America under Islam

OK, I confess that this comment is rather provocative, I hope the hard of thinking wont get too excited.

The USA was NOT colonised BY Muslims. But it was colonised USING Muslims, Millions of Muslims slaves, from British colonial time to the late 19th century.

Azita

The French trappers and various Mountain Men of the 'pays d'en haut and coureurs des bois'... coupled with the pesky redskins of the SW. Particularly the N'de, Dine and the nʉmʉ tekwapʉ .Ya got to remember to keep this chronologically straight.... vaqueros come latter.

Columbus sailing for Islam would not have changed the colonization of North America which, with the obvious exception of Mexico,  had been passed up by the Spanish precisely because they viewed it as without the developed subject peoples that their colonization depended upon. So the English, Dutch, French, and Swedish colonists of North America would have left a Protestant North America facing down the Islamic south below the Rio Grande. On the plus side, Latin America would still have Selma Hayak and Shakira, but would still be an economic backwater locked in centuries of solitude.

Edited by lirelou - 12-Jan-2013 at 22:19

Does that mean the Turks would be the superpower of the modern age? With New World gold, they could easily fund further expansionism into Europe, perhaps stretching their boundaries as far as Germany

In an alternative history, Christopher Columbus is mocked and dismissed by both the Spanish and Portuguese, so he offers his services to the Turks. The sultan provides Columbus with a ship and promise of reward if he claims the new land for Islam.
What would the USA be like today if it was colonised by Muslims rather than the English and Spaniards? Would Europe be more or less advanced, and would America be independent or remain under the caliph's control?