what if Europeans/Asians weren't the first to invent firearms/cannon?

[General Geoff]

How would history have changed if, say, the Mayans invented them first (say, for argument's sake, 800AD)? How do you think history would have progressed differently?

Would the United States even exist? How would Europe have been affected? Would there be a still-ongoing clash of culture between the native peoples of the Americas vs Europeans and Asians?

 

[RyanM]

If you went back to 800 AD and chopped down a single tree in some remote forest, that'd probably be enough to completely change the face of the earth as we know it, just through the butterfly effect.

 

[femoralis]

Good question. They didn't even invent a wheelbarrow though.

 

[R.W.Dale]

well first the myans would have had to have gotten out of the STONE AGE which in it's self would be a radical departure from how history progressed. To give an Idea of how backwards the South American kingdoms were

The historical records show that Pizarro had exactly 62 soldiers mounted on horses along with 106 foot soldiers, while Atahualpa commanded an army of about 80,000. More than 7,000 Incas were killed: not one White died.

The staggering military victory was based solely on Spanish technological superiority: the Amerinds had only stone, bronze and wooden clubs, maces and hand axes, slingshots and quilted material body armor against the Toledo steel swords, spears and chain armor. Even the guns the Spaniards had were not decisive: they were slow loading and difficult to fire: Pizarro had only a dozen of them. The Incas were simply unable to mortally wound any of the Spaniards with their weapons.

The odds which prevailed at the Battle of Cajamarca were to be repeated even more dramatically a further four times:

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at the Battle of Jauja, 80 Spaniards defeated an Inca army of tens of thousands;
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at the Battle of Vilcashuaman, 30 Spaniards defeated tens of thousands of Inca opponents;
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at the Battle of Vilaconoga, 10 Spaniards defeated an army of tens of thousands of Incas; and
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at the battle of Cuzco, 40 Spaniards defeated the last great Inca army, also consisting of tens of thousands of Inca warriors.

You should watch James Burke's original "connections" series from the late 1970's, He touches apoun why even though China had all this great technology they didn't use it to change their lives as Europeans did. Essentially a primitive version of socialism was to blame

 

[Hanafuda]

I suppose if that's how it went, we'd all be eating more peccary.

 

[RioShooter]

This should answer your question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs_and_Steel

"Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond.

 

[adobewalls]

+1 on "Guns, Germs and Steel" excellent book on this very subject.

Also recommended is "Carnage and Culture" by Victor Davis Hanson. He looks at the same thing form a bit different perspective. Between the two theories, one gets a sense of interplay of factors necessary to drive invention and innovation.

In short, the answer to the question is the migration and colonization roles would have been reversed.

 

[RyanM]

You should watch James Burke's original "connections" series from the late 1970's, He touches apoun why even though China had all this great technology they didn't use it to change their lives as Europeans did. Essentially a primitive version of socialism was to blame

I've heard that too, but it was from some "kill-ology" kooks. Bunch of horse apples. The Chinese started using bombs, flamethrowers, etc., the instant they figured out gunpowder blew up. And they started trying to make guns as soon as they figured out gunpowder could be used to fling stuff. Problem was they didn't have the metallurgical or manufacturing knowledge to create good, seamless barrels. I believe hollowed-out logs reinforced with bands of wrought iron were somewhat common, and could be used for a few shots before they self-destructed.

End result was that the main gunpowder projectile weapons were either hand-projected bombs, bangstick style weapons (pear blossom spears), or "fire arrows," which used gunpowder to shoot arrows, more like a rocket than a gun.

That can probably be attributed to the Mongols taking over Korea. Korea was one of the major metallurgical centers of the East before they were invaded, and they might've had the quality of steel needed to make guns right around the time gunpowder was invented, had things gone a bit differently.

 

[Frog48]

If the entire world progressed at the same rate as the new world "Indians" and/or sub-Saharan Africans, we'd still be living in mud huts and teepees 10,000 years from now.

 

[R.W.Dale]

I've heard that too, but it was from some "kill-ology" kooks. Bunch of horse apples. The Chinese started using bombs, flamethrowers, etc., the instant they figured out gunpowder blew up

While the Chinese did employ technology to a limited extent in the military in order to survive. By in large the life of the average Imperial subject pretty much went on unchanged for more than 2000 years or up until the Communist revolution.

 

[TCB in TN]

I would imagine that the Incas were really unused to fighting real wars, and real battles, seeing how they were used to raiding much smaller tribes etc. Stone weapons should have been good enough to allow the numerical superiority of the Indian tribes to prevail, were they real seasoned warriors. But half hearted attempts at fighting a determined foe usually don't work out well. A pack of curs will backoff and get ripped to shreds against a real alpha dog.