timeline: Richmond, Virginia was the most permanent capital of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Although 25% of the city’s buildings were destroyed, by departing Confederate troops, the city recovered – as did Washington which the British burnt during the War of 1812, when the US invaded the British provinces of Canada.

Memphis did see some action during the Civil War as a strategic location on transportation routes. Its access by water was key to its initial development, with steamboats plying the Mississippi river. Railroad construction strengthened its connection to other markets to the east and west.

Tragically, “Remember the Alamo” is linked to a heroic but bloody defeat of the brave Texian defenders under Colonels Travis and Bowie. Snow did hamper the Mexican army, and Comanche warriors did harass the advancing troops, many of whom were conscripts, but the reinforcements were delayed and there were Mexican settlers in Texas spreading false information as well as spying for Santa Anna. Texian Army General Sam Houston was only able to exact revenge afterwards, at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Could the combined strategies of the Kimantsi warriors and the Mjölnir Militia with their generations of elite fighting prowess have bought the crucial time for the reinforcements? Was Kanata correct to side with a neighbour that had invaded them twenty-four years earlier?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

S is for Stadacona

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

S is for Stadacona: 13 September 1759 – France has been making desperate attempts to expand its territories in North America, but Captain Benning Migisi and his Odawa militia lieutenant, Obwandiyag, watch at night from their ship as French scouts scale the cliff onto the plains beyond Stadacona, capital of Kanata [Quebec City]. Benning, Obwandiyag, and their force of Mjölnir Militia attack the French scouts but encounter other French troops. They evade French patrols to reach their own lines and warn the Kanatian commander, General Jakob Ulve, of the impending French assault.

On the morning of the 13 September, the Kanatian forces, regular and Mjölnir Militia, repel the repeated attacks of the French. However, Benning Migisi dies saving his friend Obwandiyag, and in his dying breath says, “We are one people. We are one within Manitou’s sight.”

This is the last attempt by the French to invade Kanatian soil, although the Dixie States declare war on their northern neighbours forty-three years later.

 

[image error]

Death of General Wolfe (1770) – Artist: Benjamin West (1738-1820) – National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario – Public Domain.

 

In our timeline: On the 13 September 1759, at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, British forces led by General James Wolfe successfully resisted the column advance of French troops and Canadien militia under General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm. Wolfe received three gunshot wounds that ended his life within minutes of the beginning of the engagement and Montcalm died the next morning after receiving a musket ball wound just below his ribs. In the wake of the battle, the French evacuated the city; their remaining military force in Canada and the rest of North America came under increasing pressure from British forces.

France ceded most of its possessions in eastern North America to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris. However, from 1763 to 1791, the British retained Quebec as the capital of the Province of Quebec; from 1791 to 1841, it was the capital of Lower Canada; from 1852 to 1856 and from 1859 to 1866, it was capital of the Province of Canada; and since 1867, it has been capital of the Province of Quebec.

As Kanata chose Stadacona (Quebec City) as their capital and major trading port, would there have been other nations that would attack the city? Or would the 1759 victory have been sufficient deterrent, except for the Dixie States?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

R is for Rurikid Diarchy

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

R is for Rurikid Diarchy: 23 April 1933, Kiev – With the peaceful future of international relations thriving after the creation of the Union of World Nations in 1930, Tsaritsa Irina Feodorovna, co-ruler of the Rurikid Diarchy agrees with her co-ruler Patriarch Yaroslav Pieracki of the Kievan Orthodox Church that they should abdicate in favour of a true democracy. Despite the opposition of Georgian authoritarian, Josef Stalin, her Ukrainian advisors, Dariya Stasiuk and Havryil Chayka, draw up a constitution that addresses the existence in the Rurikid territories of various ethnic groups and states, using the example set by their trading partner, Kanata.

Fears of another European war diminish with the successful election of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, and the defeat of the Nazi party struggling after the death from syphilis of their psychotic leader Adolf Hitler.

