What if Columbus reaches the Americas had gone differently?

A Castilian expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean, opening sustained contact between hemispheres.

If it had gone differently: The Atlantic stays a barrier for generations; Europe's empires grow east, not west.

The real history on Wikipedia ↗

Later turning points that leaned on Columbus reaches the Americas. Change it in the game and the ripples reach all of these.

1. 1500The Columbian Exchange. Without it, No potatoes or maize in the Old World; European populations stay smaller and hungrier.
2. 1525The Atlantic slave trade scales up. Without it, The plantation economy never finds its labour force; Atlantic colonies stay marginal.
3. 1600The chartered East India companies. Without it, European trade with Asia stays a matter of small merchant convoys; no company-states, no gunboat empires.