The Age of Discovery

[[wcip]Angel]

Are you trying to say that the Chinese boats were Junk ? ;)

No I never said that. In fact, some of the books I've read clearly stated that the Chinese boats were some of the largest ever in naval history.

Contrafactual question (A big no-no for us historians) : What would've happened if Columbus would've been successful in establishing trade relations with the native population of the Americas in 1492?

1. Relations between the two people would've been vastly better than what it turned out.
2. Cortéz and his fleet probably wouldn't have conquered and colonised America in 1519.
3. The European cruel treatment of native Americans would never have taken place.
4. A mutual respect between America's and Europe's people would have prevented the slaughter of millions of indians when the English set foot on Plymoth rock some time later.
5. European settlers and native Americans would have coexisted in peace due to this mutual respect and native Americans wouldn't have the position they hold in American society today.

That's one mighty leap of faith :) (Believe me, this was just for my amusement, and although I will mention this contrafactual train of thought briefly in my essay, I will also stress how unlikely these things get the more you keep adding conditions and "what ifs".)