A year later the Rurikid Confederation is born, with the Tsaritsa agreeing to represent Rurikid and perform speeches or attend any important ceremonial events as a symbolical guide to the people, but she agrees to hold no actual power in decision-making, appointments, etcetera. The Rurikid dynasty has ruled the Rus territories since 862, when her Varangian ancestor, Prince Rurik, originally from Norway, settled Novgorod before conquering Kievan Rus′.

 

[image error]

Millenium of Russia monument in Novgorod with Prince Rurik at the centre and Vladimir the Great at the left and Dmitry Donskoy at the right (both Rurikids) – Creative Commons

In our timeline: The Rurikid Dynasty was founded by the Varangian Prince Rurik, around the year 862, and they ruled in parts of Russia for over 700 years. The Varangians was a name given to the Vikings by the East Slavs and Greeks. Many served as mercenaries with the Byzantine Empire.

 

The last Tsars, the Romanovs, were descended from the Rurikids through marriage, but their reign ended with the Russian Revolution in 1917. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was a Georgian by birth and took part in the Revolutions of 1917. He was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Some have argued that he would have forced his way into power under any system and was never a true communist.

The Russian Orthodox Church was founded around 988 and survived through the Soviet period despite persecution. Some of the former states now have separate Orthodox Churches over which the ROC does not have full autonomy, notably the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Social Democratic Party of Germany was the main opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, but in 1930, its deputies were either arrested or fled into exile. Adolf Hitler is reputed to have had various medical conditions, including syphilis.

Could a move to genuine democracy in Germany and Russia, and the death of Hitler, have avoided World War II? What kind of influence could a Kanata Confederation with allies in Northern Europe have wielded?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

Q is for Quipaipan

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

Q is for Quipaipan: April 1532 – On Quipaipan, the plains west of Cusco in Peru, the two brothers, Huáscar and Atahualpa, sons of Huayna Capac, gather their armies to decide the succession to the throne of the Inca Empire. However, a diplomatic delegation from Kanata with experience of the Spanish attempts to subvert the indigenous tribes of the region persuades them to unite their forces in the face of a deadlier and wilier enemy.

Swayed by the wisdom and the trade agreements offered by the Kanatians, the Inca Empire reunites, and with an army of over 300,000 prepares for the devious invaders. The Incas stand firm when Francisco Pizarro and his small force of fewer than 200 Spaniards meets Atahualpa and Huáscar in Cajamarca, on 16 November 1532. The Spanish are outwitted and only achieve minor recognition, being granted permission to establish a trading post in the capital city of Cuzco, operated under Inca regulations.

[image error]

Portrait of Atahualpa, drawn from life, by a member of Pizarro’s detachment. 1533. Source: Book of Liselotte Engel. (Public domain)

In our timeline: The Inca Civil War was fought between the two half-brothers, Huáscar and Atahualpa, sons of Huayna Capac, over the succession to the throne of the Inca Empire. The Battle of Quipaipan was the final battle of the civil war and Atahualpa’s generals won a decisive victory. Atahualpa should have become sole ruler of the mighty Inca Empire had he not been captured himself by Francisco Pizarro in Cajamarca. Although the Spaniards had fewer than 200 soldiers and the Incas 6,000 in Cajamarca, the Spanish were victorious by preparing an ambush and as the Incas were complacent. Pizarro then captured and ransomed Atahualpa, using him to control the empire until the ransom was paid. Then he had Atahualpa garrotted. Within fifty years the Spanish managed to conquer the whole of the Inca Empire.

If Kanata was an alliance of Norse settlers, indigenous tribes and other Europeans, how realistic is it that they could prepare the Incas and the others for the Spaniards – presuming experience with other tribes in Central America? Would the Kanatians appear European or more native? What trading benefits could they offer?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

P is for Plague

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

P is for Plague: 15 July 1350 – Fannar Ingolfsson, a Migisi Rederi merchant, is delivering a cargo of timber to Hellnar in Iceland when he meets a Sámi wise man, Rástoš Dávgon.  Rástoš warns him that a deadly plague is sweeping through Europe, including Scandinavia. European ‘scientific’ experts are blaming a conjunction of three planets, while other Christians are persecuting groups like the Jews for this evil. However, nothing has halted the disease. But from all he has gleaned from reports and observations, it spread from across central Asia, fed by the unsanitary conditions in the cities. He believes that other creatures can carry the disease, especially dogs and rats. Fortunately, cold conditions and isolation hinder the ‘black death’, and Iceland has been spared so far

