Lands of Red and Gold
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Valdemar II
Banned
It was only brought in because of large scale European settlent, something which is much more unlikely in TTL.
Hm, potatoes I don't understand (well, maybe being Irish has something to do with that), but I do kind of understand why people would not want to replace wheat with corn. As a southerner, I've had rather a lot of cornbread over the years, and it has universally been pretty terrible as bread. Very crumbly, tends to break rather easily. Wheat bread just doesn't behave the same way, making it much easier to store and better to use as bread. Of course, nowadays it wouldn't make much sense to replace wheat with corn since we have massive food surpluses in most areas where that's even a concern, and the prices are probably not that great.Jared said:
Some brief googling indicates that the problems with potatoes were about the unfamiliarity and shape of the tuber, and lack of knowledge of how to prepare and cook them.
Of course, by 1625 some countries were starting to come to terms with potatoes, so red yams may have more luck. Yams also have a somewhat stronger and slightly sweeter flavour than potatoes, which may help.
One of the big barriers about wattleseeds will actually be their colour. With flour, the expectation was that the whiter, the better. Darker flour was seen as food for peasants. Wattleseeds are usually black or very dark. This may be seen as unappetising.
However, there are a few places where this sort of cuisine is likely to be appealling. Southern Iberia, especially certain parts of Portugal where the oily nature of wattleseeds will fit right in. From there, they may well diffuse across the Med.
The point about lack of gluten is also important. Wattleseeds can be combined with wheat or other glutenous flours, which will help, but it may require some changes in the cuisine of leavened bread cultures before it is taken up. For instance, they can just cook it with a small amount of eggs, which would work reasonably well for baking.
They will help if those cultures can be persuaded that vegetables are worth eating. In many cultures of this period, meat and bread was seen as the preferred food; vegetables were what peasants ate.
The other crop worth considering here is murnong. It's not quite as good as red yams in terms of yield, but in flavour it's a lot stronger, and also has varieties which can be grown further north than yams. It may spread into northern Europe, which would add to the carrying capacity there, although it will probably lose out eventually to the potato, which is even more useful in those climes.
I do try...
I haven't forgotten them; this is one of the main thoroughfares for the Indian Ocean slave trade, among much else. At this point, though, I think that most of the Indian Ocean trade was in Portuguese hands, or at least they had a lot of influence. They controlled Zanzibar and Muscat at this point, and had various outposts in the Persian Gulf. Oman would gradually begin to replace them later in the century, though.
Very much so. Yams are much like potatoes, which need less infrastructure before cooking them. Wattleseeds need somewhat more work, but they don't need irrigation works or anything extensive like that. They can be planted and then mostly left alone until it comes time to shake them down for seed pods.
The Aururian crops are at their most useful in subtropical regions, particularly low-rainfall regions where they can out-compete just about any other crop. I'm not sure if they would grow that well in East Africa or Angola - too close to the equator. Red yams don't grow within the tropics at all, although some of the other crops probably would grow.
I actually think that the Mahgreb would be one area which would benefit considerably from Aururian crops. These are plants which can be grown without irrigation in areas with rainfall above 250mm or so, and there's a fair chunk of the Mahgreb where that would work.
Quite possibly sugar production will move to Brazil in the short term, but there are several advantages to growing sugar on the Caribbean islands. Not least because they are islands; runaway slaves were a major problem in Brazil. In the longer-term, I'd still expect sugar to develop in the Caribbean; the potential demand in Europe is huge even with a reduced population.
Hmm, lower population meaning more areas of sheep ranching? Or, possibly, if cotton isn't being grown and slaves are hard to come by, maybe North America turns into one big sheep ranch. That would make wool the fibre of the Industrial Revolution.
Depends on how much land the Dutch get, I suppose. They will have a few trading posts at the very least, probably forts, and those may well bring their own cattle with them for cheese-making, so the knowledge may spread a bit.
Good point. The domesticated species of Australian duck comes from a wild ancestor which is a very good grazer, and which incidentally needs virtually no contact with water. (Even in the wild, they are rarely seen in the water.) So, different domesticated animals for different situations.
Good point, and it also makes me wonder where the world is going to get its wool from, if not Australia. Once again, North America is sounding tempting...
Hmm. Many of the settlers of the New Netherlands were not themselves Dutch-speaking; there were a lot of French-speaking Walloons and Germans, for instance. Quite a few English speakers, too. There were some Dutch settlers, of course, but they may well find themselves in the minority.
I'm also not so sure that large-scale English colonisation won't happen. The religious tensions weren't going away, and in any case plenty of the early settlers themselves were not moving for religious reasons. So English colonisation may be delayed due to Aururian diseases, of course, but those diseases will also hit the potential colonist base of the New Netherlands, so that may even out.
There is going to be a flood of gold and silver from Aururia, though. A lot of this will end up in Asia - which was a silver sink in OTL - but I'd still expect a lot to flow through to Europe, too. So deflation probably won't be a problem; if there's enough Aururian gold in Europe, inflation might be a bigger concern.
Although Europe was still plagued by famines, despite low food prices. It's odd, but whatever the reason, it may well mean that the Ottomans take up the new crops before they spread into much of Europe.
700? I'm glad I don't have to draw the guide for that map.
Pomerania is going to be interesting. I suspect that the butterflies won't really start to hit Europe until after 1625, so the Danish intervention at least is likely to go ahead. Sweden is iffier, and France even less likely to join in. Saxony might be another interesting story, too.
I have worked out the fate of a couple of royal lines already, incidentally, but I'll have to figure out another way to consider most of them.
Aururian crops are very good dryland crops, though. Drought-tolerant, can cope with the scorching Mediterranean summers, and don't need irrigation. They don't need all that much water, and wattles, in particular, are very good for planting on hillsides which aren't of much use otherwise. So considerable parts of the Levant and the Mahgreb will also be potentially
Incidentally, the use of trees as crops in hilly areas has a precedent in much of the Mediterranean. Chestnuts were used for exactly this purpose, and deliberately planted as a source of food. Unfortunately, chestnuts don't grow all that well in Greece and much of Anatolia (chalky soils, if I remember right), and so they weren't used much. Wattles, though, grow almost anywhere, so they can probably be taken up even in areas of poor soil.
I'm still thinking about Ethiopia. On the one hand, it's in the tropics, so some Aururian crops won't grow there. On the other hand, emus will do well in the lowlands, and some Aururian crops may well grow in the Ethiopian highlands.
Hmm. I suspect that the Aururian plagues won't hit before 1625, so the Danish are still likely to intervene. What may well happen is that the Danes are involved in the war for a couple of years before the plagues start to hit, which may well pause the war and give both sides a chance to think. I'm not sure what Sweden may do in such circumstances... would they be likely to join in at all?
If the Spanish can get rid of the Spanish Netherlands, even if it's done by placing a friendly cadet branch on the throne or some such, I wonder how tempted the United Provinces will be to intervene.
The Habsburgs will probably have to intermarry outside of their house. Of course, a lot of royal families are going to have shakeups.
Quite. Oman is likely to be ascendant here, too. They won't be hit any worse by Aururian diseases than anyone else.
Good question. The climate of Oman is, well, harsh, and some parts of it are within the tropics, but there may be some parts where there is sufficient rainfall for Aururian crops to grow.
I'm wondering if domesticated quolls - which will be larger - will have spread back into the wild and starting taking over. There is that vacant predator niche to be filled, and they would have a head start. Of course, they still wouldn't out-compete foxes or feral cats if those things were introduced.
I wonder if someone would want to bring in mongooses to control snakes. That may well end up with dead mongooses, though. Australian snakes are nasty critters.
Dingos fill the wolf niche pretty well. Even if wolves were introduced, I suspect that the only result would be a few dingo-wolf hybrids, and not much else difference.
OTL quolls are small enough that they are more likely to be cat prey than competition. ATL domesticated quolls may well have been selected to be larger, though, and some of those may have escaped into the wild. That might make for some interesting competition, but I think that the cats would probably still win.
Various native rodents. Australia has plenty of them to choose from, and stored food would attract rodents.
Sounds likely, although I think that ferrets are probably unlikely, except by accident.
It might happen, but if so, mongooses probably wouldn't do much to the snakes. They'd be deadly for small native mammals, though (as happened in the West Indies).
Sounds likely, although the domesticated ducks don't actually need that much water. Odd, but true: the Australian wood duck (which these are domesticated from) almost never goes into the water. So while Aururian ducks were domesticated in wetlands, they can spread much more widely than that.
Still, chickens have their advantages; better egg-layers, for instance. And there would be something entertaining about thinking of emus and chickens in the same fields.
The Gunnagal word for emus hasn't been specified, yet, but the name the Dutch use will probably be one of the Atjuntja words for the emu. Once I've worked out enough of the Atjuntja language to know what their name for the emu is, I'll include it in one of the posts.
'Twould be 'tweriffic if 'twere true. Rabbits have not been the nicest thing that ever happened to Australia.
Pheasants, perhaps. Those were introduced to New Zealand in OTL, but not Australia.
Quite true about large-scale European settlement, although all it really needs is one small outpost somewhere and some mad gentleman deciding that he needs hunting practice.
Good point about the use as bread. Of course, there may be other uses for maize besides turning it into bread. And maize has been taken up in some parts of Europe, however slowly. Portugal adopted it early, and nowadays France and Italy are the biggest European producers, with various Balkan and Central European states also producing significant harvests.
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While it is in the tropics the high elevation of most of the central and western portions actually creates a temperate climate. The eastern portion is much drier and hot. So, many of these crops would have a place to grow if they are adopted.
Well, of course as you say there are other uses than bread, but a lot of those won't have been terribly relevant until recently, like extracting food additives, or would occupy a different niche than wheat, such as using corn as a vegetable, as in corn on the cob. Who would eat wheat hulls? Recently, bio-fuels may have encouraged uptake to some extent or another.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and in the realm of direct competition with wheat, there's always indirect use (using cornflour instead of wheat flour in things like cakes or something, or using cornflour as a thickening agent), or good old grits; how can I possibly have forgotten about those!
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There could be the use of corn to make mush. Maybe with wattles seeds thrown in, fried, and served with honey from crushed honey ants.
This has got me thinking. The fact that Aururian products will be exposed to the world through the Dutch trade links, including and especially the diseases, should make Indonesia one of the first regions to be effected. I'm not sure how the crops would effect Indonesia, and it seems would be something of relative insignificance overall(but in the aspects of diet culture probably not so, but I suck at this kind of thing to figure out things in details). The diseases though, will going to make lasting impacts, just as large as in anywhere else will at minimal.
Valdemar II
Banned
No interesting enough one of the biggest problem was that potato was seen as fodder, and as suchs only the poor and starving was willing to eat them. Which also limited the spread of the potato to area where grassing was more common than fodder feed of animals, which was the areas where potatoes grew best. Only the 30 Years War and aggressive government campaigns spread the potato in North Europe.
Quite likely another benefit is that areas where Aurorian will grow, tended to import food, which will make them more willing to adopt new crops.
Much of that was also a result of the difference in texture and taste of the darker rue flour
That's a problem egg are very expensive well up to modern day.
What's important is what kind of soil, it will grow in, one of the reason for the potatos succes is that it grow best in soil, which is inferior for cereal.
The reason I mentioned East Africa and Angola is because it's drier than West Africa and much of it is highland, European crops has shown much succes here, which can be seen in that countries like Zimbawle and Kenya were/is major producent of cereal.
Quite likely, but the problem for Mahgreb is that the major source of income for its states was trade especially slave trade (from West Africa), with a collapsing slave trade, the central power of these states is weaken, and while the agricultural production has increase, the taxation system was quite badly to deal with income from that area. So we likely see a increase in population, a weakening of central power, while their neighbours lack workforce. So likely Mahgreb may become a new source for slaves for the Spanish.
Good point, but it may give Portugal a dominant position on the marked for decades.
In many way it was fibre of the Industrial Revolution, for many decades, but one aspect much of Easten NA is inferior for sheep farming, much of it is to humid, hot (sheep can accept one of these not both) and to much forest. But Texas and the prarie states (Spanish territium) is excellent for Australian style sheep ranching, and the Spanish Netherrland was the major textile producent up to the IR.
In many way that's just like the Cape, where Dutch ended up dominant anyway. You should also remember that Dutch and German is mutual understandable, which mean that German settlers integrate fast into Dutch society.
Good point through if the Dutch see NN as important, they may send extra settlers, you need suprisingly few to create a permanent mark (New France only received 5000 and today there's 10 million French speaker in NA). Of course a delayed English colonisation may give the Dutch time to take control of New England, and restrict the English to the Virginia colony.
Interesting this may give the Dutch a monopol over the China trade.
Quite likely
Most of them was so small that they didn't fit on the map.Yes 30 Years War may be hard hit by the butterflies.
If you need help with Danish one just ask, I may not know it, but I can always do some research.
So they may also be quite succesfull in the Fertile Cresent, yes this timeline may get interesting for the Ottomans.
Yes you're right, while the Ottomans will get many of the same problems as OTL in 18th Century, with these elements their position in the 19th will be much much stronger.
Ethiopia biggest strenght is that it was much more centralised than it neighbours, together with the new crops and the population boom, that may push it into expansive mode a century earlier, especially if the lowland of the Horn suddenly become useful for Emu breeding, which may also put them in better contact with Europeans, leading it to be seen as a fellow Christian state (rather than a African state).
Sweden join because of the Danish defeat, and in cooperation with Danes, without Danish cooperation, and Wallensteins armies in North Germany, Sweden isn't going to enter.
Not very much the Spanish Netherlands would be a quite useful buffer state and little threat to Netherland without the Spanish, so it will likely lead to a closer relationship between the two.
I completely agree, they may become a Arabic equalant to Venedig.
Even if there's not the Emu may thrive there.
Interesting they may be another animal which get exported.
Yes but you should remember that fox hunting was mostly a English phenomen, contignentals hunted bears, boars, wolves and deers.
Valdemar II
Banned
Indonesia is wet, tropical and humid, it's somewhat doubtful that a subtropical crop packet it would have much effect there. Plus a lot of Indonesia is so populated, that it's hard to imagine a bigger population.
I'm not talking about population boost. That's certainly out of deal. I'm imagining more about the our overall cuisine culture and the like (but I would to presume that it too will be minor in that ), and maybe also the advent of Aururian crops contributing a sipping of some new cultural aspect(s) related to the crops, in some societies that may would find them actually suit their interest under special circumtances, but this will be very few of course, certainly insignificant in larger frame of concern. I expect those societies will maybe be several few Nusa Tenggaran and Papuan tribes.
The diseases though, would be a real deal. And I would wonder whether that will cause at least a few specific results that will effect Indonesia forever...
It's not just the temperature, or at least not for all crops. It's the growing season. Most of the Aururian crops are perennials, or more specifically die-back perennials, where the above ground plant dies back every year while the roots remain. These plants have a cycle of growth which is timed by day length, and they generally don't start forming the tuber (the useful part of the plant, from the farmer's point of view) until the day length starts to get noticeably shorter. Get too close to the equator (ie the tropics), and that starts to mess up the growth of the crops.
This doesn't matter for wattles or other tree crops, or for most annual crops, but it does matter for red yams. (This is why red yams won't grow in the tropics.)
Murnong are somewhat heat-sensitive, more than anything else. Their natural range is subtropical. What reports I can find out suggest that they may grow in the tropics, but will need some irrigation during hot periods. This will be less of an issue in highlands.
The "lesser yams" from the north-eastern part of Aururia will grow in Ethiopia, but those are only cultivated in a small part of the continent, and furthest from the main trade routes, so I don't know how well they'll spread.
Quite a few options for wattleseeds, by the sounds of it. Grits, mush, cakes, flatbreads, etc. And yes, polenta could certainly be made using wattleseeds. It would make a perfect replacement for cornmeal, or even be mixed with cornmeal.
Not all of those may be immediately equivalent to bread, but at least there will be enough options that wattles will probably be taken up in some areas.
I've seen various dates for when the potato became widespread in northern Europe; some suggest that it was not cultivated on a large scale in most countries until the 1700s. Either way, though, this suggests that there may be some resistance to other crops spreading through the area. Perhaps this resistance will be less in southern Europe; as you point out below, these are areas where there tended to be more food imports, and thus had less resistance to new crops.
That was part of the objection, but not all of it. It also meant that the upper classes preferred the taste and texture of white bread to brown bread, even when made from wheat flour. White bread, of course, required more processing and was more expensive, so mostly only the upper classes got it. This preference apparently goes back to Roman times.
So wattleseed bread will probably be seen as bread for peasants, even if mixed with wheat or rye flour. At first, anyway. It may not stop wattleseed bread being taken up, but it may limit its use.
In urban areas, certainly. Unless everyone starts keeping chickens in the backyard, egg-based wattleseed dishes are probably going to be confined to the elite or rural areas.
Murnong can tolerate reasonably nutrient-poor soils (like most Australian plants, for very good reasons), and reports I've seen suggest that it grows just fine on clay or sandy soils. The only major requirement seems to be that it (also like most Australian plants) needs well-drained soils, and that it is more heat-sensitive than some other Aururian crops.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, the problem is more whether the perennial nature of Aururian crops, and more specifically the need for shortening days, will affect how those crops. This will definitely stop the growth of red yams, and probably but not definitely murnong. It won't affect wattles or lesser yams, though.
It may depend on how quickly both nations recover from the Aururian plagues and how quickly they take up new crops. In fact, it may turn into an unwitting race between the two powers. Also, it depends on what the Ottomans are doing, and how well they are recovering. The Ottoman control over modern Algeria and Tunisia was hardly complete during this period, but they were the theoretical rulers of much of it, and they may become more involved.
Hmm-hmm. North America is sounding like it will be a very different place. Slower colonisation. Fewer slaves. Slower developing market for cotton. Tobacco and indigo will be much less important. However, running sheep in Texas and the prairie states, and exporting their wool via the Mississippi or Gulf Coast, may turn out to be very profitable. Then there's the regions where Aururian crops will do very well - Texas again, also California and the Great Plains.
The difference is that the Cape had a lot longer for the Dutch settlers to grow by natural increase before English-speakers starting coming in substantial numbers. Much depends on the timing. If the New Netherlands has bought itself only an extra twenty or thirty years, I suspect that they will still be swamped by English colonisation. If it has bought itself another century, that's a whole other matter. Even if the English/British do gain political control, it will still have a significant Dutch-speaking population thereafter.
New France had over a century to expand in numbers (1628-1753), though.
It definitely sounds like it's the timing that matters. In OTL, the New Netherlands had only about a decade of really serious settlement; the Dutch West India Company (GWIC) only really turned its attention there after Dutch Brazil fell to the Portuguese. In a decade or so, it saw considerable settlement (including refugees from Dutch Brazil).
So, it depends on what the GWIC is trying to do. If it loses interest in Brazil earlier, and/or if it has longer to send settlers to the New Netherlands, things get interesting. Of course, if Dutch Brazil holds out for longer, then the New Netherlands may get even fewer settlers, since the GWIC will be looking elsewhere.
Incidentally, the English/British will probably still be in New England or points further north. Newfoundland had various settlements established before or around 1625, and the Plymouth colony was established, too. Efforts were starting for New Hampshire and Salem, too. Unless Aururian plagues completely wipe them out (and they're probably too far out of the way, at least for the first few years) there will probably be a small English presence established there, and it's likely to grow, however slowly.
Virginia, though, may have other problems. Or at least commercial competition.
Thanks. I'll let you know once I've started to work out more about the outcome of the 30YW. That's still a few posts away, probably, but I'll drop you a PM once I get to the planning stage.
Good point. Having a genuine lowland port will really help the Ethiopians. Even if Aururian crops don't do much, I wonder if they will still be able to export some coffee. That's a handy cash crop right there.
So it would depend on the Danish at least being willing to tolerate Swedish intervention? Interesting.
As an aside, I've been considering what to do with Wallenstein. In OTL he was assassinated because of a falling out with the Emperor (regardless of whether or not the Emperor ordered his death), and was reportedly considering switching sides. Do you know if he was in fact likely to switch sides, given the right circumstances?
Yes, Australian ducks could be farmed in some countries. I'm not sure whether they would interbreed with other domesticated duck species, though. OTL domesticated ducks (from mallards and Muscovy ducks) can interbreed with each other, and there's at least one breed of domesticated duck which was hybridised with a captive species of Australian duck. The history is unclear as to which Australian duck that was, though.
Good point. Deer were introduced into Australia too, incidentally, but haven't really done all that well. Wolves are out. Maybe boars/pigs? I'm not sure if bears would do very well even if someone were mad enough to introduce them.
One possibility which springs to mind is Aururian spices. Some of them may well be incorporated into Indonesian cuisine. Another possibility is that there may well be an Aururian diaspora into Indonesia; the Dutch may bring some of them to Batavia and elsewhere in the region. This would be an intriguing addition to the cultural mix.
mojojojo
Gone Fishin'
Given how close Australia is to Asia,I would think some asian species might be candidates for being introduced game animals.I don't know what those would be though.
Valdemar II
Banned
Interesting that push the introduction of Yam to East Afric away (Through Nambia and Botswana may be far enough south to grow these crops). Through the other plant may create it own agricultural revolution.
Yes they may not be very succesful in spreading, before rather late when European begin the colonisation of Africa.
When it first is take up, if it superior to local plants, rye bread was almost completely dominant in North Euerope up until modern day, and even today North European tend to eat more dark than white bread.
Interesting it may be quite succeful in North Germany, North Poland and Jutland, which has large such areas.
One aspect is also the centralistion of the states, West Africa even through it got a major population boom in the 16-17 Century, was in the reduced to a slave producing area,, because of it lack of strong centralised states, which could protect it subjects.
So we may see a stronger Spanish colonisation of this area, of cvourse the colonist doesn't need to be Spanish, there's a long tradition for using German settlers for colonisation, because of the overpopulation and poverty of western Germany, especially if we don't see 30 Years War population reduction (which was a lot worse than a 20% reduction from the Aurorian diseases).
Good point, through with the collapse in slave trade and falling sugarprices, I think they may focus more on NN.
Yes that's right British New Foundland is almost unavoidable
feel free
And a aspect is that they likely get access to European know how and European adventures, strengthen their position for potential Meiji later on.
To some point Denmark supported Swedish entrance in the war, to scare the Emperor into a better peace for Denmark, while the minor German princes supported to get rid of Wallenstein army in their territorium, without that the Swedes will be seen as invaders and receive little support, beside the other element the Swedes used a proffesionel army rather than mercenaries like the Danes (Denmark also had a small proffesinel army, but it armed forces was dominated by mercenaries), which will mean that the disease will hit them extra hard and they will focus on rebuilding their armed forces.
Yes Wallensteins middle name was Oppotunist, he always looked after Nr. 1 first, and had little principles (the guy was born Protestant, but converted to increase his person power and prestige).
Boars and deers is likely, no one with a inch of common sence is going to introduce bears and wolves.
Jared,
You've spoken of the Pliri religion spreading out from Australia. I would posit South Africa is the most likely place.
The Dutch will, of course, have some sort of presence in both places. Since the climate is so similar in Australia and South Africa, this will be one of the first places they attempt to grow *Australian crops. I could see them bringing a small initial population to the Cape (voluntarily or, more likely, involuntarily) to help them set up the new crops. They'd probably take the place of the Cape Malay, meaning a large enough population would survive to remain ethnically distinct.
Islanders seem unlikely to be in this group, given they don't farm, but provided there is at least a smattering of other followers of the Sevenfold Path, Pliri will likely end up on top - mainly because everyone else will have a jumble of beliefs which are not evangelist.
Then the question becomes would the Pliri relgion be of interest to any Africans? It's hard to say for certain - many ethnic groups in the region, like the Zulu, haven't even come to be yet, so you can't draw any conclusions from the modern-day cultures of the region.
You've spoken of the Pliri religion spreading out from Australia. I would posit South Africa is the most likely place.
The Dutch will, of course, have some sort of presence in both places. Since the climate is so similar in Australia and South Africa, this will be one of the first places they attempt to grow *Australian crops. I could see them bringing a small initial population to the Cape (voluntarily or, more likely, involuntarily) to help them set up the new crops. They'd probably take the place of the Cape Malay, meaning a large enough population would survive to remain ethnically distinct.
Islanders seem unlikely to be in this group, given they don't farm, but provided there is at least a smattering of other followers of the Sevenfold Path, Pliri will likely end up on top - mainly because everyone else will have a jumble of beliefs which are not evangelist.
Then the question becomes would the Pliri relgion be of interest to any Africans? It's hard to say for certain - many ethnic groups in the region, like the Zulu, haven't even come to be yet, so you can't draw any conclusions from the modern-day cultures of the region.
Valdemar II
Banned
You're joking, but they were idiots enough to introduce foxes, which has absolutly no positive agricultural or nutrionel effect (at least you can eat rabbits). So yes that's the only people stupid enough to do it.
Valdemar II
Banned
Islam was introduced to South Africa, but it had little succes inspreading from the coloured population, especially because they only came in contact with the Bantu rather late. Of course a population explosion among the Boer, Baster and Coloured may result in a spread of Pliri to the Bantu.
In terms of deliberate introductions, I'm not actually sure if there will be many. It didn't happen in OTL, apart from the water buffalo, even though Australia is just as close to Asia. It will presumably be the Dutch (or other Europeans) who are introducing any new animals. So again apart from the water buffalo, I'm not sure how many other animals will
Wattles will probably help, at least. The other thing which does interest me is eucalypts. These are thriving in Ethiopia today, being a fast-growing tree that tolerates poor soils, which allows for a lot of use in otherwise deforested parts of the country. Eucalypts could still be used in *Ethiopia, too.
There may well be Spanish colonisation of those areas, but it doesn't necessarily have to be Spanish. At some point, someone is going to set up *New Orleans, and then they will probably have control of much of the Mississippi, and run sheep or grow crops in the interior, shipping them out via the river. Maybe this will be Spain, maybe France, or maybe some other nation entirely.
Did Sweden use some mercenaries as well, even if not the majority of their armed forces? I have vague memories of that, but my few sources on the 30YW aren't near to hand at the moment, and I don't trust Polonopedia on this topic.
Interesting. I wonder how things would go if he did switch sides.
So it would be bad if the English/British gained control of some portion of Aururia, then?
It's certainly possible that the Dutch would bring some Aururians with them to the Cape to teach them how to farm Aururian crops. (Or maybe even to force them to farm on their behalf).
The difference between the Aururians and the Cape Malay, though, is that the Cape Malay were no more vulnerable to Eurasian diseases than the Dutch themselves. The Aururians are more vulnerable. Not as much as Amerindian peoples, but still more vulnerable. So their population may not become large enough to remain ethnically distinct.
Much depends on where the Dutch are getting their farmers from. The western Atjuntja aren't Pliri. The Islanders are, as are the Mutjing on the nearby mainland. The Yadji aren't. Some of the Gunnagal and *Tasmanians are, though.
In other words, if the Dutch were using Atjuntja or Yadji as farmers, then the Pliri faith won't make the transition. If they are using Mutjing, Gunnagal, or *Tasmanians, then the new faith may well become established in South Africa, at least on a small scale.
I suspect that determined Pliri missonary efforts may well win some converts. Whether that would be enough to be a majority... good question. What would be interesting is if the Pliri faith spread alongside Aururian crops and emus. If the missionaries were bringing the crops with them, teaching people how to farm them as well as spreading the faith, then the resulting population explosion may well see a demographic shift to the Pliri faith.
Of course, there will still likely be Christian missionaries around, even if the Dutch are much less concerned about such matters than some other European peoples.
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