Excellent update, loved the banter between Tailan and Ibn Said. The last part, with the Haida people seeing the Chinese ship approaching, was also very well-written. Very curious about how this will end up playing out; as has been said, China won't have much interest in colonizing this area...
Part of the reason for British abolitionism was the decline of the Caribbean sugar plantations. If the American South stays with the empire, that creates more incentive to keep it around, in addition to a larger group that will be opposed to abolitionism. It is possible that slavery could still...
As always, a beautiful map of a fascinating world. Just looking at the map makes me think of all the diverse viewpoints that could be expressed: Navajo interpretations of Manichaeism, or Hindu influences in South Africa.
"Barred from voting" is an interesting part of this. I could at least kind of understand Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Oklahoma if those still had large minority populations, but why Virginia?
If you consider Chinese colonialism as a possibility, anywhere on the West Coast of the Americas or Australia seems possible. If you want to stick closely to OTL, I'd say somewhere on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea.
Maybe Israel becomes non-viable for whatever reason and some European power invites Jews to a colony in East Asia to try and solidify their hold there?
So, I've seen these cover contests posted a few times in these threads, but I'm not seeing where they actually happen. Are they here, on DeviantArt, or some other site?