Fannar recognises that Rástoš is a shaman, so as a follower of the old religion he asks if the spirits have told him what to do. The shaman has been directed to help Kanata as their people could be most vulnerable, although the mix of Norse blood and indigenous carries a valuable essence that will save them. He has already told those that will listen that cleanliness is crucial, bodies must be burnt by fire, although without sacrificing precious timber. Finally, stray animals of all types must be destroyed. Fannar adds that rats use mooring ropes to enter ships so the crews of all ships, especially fellow merchants, must be vigilant.

Rástoš sails with Fannar back to Kanata to alert and prepare the people in the Americas.

 

[image error]

World distribution of plague, 1998. from U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public domain.

 

In our timeline: The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe in the years 1346–1353. The plague probably originated in Central Asia and travelled along the trade routes. Unsanitary conditions in Europe saw repeated outbreaks through to the 17th century, including in Iceland.

Burning bodies, controlling rodents and stray dogs, sanitation and cleanliness were rarely seen as solutions when it was easier to blame others or devils, and bury the dead or leave them rotting so scavengers could spread the disease further. Even the idea that cold or even freezing conditions can hinder or stop the disease is recent. Although there are some treatments for ‘plague’, including insecticides and a moderately effective vaccine, there are places that are still having outbreaks. Plague hovers in the shadows by many accounts: “The thought of another worldwide pandemic of Plague that is resistant to modern medical treatment boggles the mind.”

The plague was only one of the diseases that devastated the indigenous population of the Americas. The genetic makeup of Europeans made them less susceptible to other diseases, such as smallpox, and a greater percentage of them could develop immunity. The Native Americans were from a smaller gene pool. Another factor was that the indigenous people had not domesticated animals in such an extensive way as Europeans – domesticated animals were disease carriers, but also ironically one source of vaccines.

Would more of the indigenous population of the Americas have survived the diseases if they were prepared? Would the earlier introduction of European genes, and domesticated animals have introduced a level of immunity?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

O is for Ottoman Republic

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

O is for Ottoman Republic: February 18, 1856 – In agreement with the international community, headed by Kanata, Albion, France, and the Rurikids, Ottoman statesman, Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, announces that Jerusalem and the port of Jaffa, plus the land between them, are to become a Free Protectorate, open to all religions, especially as the area was sacred to many faiths. A founding new edict, “granted that all forms of religion could be freely worshipped, no subject could be hindered in the exercise of the religion, nor be in any way annoyed. No one shall be compelled to change their religion.”

Furthermore, the area would operate as a free trade area in line with the Kalmar League and protected by all the members of the League. All the neighbouring nations, including Egypt, agreed to this arrangement and both Christian and Jews began to freely return to the Protectorate.

 

[image error]

Mehmed Emin Aali Pasha (1815-18710

 

In our timeline: Jerusalem was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1917, although from 1831 to 1840 the Viceroy of Egypt annexed the city. Some improvements to the city were made and Christians and Jews did return, although, under the British mandate from 1917, problems flared between the religious communities.  Attempts to reach an international settlement after the First World War proved fraught with problems, which still remain.

Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha was one of the Ottoman Empire’s most enlightened statesman and some would say one of the architects of many of the reforms that led to the founding of modern Turkey.

Could a different attempt by the international community to resolve the Palestine-Israel question have been resolved? Could the Kalmar Union have evolved into an early League of Nations/United Nations with the power to avoid some of the conflicts that have ravaged our timeline? Or is that repetitive conflict inevitable and escalating?

 

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

N is for Nanwalek

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

N is for Nanwalek:  20 August 1415 – A decrease in the summer Arctic ice, and news via the Kalmar Union that Rus traders have opened a north-eastern passage that might connect to Kanata, has encouraged Kanatian explorers to find a north-west passage.

