What if the Great Lakes Never Existed? (And How It Changes Everything)

[Music] geography determines history Europe's natural access to the sea set the stage for it to create colonies across the globe the flat plains of Eurasia allowed the Mongols to carve up the largest land Empire ever seen in Florida's humid climate created Florida the Great Lakes are not just simply Lakes they're more like a series of inland seas if you grew up far away from the Midwest you've probably never given them much thought but being a Buckeye I have by all accounts I am landlocked hundreds of miles from the closest ocean yet because of these Lakes it doesn't really feel that way it really is a fourth coast on America's northern border and for you Canadians well you already know how essential these lakes are there's almost an uncanny nests when removing the lakes from the map North America appears off more empty it becomes an unbroken mass of land so I thought what if this cursed image was actually reality what if in an alternate timeline the Great Lakes never existed at all seems kind of simple to predict right something that I might have gone done quick before VidCon boy was I wrong [Music] during the last ice age the glaciers that dominated North America covered the land when the glaciers retreated and melted the water went into these lower elevated areas creating the lakes we know and love today and for a time some that we didn't know until recently eek in this alternate timeline well the glaciers just don't go as far south now this certainly has larger ramifications because the only way the glaciers don't come farther south as if the earth isn't as cold and also this changes global ocean levels however let's just say they don't all right get that out of your head whoa what now [Music] common sense dictates I would talk about how the Native Americans would have been affected first but I think the best way to explain all of this is to start with European colonization the English may have colonize the east coast but the French were the ones who've got a head start in upper North America instead of landing on the shores of Massachusetts they decided to settle in the far north exploring the Gulf of st. Lawrence in 1534 and using the river of the same name as a natural highway right into the interior of the continent in an age before railways rivers and oceans were the easiest safest and fastest way to transport anything across long distances it was the st. Lawrence River along with the Great Lakes region that gave life to the French colonial effort this wasn't like the English in the 13 colonies in true French manner there were few actual colonists because the French didn't like leaving France but they did like money the Great Lakes region was a gold mine for New France the outposts and cities they create along this river like Quebec City and Montreal who more than anything basis for a trading empire spanning the waterways of North America this map is where they actually colonized in an alternate timeline without the Great Lakes there is no st. Lawrence River the river flows from Lake Ontario into the Atlantic so no lakes no ever that highway for France into the continent never exists any operations would have to set up base along the coastline instead and maybe encourage some ships to sail further south since France and England began colonizing these regions around the same time this alternate race now becomes a close competition over neighboring land as France tries to stake claim in what we think of as Massachusetts and Maine before there is a Massachusetts or Maine would war between France and Britain spark far earlier than in our own timeline well know before the Seven Years War North America saw multiple Wars and skirmishes between the two colonial powers over land that never erupted into a larger global war it was common belief that colonial wars were meant to be handled by the colonists themselves with the two being literal neighbors these conflicts are far more frequent and would have to end in a decisive winner starting in the 17th century New France even with Quebec in our timeline just didn't have a population on North America to out-compete the English long story short the English very early on could simply out populate the French traders their colonies in the region are absorbed and their short experiment in new england is remembered just as well as the Dutch with New Amsterdam or the Swedish all of us occurring potentially a century before the Seven Years War of our own timeline meaning that well yes I know the French and Indian War was a theater in the Seven Years War the Seven Years War saw the first fighting in North America when France and England skirmished over the Ohio country but the skirmish lasted at two full years before it expanded into Europe this conflict was different simply because of the European politics at the time Britain worried France would use the colonial disputes to attack their own holdings and Hanover so they made an alliance with Prussia France fearing Prussia allied with Austria and bing-bang-boom doesn't this look familiar if France never had the opportunity to carve up so much of North America there never is a vast colonial conflict that escalates into a similar European war during this exact time by the time the 1750s came around if there actually was still some 7 Years War which I doubt there would be Verdun wouldn't have gained such vast amounts of territory in such a short period of time because there is no French land to take and this is why the scenario has taken so long the butterfly effect in action there still is European Wars but there isn't the Seven Years War that we know meaning burden doesn't find itself in debt after the conflict they don't raise taxes on their own citizens and especially on the colonists who Parliament felt the war most benefited not only is there no higher taxes there is no proclamation line created to stop colonial expansion into North America since Britain wouldn't worry about another costly war if there never was one the only people they'd wage war on are the natives there are no French colonists except perhaps in Louisiana the existence of New France created the unique situation that brought the global powers into war a war that Britain did win but ultimately would lose one of their greatest holdings the 13 colonies [Music] without the existence of the Great Lakes there is never an American Revolution so that said I get that removing the Seven Years War in American Revolution has dramatic effects on well everything this means we see no France falling in a revolution no Napoleon no sudden destruction of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of modern Germany but I just want to focus on the North American perspective in our timeline after the Revolution it's no surprise that the first colonists moving west went into the Great Lakes region like I said natural highways but also crime Lake Shore real estate that allowed them to build their own cities like New York and Boston but on the interior of the continent in our timeline the Erie Canal allowed first ship to come from the Atlantic through the rivers of New England and into the lakes allowing places like Chicago in Detroit to become linked trading cities let's go into this alternate turn-of-the-century 1800s what would