The Americas - 1836 AD
The Battle for the Americas - The Colonizers vs. The Natives
Ever since the Aztec Invasion tore its way through Europe at the beginning of the second millennium, a great many Europeans saw the distant homeland of the invaders as a place of unimaginable terror filled with bloodthirsty, dangerous savages. As a result, very little was about the so-called "New World" until Khatira I, Empress of Arabia, chartered the first major expeditions across the Atlantic in the early 16th century. Under her patronage, Al-Mansur Ashraf, after discovering the western coast of Australia, sailed westward until he landed on the northern end of the South American continent, near Colombia. Having made first landfall in the New World, Ashraf returned and informed the Empress, who sent thousands of troops to escort multiple expeditions through the new region.
Through his exploration, the Arabians learned that the mighty Aztec Empire -- long the most feared entity in much of Europe -- had been reduced to a struggling minor power, usurped by the expansive and dominating kingdom of the Navajo, who replaced the Aztecs for some time as the dominant power in North America. A number of large states had been established by the native North Americans, but none had the reach, the power, or the wealth of the Navajo Kingdom. That dominance would continue on for many more years, until the arrival of overseas colonists began to change the fate of North America for centuries to come.
None of the other American nations could stand up to the military power of the Navajo, but even their feared army paled in comparison to the endless legions of soldiers commanded by the Ming Chinese Empire. After establishing a colony in Alaska, Emperor Cihuan I Zhu sent his army to war against the Navajo and demanded their submission to China. the war was swift and one-sided, and after being humiliated by his newfound Asian rivals, Navajo King Ashkii Diyin II agreed to become a Chinese tributary in the latter half of the 16th century.
While the Chinese Empire was establishing its dominance on the west coast, North America's east coast became the home to a small European colony that would eventually grow into the greatest superpower on the continent within the span of a few hundred years. The Celtic Empire was the first European nation to successfully land on North America, and they established a small colony in the frozen northeast of Canada, from which they provided a steady supply of luxury furs to the empire. When it was first founded, the colony was small, and even the smaller native tribal states of the Iroquois and Cherokee loomed as dangerous threats to the south. But with the extensive funding of the Celtic Emperors and a newfound zeal to conquer the North American natives in the name of the empire's branch of Reformed Christianity, the small Canadian colony expanded rapidly to the south until the Celtic Empire controlled roughly half of North America.
While some smaller neighbors like the Cheyenne and Aztec states remained, North America in 1836 was essentially divided between three competing major spheres of influence: Celtic America to the east, Chinese America to the west, and the Navajo to the south. All three had ambitions to embrace their supposed manifest destiny to rule the whole continent, but the latter of the three had begun losing territory to the superpower to the south: the Inca Empire.
When European settlers began arriving in South America, the Inca occupied slightly less than half of the continent, dominating its Pacific coastal regions. A number of colonies were established by the European powers, but the most successful and extensive colonization was done by Andalusia. Andalusians settled dangerously close to the border of Inca territory, and early on came into armed conflict with the gold-rich southern empire over territorial disputes. All of these wars were easily won by the superior technology of the Europeans, and the Inca Empire, in spite of its size, was repeatedly humbled by its overseas rivals in their attempt to dominate South America.
That began to change in the 17th century thanks to the involvement of Estonia in the race to settle the Americas. Estonia began its own colonization efforts many long decades after its European competitors, and Andalusia had successfully taken much of the South American Atlantic coast by the time the first Estonian settlement was completed. Hoping to gain an edge, Tietaja Aho sent envoys to Sapa Inka Capac II, appealing to their similar roles as Priest-Emperors and suggesting that they cooperate with one another. In exchange for the Sapa Inka's blessing of further Estonian colonization, Aho sent Estonian troops to south America to help defend the Incan border and fight back against Andalusian colonial efforts.
Although the alliance between the two nations would come to an end in the aftermath of the Estonian Revolution, the arrangement proved beneficial for both sides for many years. Estonia established a sizable colony in South America, and the Inca were able to expand out rapidly and bring the rest of the continent under their rule. Eventually, as the relations between the two powers broke down, the Estonian colonies were overrun and integrated into the empire, resulting in the Inca Empire of 1836 containing a small minority of ethnic Estonians, largely concentrated to the east -- with Estonians even making up the majority of the population in a small few areas.