• SadArtemis [she/her]
    ·
    3 months ago

    I'm pretty sure it happened many times? Not all cultures are rampaging hordes like the west Europeans, though even then given enough time and contact conflict becomes more likely to arise.

    For essentially peaceful first contacts, the Chinese treasure fleets of the Ming Dynasty come to mind. They sent out their voyages six times, traveling around the southeast Asia and the Indian ocean (to India, Arabia, east Africa, and Iran). They had varying degrees of prior contact with many of those they visited, but further out as they went further west and south they only knew the routes. Other than some minor anti-piracy activity, overthrowing a Sri Lankan king who was engaging in piracy against Chinese trade partners in favor of an ally, and helping an ally in Indonesia (in Sumatra) reclaim their throne from an usurper, it was primarily peaceful and mutually beneficial on all sides. Gifts and tribute were exchanged, and ambassadors and samplings of goods from previously known but not directly contacted regions returned with the fleets.

    There is also history of peaceful trade (probably with no real reason for conflict) between Indonesians (Makassans) and pre-colonial, aboriginal Australian societies.

  • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Ancient Americas recently made a video about contact between Polynesia and South America, which there is an increasing amount of evidence for.

      • huf [he/him]
        ·
        3 months ago

        apparently a batshit weird version of that theory...

          • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
            ·
            3 months ago

            It's a reference to the Raske Menn sketch "World History in 5 Minutes" where it's a recurring gag that Thor Heyerdahl shows up in unexpected places and says in a thick accent, "Hello!! I've just arrived in my fantastic boat, Kon Tiki 5!!"

            That sketch also has some casual racism and Islamophobia so y'know be warned about that

  • Dolores [love/loves]
    ·
    3 months ago

    most formal 'contact' between people was outran by the technology, it was easier for a daisychain of neighbors trading with neighbors to develop than a single group gathering up provisions & technological products, then bypassing a whole portion of the trade network & getting somewhere that didn't have roughly the same sophistication.

  • vovchik_ilich [he/him]
    ·
    3 months ago

    Also, relations between communist countries such as that of Cuba and USSR come to mind.

  • hypercracker
    ·
    3 months ago

    so-true That's what colonialism was all about!

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
    ·
    3 months ago

    My memory is hazy, but didn't Japan and Portugal have a more or less amicable relationship?

    • SadArtemis [she/her]
      ·
      3 months ago

      It was more or less amicable... if you disregarded the rampant slavery that was going on (Portuguese were big in the Asian slave trade, and feudal Japan was a hellhole- though fwiw the highest authorities on both sides seem to have been horrified by it and sent missives in that regard - the Japanese for obvious reasons, and the Portuguese due to concerns it was affecting evangelization).

      The Portuguese authorities eventually tried to ban the east Asian slave trade (because they wanted to continue trade relations and there was real risk of being locked out).

      Relations with the Japanese otherwise seem to have been peaceful, which honestly is kinda surprising considering how they infamously behaved across the entire Indian ocean and even initially in China (tons of piracy and slave raiding on coastal towns).