Using ice-breaking ships that combine lateen rigs and the ‘kochi’ technology of the Rus, Danish-Venetian navigator Jannick Chabotto has guided a fleet of five ships with merchant-adventurer Sacagawea Migisi, through to open water. Approaching a strait [Bering Straits] that could lead into the Cathay Ocean, they espy a fleet of four Rus traders flying the flag of the Rurikid Dynasty. They follow them into the port of Nanwalek, where the Rus leader Semyon Dezhnyov is fascinated to meet a mixed blood Mjölnir commander. and a detachment of Mjölnir Militia comprising various nationalities. However, everyone agrees that the trading post of Nanwalek must remain under the control of the indigenous Sugpiat people. But the Kanatians and Rus vow to explore the Cathay Ocean.

 

[image error]

John Cabot in traditional Venetian garb by Giustino Menescardi (1762). A mural painting in the ‘Sala dello Scudo’ in the Palazzo Ducale. (Public domain)

In our timeline: In 1786, Nanwalek, Alaska became a Russian trade post called Point Alexandrovski using the indigenous people to harvest sea-otter furs. On 30 March 1867, Alaska was sold by Russia to the United States. Locals changed the community name to Nanwalek, meaning “place by lagoon,” in the language of the Sugpiat.

 

Semyon Dezhnyov (c. 1605 – 1673) was a Russian polar explorer and the first Russian to find the Bering Straits. He was also a Pomor, whose people developed the ‘koch’ icebreaking ships.

The Venetian Zuan Chabotto – known in English as John Cabot – was the first recorded European, in 1497, to search for the North-West Passage.  The first crossing solely by ship was the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1903–1905. He used a small ship and hugged the coast. In contrast, the Russian-Siberian route involves far fewer islands and narrow straits so it is not surprising that the Russians discovered the Bering Straits first. However, the north-west coast of North America was explored by both the Spaniards and the British in the late 18th century.

If Viking descendants from Russia and Kanata met, would they be amicable merchants or bitter rivals? Would they have a common language after 400 years? Modern Scandinavians are pretty smart about understanding each other given the Old Norse roots of their languages.

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

M is for Maid of Norway

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

M is for Maid of Norway:  8 July 1317 – Dunfermline Palace, Scotland: Margaret of Scotland, known as The Maid of Norway’ due to her birthplace, and her husband, Edvard II of England have united the lands of Albion with their marriage in 1300 and established diplomatic marriages with influential nobles. Christina, the daughter of their Lord Protector in Scotland, Robert the Bruce, is married to their son Alexander, and the Bruce has invited them back to the royal residence.

They are introduced to the scholar Cináed Giselbert who has travelled extensively from the heartlands of Kanata to the academic centres of the Islamic caliphates. He claims that an integrated, holistic view of science is the way forward. His observations have led to some conclusions that could benefit Albion and its allies. The charcoal and tar industries thrive under the support of enlightened merchants. But he has observed that burning timber, most especially in funeral pyres, wastes gases and vapours that are blown away in the wind. He demonstrates a device based on ancient drawings that can harness these gases and vapours. But he apologises that it is crude and craves support from the monarchs and their supporters, saying that other scholars share his beliefs. Margaret persuades Edvard to found a scholastic guild of higher learning in St Andrews, where Cináed Giselbert can gather other academics, explore devices to enhance society, and pass on their knowledge to students.

 

[image error]

Stained glass window depicting Margaret, Maid of Norway, who was briefly Queen regnant of Scotland.  Creative Commons Attribution – Colin Smith

 

In our timeline: Undiscovered Scotland – “Margaret, Maid of Norway lived from 9 April 1283 to 26 September 1290 and was Queen of Scotland from 19 March 1286 to 26 September 1290. She was the granddaughter of Alexander III [of Scotland]. …In September 1290, Margaret set sail in a Norwegian ship from Bergen … Storms drove the ship off course to Orkney, and it eventually landed at St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay. Here Margaret, Maid of Norway, died, apparently from the effects of sea-sickness, still aged only eight. Had her marriage to [the future] Edward {II] gone ahead, the crowns of Scotland and England would have been united some three hundred years earlier than they eventually were, in 1603. And three hundred years of bloody history would probably have been very different.”

St Andrews University was not founded until 1413, after Oxford (1167), Cambridge (1209), and Northampton (1261).

