Welcome to New Zealand, the land of
hobbits and kiwis. Is the tiny quiet
brother in the Anglosphere. Its location,
in such a remote area of the world, it
makes it sometimes overlooked. Tiny New
Zealand, though, is hiding a secret. No not
super kiwis. The islands that make up New
Zealand are metaphorically, the tip of
the iceberg. New Zealand is a top of a
much larger, yet, entirely underwater
continent. (Calling it a continent is
still under debate but simpler to call
it this.)
The continent, named Zealandia.
When seen on a topographical map, or even
Google Maps, the shape of the continent
starts to appear. And at one time, it was
above water. What we believe happened is
Zealandia was once a normal landmass
(like India). It used to be connected to
the Australian continent 80 million
years ago yet broke off, and drifted
further away until sinking into the
ocean probably around 20 million years ago.
An entire continent that just sank
into the sea (seems familiar...) Whenever
looking at maps like this and learning
geography factoids like it, I get excited.
And I start thinking. When I started
thinking, I start theorizing. So, what if
this entire continent, Zealandia, just
never sank. What if Zealandia remained
into modern human history, becoming the
eighth continent. How could our world
change?
Here is one possible scenario:
In this alternate timeline Zealandia is a
continent just east of Australia. There
doesn't need to be a scientific or
geological explanation for this. The
oceans don't sink, and neither does the
continent. This is simply a thought
exercise. So calm down scientist Jimmy.
The obvious question is, what could this
continent look like? We'll never know
exactly, but using ocean topography, we
can have a fair guess what the geography
of this lost land might be. And it's
possible largest size it would appear
something like this. And don't let maps
deceive you, it would be large. It's a
land of peninsulas and plateaus. The
western peninsula almost touches
Australia. The eastern peninsula while
smaller would extend the equivalent
distance from Missouri to New Jersey.
A north and southern plateau is divided by
a central mountain range,
or what we think of as the "Islands."
This is just one possible speculation, though.
The ocean system of the world is
important to keep balanced (as taught to
us in the documentary, "The Day After
Tomorrow.") The same idea kind of applies
to the scenario. Today, Australians on the East
Coast enjoy fairly wonderful
temperatures, despite being the latitude
equivalent of Michigan. Much of this is
thanks to the east Australian
Current, which brings warm water from the equator
South. In this alternate scenario, the
current isn't able to flow, as Zealandia's
western peninsula blocks the
current instead this warm water makes
northern Zealandia, fairly tropical; while
eastern Australia becomes much colder
compared to our timeline. While the north
is tropical, Zealandia itself could be a
diverse range of biomes. The mountains
could block the equator air much, like
the Himalayas. And create a cold southern
tundra. Keep in mind it wouldn't be too
far away from Antarctica, so even without
the mountains, it'd still be cold. Why is
it important to speculate geography?
Because, migration patterns. If we want to
know where people might settle, we need
to have at least a basic idea of what
would and wouldn't be a good place to
colonize. And this is where humans
finally come into the story. Compared to
Europe or Africa, humans are fairly new
to the South Pacific. The earliest
settlers arrived within the last 3,000
years. The Maori didn't land on New
Zealand until the 13th century. So the
good news is human history in this
alternate scenario is pretty straight
forward. Using their knowledge of
seafaring ancient Polynesians would
probably land on the northern tip of
Zealandia around 1200 BC. (Keep in mind
this alternate continent has existed by
itself for over 80 million years, so
imagine the unique wildlife and fauna
that has evolved in this time. Let your
imagination run wild on that one.) The
population of the Polynesians become far
larger more tribes split up and more
diversity among the people. Perhaps some
tribes even sail to the Australian coast!
Who knows? (Since this is impossible to
predict in detail, let's skip over this
few thousand years.) Since New Zealand and
Australia didn't really contribute to
global history until recently, (I'm sorry
but it's true) that means Zealandia
existing
surprisingly really doesn't affect most
of world history. Europe, Asia and the
gang can be exactly the same even if an
entire alternate continent existed in
the South Pacific, at least until the
18th century. So what changes in this
alternate timeline? Colonization. This is
where I bring up the man himself not
often talked about in America: Captain
James Cook. In the 1770s, Cook and his
crew went on a series of scientific
expeditions across the Pacific,
discovering new animals, people, and most
importantly, new lands. Two of which
were Australia, and New Zealand. From these
expeditions, Europe learned of these
previously unknown lands, and Britain began
colonization right away. In this
alternate scenario, with two major
continents in the South
Pacific, colonization is much more important to
this side of the world. Zealandia with a
diverse, rich, and fertile land, while
Australia has a fairly habitable coast.
In this scenario, the British focus much
more attention, this time, on Zealandia.
And as more people arrive, this means
more potential for conflict, especially
between this alternate Maori and British.
Zealandia is included through a series
of wars, much like the Native Americans.
The Zealandia Wars are similar to
Africa. They'd consist of rebellion, and
British conquest over tribes, over a
series of years. Eventually the Maori (or
whatever people live on the island) would
surrender and whatever country would
rise from it would have a clear racial
divide between whites and natives. (Keep in
mind, it's the 19th century, "The Golden
Age" of European conquest. Zealandia
becomes a new jewel in the crown of the
British Empire. Geography determines
where these cities are. Cities pop up
across the northern and western coast of
Zealandia, and the east coast of
Australia. These regions are the most
habitable. The ocean current makes the North
the most warmest areas of the
continent; the flat plateau allows for
fertile farmland. The farther south you
go, especially on the Australian and
Zealandian coast, the colder it gets. This
reflects in the population of the region.
Over the 19th, 20th and
21st centuries, Australia, and
Zealandia are far different than they are
today. European colonists populate
these lands in the tens of millions,
perhaps even to the same amount as the
United States. Complex industrial and
economic centers spring up on the coast
of a central sea between the two land
masses. The two colonies contribute in the
war effort of World War II, as Americans
use Zealandia as an important ground
anchor for bombers and bases. As the two
become independent, and their own
countries Australia and Zealandia
becomes far closer than they are in our
timeline. They're the twins of the world,
two Anglo regions born in the same time,
grew up together, and depend on each
other to survive. So their flags may
still be very similar, but at least, it
makes sense. Of course this is simply one
scenario in the countless possibilities.
We'll never truly know what would happen.
But, it's fun to theorize. This is Cody,
of AlternateHistoryHub.