Atlas of Medieval America

What its creator Matthew White calls a "surreal history". The site proposes what the United State of America would look like if it was a Middle Ages version of itself. No fantastical elements. No radioactive mutants or wizards. It's strictly what North America would look like, with its current ancestry, religious values and culture would look like given only a medieval level of technology to work with. Because it's 1000 years into the future, it doesn't quite count as Alternate History, but it largely appeals to that crowd. The site is here,, but it has not been updated since 2003.


 * After the End: America is in its present state due to an unspecified disaster.
 * Alien Space Bats
 * Big Applesauce: Averted. New York is not nearly the major player it is the modern day, instead being just one coastal port out of many.
 * Church of Happyology: The Scientologists have taken over California and become the dominant religion.
 * Continuation Fic: Several have been written by fans. One of the bigger ones is here.
 * Culture Chop Suey: Often the point. It likes to splice American cultures and institutions with historical ones. So we have cowboy barbarians, a remnant federal government that plays the role the Roman Catholic Church did in the Medieval era...
 * Divided States of America: Naturally.
 * Deep South: Somewhat different from most portrayals, in that African ethnicity and culture made a much more visible mark on the region. However, there are a few flags with the Stars and Bars motif.
 * Flyover Country: Definitely inverted. The Great Plains receive by far the most detail out of any part of the country, with descriptions of the nomadic cowboy culture and the Kingdom of Iowa.
 * God-Emperor: What rulers in the western deserts appear to be like due to their control over the water supply.
 * Hollywood California: One of the "Hydraulic Empires", autocratic regimes that thrive in the desert.
 * Hollywood Voodoo: No information has been written enough to get it wrong, but it does seems to have largely taken up space in the Gulf Coast (including New Orleans), Florida and in the Caribbean.
 * Lady Land: In the Caribbean, women occupy civil service jobs as the men are away.
 * Mormonism: In the absence of the federal government, the LDS Church establishes a theocracy over Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. And since absolute power is no fun without a harem, they bring back polygamy in the process.
 * Orphaned Series: A very strong and frustrating example.
 * Proud Merchant Race: How the former U.S.A. gets by.
 * Saintly Church: Relatively speaking, the Non-Denominational Church provides social services in the new Dark Ages, sues for peace, and has a republican structure.
 * The Big Easy: New Orleans may be the most important trading port on the continent, as it funnels South American goods to the inland fiefdoms.
 * The Horde: What the cowboys of the great plains are to everyone else.
 * The Other Rainforest: The site of many merchant cities, which largely practice Buddhism.
 * What Could Have Been: There's a stash of images and planned pages that don't go anywhere, so it's evident what the creator was planning at the time.