North America look like at least to the English colonists to their west is a vast mountain range which while difficult to crust is nothing to tremendous but past that is an endless sea of woodland they would vary of course by climate changing more into a boreal sparse forest going into the Canadian Shield hampering expansion into the continent by this time a river is still extremely valuable so while it is impossible to take wagons and go deep into the continent it wouldn't be very wise winters are extremely dangerous go too far from a natural waterway and it might take weeks to months to get back in resupply or get help without the lakes the climate would remain relatively the same the main difference is that there is no lake effect or such extreme amounts of snow during the winter apart from that the climate isn't drastically changed British colonists expanding West would only do so through natural rivers all right so what is this vital river then originally I was thinking perhaps the Ohio River become the major lifeblood for the Midwest however upon research I realized that the Ohio River actually wouldn't exist the Ohio River was formed by the same glaciers that formed the lakes and if we want to remain consistent this river just doesn't exist what the glaciers created they also destroyed I want to introduce to you the ancient pre glacial taya's River a series of waterways perfect for not only defense but agriculture and settlement this task system while perfect real estate for colonists would have been the main home for a vast population of native tribes so this is the reason I haven't talked about natives in this region till now natives of the northern Eastern woodlands were split uniquely by the geography of the lakes without the lakes that identity and way of life is entirely shattered the native population would have settled south primarily living in this alternate river system probably having the same style of living as the Mississippian cultures don't expect nations like the Iroquois Confederacy or tribes like the Miami area or Ottawa to remain the same this is an entirely different cultural region of tribes with entirely different ways of life this is where the first settlements would arrive this river is thought to have connected to the Illinois which connected to the Mississippi so for the most part it creates a core area of what Britain would want to colonize this river becomes the dividing line for many colonies / states just as the Mississippi is of our time line so it certainly creates a wonky look to the settlements as colonization continues and natives are pushed out the general population of European colonists is shifted south there is unsurprisingly no Canada and so the vast North is mainly populated by natives even in what we think of as today Toronto something by now easily as crazy could have occurred as a result of Napoleon never rising may be the fate of this alternate Europe is dominated by Austria who knows without the Seven Years War this becomes a greater butterfly effect considering France still would hold on to the Louisiana territory and France certainly doesn't just hand it to the British so I'm not going to talk about colonists moving past the Mississippi for this video or the eventual colonization of the West there's so much already but there is one important event I think we need to talk about the eventual rift that might be caused between colonists and home country slavery by the 19th century it was pretty easy for Britain to make slavery illegal the main slave colonies were in the Caribbean and not much else they didn't need to worry about a slave power contesting their decision because the institution simply didn't have the population however in this alternate timeline the South is still in the British Empire well that complicates things doesn't it what's even more complicated is Britain financially compensated the slave owning families for their losses the payment put the Empire in so much debt it was not finally repaid until 2015 I think if the colony still remained a part of Britain it would be this looming issue that creates new resentment among the colonial public against Parliament across the sea even with talk of compensation I think the public with the culture and profits to be gained by the early 19th century would be angered by the thought of abolition began complaining about how such decisions are being made by a far away corrupt Parliament sound familiar a declaration of independence from the British Empire in this case would be to protect the institution of slavery whenever that would be the Patriots are basically alternate Confederates and the loyalists are either abolitionists New Englanders or rural folk who somehow survived in the forests of Canada this revolution is a strange complex affair it easily could be an event that would get out of hand extremely fast and maybe even go global rivals such as France might take advantage of Britain's bad situation maybe aid the rebels especially since they're so close to French territory assuming France can't give it up whether the South wins or not it doesn't matter because there is never that identity of the original 13 colonies there is no sense of national identity across all states because the revolution is actually a civil war even if the South loses that association with splitting from Britain say like Canada and Australia did an art line would still bring back memories of the rebellion and if the south did win the north would want to remain extremely tied to Britain for potential protection this isn't even going into how cotton fueled the Industrial Revolution and what this does to the modern world but you know what I can't go on forever and this timeline is simply getting out of control so let's wrap this up in my mind alternate history isn't simply about the theorizing it's about putting a specific event or a person in context show how something small big or unimportant in history actually dramatically shaped our very identities in the world geography unsurprisingly shapes a lot of things but the Great Lakes just existing entirely transformed the colonization of North America it created boundaries which shaped eventual political alliances alliances which turned into important Wars and down the line how nations were formed even if you're not American or Canadian these lakes half a world away ended up contributing to perhaps your legal code the creation of your nation or events that shaped an important time in global history certain events in history don't just occur in a bubble it's all connected and so one small change can affect all of us this is Cody of altering history of [Music] you [Music]

Channel: AlternateHistoryHub

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Keywords: What if the Great Lakes Never Existed?, What if the great lakes never existed (and how it changes everything), alternatehistoryhub great lakes, early colonization north america, north america geography, north america history, colonization history, canada history, early american history, seven years war, alternate history, butterfly effect, what if, alternate geography, native americans and colonization, alternatehistoryhub, great lakes, midwest history

Id: l1UzDCuq14w

Length: 16min 10sec (970 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 09 2019