Timeline Thursday: Where Hearts Were Entertaining June by PlatoonSgt

I touched on this briefly in a past Map Monday, but now I am ready to talk about PlatoonSgt's timeline Where Hearts Were Entertaining June, currently being published on Alternate History.com.

It is set in a world where the little known English Armada ("little known" because I didn't know anything about it until recently) was more successful in breaking the power of the Spanish navy. In the peace treaty the British get Brazil and set out to colonize it, leaving the east coast of North America to the French, Dutch and Portuguese, completely screwing up the map as we know it. Don't believe me? See below:

The World in 1750.

PlatoonSgt goes into a lot of detail about how these alternate colonies evolve culturally, economically and politically.  As you read the timeline you see how Brazil becomes even more cosmopolitan (with a diverse number of ethnicities and religions intermingling) than the English colonies of North America in our timeline.

PlatoonSgt also doesn't ignore the butterflies and recognizable names disappear quickly as a new generation is born (allowing for some pop-culture references including a Scottish "King in the North" named Robert). What is even more refreshing is that he spends time not just discussing European and American history, but also the changes to China, India, Indonesia and elsewhere. Coverage of the areas outside of "western civilization" is a common omission in many alternate histories and I am glad PlatoonSgt didn't make this same mistake.

The timeline currently stretches to the 1750s, but I am still reading updates from the 1730s so I can't comment on the entire timeline. Still I like what I have seen so far and look forward to reading the rest.  As always, if there are any timelines you would like for me to check out or ones you would like to recommend to our readers, please contact me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.