Charcoal production is an ancient method of fuel production from wood that does require careful forest management, and in Britain led to extensive coppicing, as well as deforestation when demand exceeded demand. Similar deforestation occurred in Scandinavia and Finland where charcoal was a by-product of wood tar production. Charcoal is produced most extensively today in Brazil where it is used to transform ore into pig iron, and from there into mass-produced steel.

The first efficient steam engine to be applied industrially was designed by Thomas Savery in 1698. However, there were some ancient designs.

Aeon – In ‘Could we reboot a modern civilization without fossil fuels’, Lewis Dartnell writes, “Another, related option might be wood gasification. The use of wood to provide heat is as old as mankind, and yet simply burning timber only uses about a third of its energy. The rest is lost when gases and vapours released by the burning process blow away in the wind. Under the right conditions, even smoke is combustible. We don’t want to waste it.” Later, he writes, “For a society to stand any chance of industrialising under such conditions, it would have to focus its efforts in certain, very favourable natural environments: not the coal-island of 18th-century Britain, but perhaps areas of Scandinavia or Canada that combine fast-flowing streams for hydroelectric power and large areas of forest that can be harvested sustainably for thermal energy.”

Could Kanata industrialise itself if its inventors, like Cináed Giselbert, take the correct steps along a different energy path, focusing more on renewable wood derived fuel than coal? In my 2020 scenario, solar has become a major source, but how could they get there without ravaging the planet?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

L is for Louisiana Purchase

[image error]

My 2017 A to Z Challenge theme is “The History of Kanata”, the parallel world that is the setting for “Eagle Passage”, my alternative history novel that all began when I wondered, “What would have happened if Leif Eriksson had settled Vinland permanently in 1000 AD? For further details and links to my other A to Z posts – and hints at the ones to come visit “Kanata – A to Z Challenge 2017”.

[image error]

L is for Louisiana Purchase: 20 December 1803 – After eleven months of protracted negotiations, Darja Migisi is relieved when the French government formally hand over control of the Île d’Orléans to Kanata, after numerous hostile encounters all around the Louisiana and Atlantic coast ever since Napoleon Bonaparte and Spain have been attempting to disrupt the region. However, Kanata’s southern neighbours, the Dixie States, under their President, Thomas Jefferson, have offered the Napoleonic government money for all the French land settled along the Mississippi river as far as the Kanata border, knowing that the Emperor needs money to finance his European wars. The Mexican government under Governor Cuauhtémoc de Salcedo countered by offering bullion for all the land where they have settlements, although the Dixie States have made significant inroads west, mainly into Texas and Oklahoma. Darja Migisi and the Kanatian delegation are concerned that these complex land issues cannot be settled so easily, especially when almost all the land is still settled by their indigenous brethren. But for now, the greatest concerns are the ambitions of France. However, with the Mesoamerican power blocs co-operating with the Iberian crowns conflict will be hard to avoid. At least, Kanata is granted the right to patrol the Mississippi and control trade through Île d’Orléans, now called New Orleans. Whether the Dixie States will accept their influence might be another point of conflict in later years.

[image error]

The Louisiana Purchase. Projection = USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic (EPSG: 102003) – Sources: Natural Earth and Portland State University. Author – William Morris

 

In our timeline: The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 was by far the largest territorial gain in U.S. history. Stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, the purchase doubled the size of the United States. Before 1803, Louisiana had been under Spanish control for forty years. Although Spain aided the rebels in the American Revolutionary War, the Spanish didn’t want the Americans to settle in their territory.

The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was among Jefferson’s most notable achievements as president. American expansion westward into the new lands began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial government was established. On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years after the Louisiana Purchase agreement was made, the first state to be carved from the territory–Louisiana–was admitted into the Union as the 18th U.S. state.

[Wikipedia and History.com]

Would the Dixie States and the Mesoamerican nations accept Kanata controlling the main port on the Gulf Coast as well as the key inland waterway? Or is war between them inevitable?

***

Important Links for the A to Z Challenge – please use these links to find other A to Z Bloggers

Website: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/atozchallenge/

Twitter handle: @AprilAtoZ

Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge