Given the head start that the Dutch have in the area (proximity in the East Indies and all that) do you think it's possible that we could see some European nations forming an alliance to knock them down a peg?
An Anglo-Dutch War or three is of course inevitable. There is likely to be (as in OTL) a
de facto or even
de jure Anglo-Spanish non-aggression pact so that they can deal with the real enemy. Portugal is iffier... they will probably try to stay neutral to both camps, and hold onto what they currently hold.
France, now...
I frankly thought something more spectacular and movie-ish would happen here, with the English making a break for it and more than two of them falling; simply by stalling long enough for the two volunteers to come forward, he was a lot cooler-headed than people like say Magellan. (It's this cool-headedness that is held against him back in England of course).
I did consider something along the lines of a would-be breakout, but decided against it. Mostly because Baffin is not a hot-head (as history showed). Also partly because the Bungudjimay had already learned their lessons from the Nangu before them - who had made a run for it - and guarded the English so closely that they did not believe they had any hope of escape.
No matter what it's brutal and in the short run, English and probably other Europeans will avoid the place--until they can land in overwhelming force. They probably won't cannonade Glazkul until they have the men to follow through by destroying the town as well; given the distances and the distraction of the Proxy Wars they won't get around to it for a while.
The noteworthy thing about Daluming is that it's the biggest sources of spices in Aururia. Revenge may or not be a motivation for the English to come back, but profit is. There will be a strong pull for the English or other Europeans to get involved in some form.
By then the process of making local alliances and learning more about local political conditions might lead someone to make an alliance with Daluming, "Mexican" customs be damned. Glazkul might then get shelled anyway. Or it might come through the wars undamaged, if the Daluming are very clever whom they ally with.
There's certainly that point; there's some mighty profitable spices in Daluming. Euro powers may be able to swallow all sorts of weird customs in exchange for the hugh profits of spices. Although that may make Glazkul a target for rival Euro powers, too; swings and roundabouts, really.
Bradford might serve as a saint patron for future Anglican missionary campaigns.
Hey, I admit that Anglicanism is more open to the veneration of saints than continental Protestant churches, but I've never heard of it having it's own set of saints or upholding the cult of any saints beyond the "national" ones that are tied to the monarchy's identity.
There's only been one new Anglican saint after the reformation, IIRC, that being Charles the Martyr (better known as King Charles the First). Since he died of one of the Aururian plagues TTL, that's not going to happen here.
Anglicanism has proclaimed several new saints (heroes) since the Reformation. To pick one,
James Hannington is an Anglican saint who was martyred in Uganda in the late nineteenth century.
Janani Luwum is another martyr (also from Uganda).
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during WW2, also has a day venerated as part of the C of E calendar.
As far as I know, Anglican saints aren't revered in the same way as in Catholicism (though not being of either faith, I'm not sure). But Anglicanism still has saints of a kind.
As for veneration of saints in general, most churches will do something for the patronal festival (i.e. the feast day of the saint who the church is dedicated to).
I figured that the day of Bradford's martyrdom (22 August) would be adopted as a Lesser Festival in Anglicanism. I don't know whether he would qualify as a patron saint of anything, but he will be remembered.
The minor powers do have one major advantage in Aururia, actually: being minor powers, they're far less able to simply take what they want from the locals. Aururian politics is sophisticated enough that they can probably grasp the implications of tying themselves to a European patron that of necessity has to operate as more of an equal partner.
That is a significant opportunity, if the minor powers can project power that far, and if they are astute enough in their negotiations.
Still, I wasn't kidding about Australia being a long way away. It is simply not possible for a European power to send ships directly to Australia without re-supplying somewhere along the way. The entire crew will be dead of scurvy long before then. Even as late as 1788, the first Euro settlement voyage to Australia took nine months to get there and stopped at 3 ports along the way.
So a minor Euro power that gets involved in Aururia will need secure re-suply points along the way. Perfectly possible if the minor power remains at peace with the major players, but a death blow if there's war.
Also, the Maori are likely to get involved in the general collapse of the existing Aururian nations; dealing with the problem of too many warriors who want land and not enough land to give them by sending them out to conquer foreigners is a time-honored human tradition, after all.
The plagues will be hitting the Maori just about as hard as the main continent. Trade links between Aoteaora and Aururia are regular enough to ensure that. (Although the Maori may escape a couple of diseases which don't produce asymptomatic carriers).
Still, the Maori will certainly take an active interest in what's happening in Aururia, one way or another.
Now, here's a thought regarding the distance between Aururia and Europe: is the clipper route usable in the mid-1600s, or is shipbuilding/seafaring technology just not up to that extended of a period completely away from land yet?
I'm not sure whether the clipper route was technically feasible in terms of shipbuilding in the mid-1600s. There were a number of sailing developments; maybe some of those could be worked out earlier.
But seafaring was definitely not up to it in terms of storage of fresh food and water. Scurvy is the biggest problem; and in OTL it would not be solved properly until almost the 19th century. (Gunnagalic medicine may see it worked out somewhat earlier ATL, but not during the 17th century.)
It seems that the West in this TL seems to be on a path towards thinking Daluming= Aztecs. How far are they going to take this and what effects will this have on archeology and anthropology? Will these two fields be set back by a lot of false correlations and erroneous conclusions ?
Working out the truth will probably take a long time. "Mexicans" will be a popular misconception of the Daluming for centuries. It will send all sorts of people down wrong paths for quite a while. The truth will be worked out eventually - i.e. there is nothing meaningful in common - but it will take a while. This won't even be the only misconception about the Daluming: their ancient stone heads inland will also provoke all sorts of other wild speculation about Easter Islanders, Olmecs and so forth. Equally wrong, but popular misconceptions.
The erroneous conclusion which will last for a long time is that trade across the Pacific has been around since ancient times. Ironically enough, the sweet potato will be held out as further proof of that, earlier than it was in OTL. (It's amazing how long anthropologists ignored the sweet potato as proof that there was trans-Pacific contact well before Columbus.)
Now this I can definitely see happening. IOTL, the Maori chartered European ships to sail to the Chatham islands and attack and enslave the people there. ITTL, Europeans would definitely be interested in hiring mercenaries for wars in Aururia. It would be cheaper than shipping them from Europe, and having a class of foreign warriors could be useful in many ways. The local Aururians would see them as invaders, so they would have much less incentive to revolt against their European who hired them than local Aururian soldiers, and would be dependent on maintaining their master's empires for their own safety. It's brilliantly Machiavellian.
Not just as warriors, although the uses there are significant. Labour shortages will be a chronic problem in Aururia for over a century, thanks to the population collapse from plagues. In an environment where there is still intense European demand for spices, forced Maori labour may end up in Aururia for other reasons entirely.
I've been a lurker for many years so haven't had the opportunity to say this but I consider The Lands of Red and Gold the finest timeline this board has to offer. It is truly a remarkable and exceptional piece of work.
Thank you muchly!
