Add 1550 checkpoint: comprehensive global survey

Americas: Portuguese conquer Aztec/Inca, Potosí silver discovered, Castile follows
- German Hanseatic trading posts in West Africa, possible North American expeditions
- New World silver breaks Japanese monopoly, flows to Song causing inflation

Japan: Silver crisis + Sengoku-equivalent civil war + multiple foreign contacts
India: Timurid-Indian Empire expanding south, economy hollowed by Song imports
Great Khanate: approaching formal disintegration (Northern Ulus, Poland, Bulgaria breaking away)
Ilkhanate: golden age continues, Anatolia digested, industrialization deepening

England: noble parliament (Hungarian Diet model), not independence yet
- Full autonomy/independence tied to future industrialization of coal/iron resources

East Africa: Song vs Ilkhanate vs Portugal three-way competition
SE Asia: fragmented (Song remnants, Chinese polities, Aceh, Portuguese, Ilkhanate, Siam)
West Africa: Songhai survives (no Moroccan invasion), Portuguese + German coastal competition
North Africa: Aragon outposts beginning, no Ottoman rescue

Complete religious map table for ~1550
Reformation spreading: N. Germany, Bohemia, English islands, parts of Burgundy

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

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@@ -1272,23 +1272,127 @@ With Byzantium reduced to a city-state, no one controls the Balkans. The Great K
 - Religious divide begins reshaping European alliances
 - V3 era: Protestant-equivalent vs Catholic as major political fault line in Europe
 
-### Plantagenet France: English Problem Grows
+### Plantagenet France: English Autonomy Movement
 - English-speaking island population increasingly alienated from French-speaking Paris court
-- Reform/Protestant ideas find receptive audience in England (anti-Rome = anti-Paris proxy)
-- **English separatism + Reformation may merge**: religious independence as vehicle for political independence
-- Not yet a revolution but the ingredients are assembling
+- Reform/Protestant ideas find receptive audience in England (anti-Rome as proxy for anti-Paris)
+- **NOT separatism yet — demanding rights within the system**:
+  - English nobles petition for a restored/strengthened **English Parliament** (similar to Hungarian Diet)
+  - Demands: local taxation control, island affairs self-governance, religious autonomy, representation at Paris court
+  - Follows English constitutional tradition (Magna Carta 1215, Model Parliament 1295)
+  - Paris court may concede a noble parliament to defuse tension
+- **Full independence comes much later**: only when European industrialization hits and England's coal/iron resources drive an industrial transformation → new bourgeois class demands political power beyond noble parliament → THEN independence or radical autonomy becomes viable
+- For now (~1525): constitutional struggle, not revolution
 
 ---
 
-## Open Questions (Post-1525 Chronological Development)
-
-1. **Song**: When does the next crisis hit? Does it reach 1836 unified?
-2. **Americas**: Aztec/Inca conquest? Portuguese vs Castile colonial rivalry? New World silver impact?
-3. **Reformation wars**: Religious conflict in Europe — who fights whom?
-4. **English independence**: When does England break from Plantagenet France?
-5. **Ilkhanate**: Continues growing or overextended? Egypt finally breaks away?
-6. **Great Khanate**: When does it finally collapse or reform?
-7. **India**: Timurid-Indian unification progress?
-8. **Remaining to 1836**: 311 years, ~12 checkpoints
-7. **Timurid-India**: Does unification succeed?
-8. **1836 world**: We're now 360 years from V3 start — what's the trajectory?
+## 1550 Checkpoint
+
+### Portuguese Americas (~1550)
+- **Aztec conquest** (~1520s): Portuguese equivalent of Cortés. Fire weapons + smallpox + local allies.
+- **Inca conquest** (~1530s): Portuguese equivalent of Pizarro.
+- **Potosí silver mine** discovered ~1545 → massive silver output begins
+- Portuguese colonial empire: Caribbean (Hispaniola, Cuba), Mexico, Peru, Brazil
+- **Castile**: Latecomer, claims areas Portugal hasn't colonized (Río de la Plata? Venezuela? Pacific coast?)
+- **Treaty**: Portugal-Castile division (papal mediation), but only binds Iberian powers
+- **Kalmar Union**: Vinland (Newfoundland) settlements growing, expanding south along coast. Ignores Iberian claims.
+- **Greater Germany**: Hanseatic merchants establishing **West African coastal trading posts** (gold, ivory). Hamburg/Bremen as Atlantic bases. Possible early North American expeditions.
+- **New World silver impact**:
+  - Floods into Portugal → Lisbon becomes silver capital → risk of "Dutch disease" (resource curse)
+  - Spreads to global markets via trade → **Japanese silver monopoly broken** → Japan's economy disrupted
+  - Flows to Song via trade networks → inflationary pressure on Song monetary system
+
+### Japan: Silver Crisis + Multiple Foreign Contacts (~1550)
+- New World silver ends Japan's monopoly → silver revenues collapse → economic disruption
+- **Sengoku-equivalent civil war** likely ongoing (internal武家 political tensions don't require Mongol invasion to trigger — shōen system collapse + warrior power struggles are inherent)
+- Multiple foreign powers arriving simultaneously:
+  - Song merchants (traditional, but weakened by Song internal crisis)
+  - Ilkhanate ships (via Indonesian route, bypassing Song)
+  - Portuguese (reaching Japan ~1540s, as in our timeline)
+- Different daimyō ally with different foreign powers → foreign weapons flowing in from multiple sources
+- **Unification war may be faster/more brutal** than historical Sengoku (higher firearm density from multiple suppliers)
+- Key V3 question: who unifies Japan? What foreign orientation do they choose?
+
+### India: Timurid-Indian Empire Expanding (~1550)
+- Deccan campaigns underway against Vijayanagara Empire
+- Vijayanagara: last major independent South Indian state, may fall earlier than historical 1565
+- If unification succeeds: all-India empire with huge population but economy hollowed out by Song industrial imports
+- Song penetration via Burma Road into Bengal continues
+- Ilkhanate trading posts on western coast (Gujarat, Malabar)
+- Portuguese: scattered small posts
+- Paradox: politically unified India + economically dependent India (similar to late Mughal before British conquest)
+
+### Great Khanate: Gradual Disintegration (~1550)
+- Third cold wave (Maunder Minimum precursor) approaching → more agricultural crisis
+- **Projected breakaway timeline**:
+  - Northern Ulus: already de facto independent, formal break ~1550s-1570s?
+  - Poland: parliament expanding self-governance, formal independence ~1570s-1600s?
+  - Bulgar Khanate: drifting away, formal independence ~similar timeline
+- Core shrinking to: Volga → Ukraine → Hungary → Kazakhstan steppe
+- Will eventually become a medium-sized agricultural empire, not a superpower
+- Serfdom remains the fundamental problem blocking modernization
+
+### Ilkhanate: Golden Age Continues
+- Anatolia digested, Central Asia vassalized
+- Industrialization deepening in major cities (Isfahan, Tabriz, possibly Baghdad)
+- Mediterranean eastern coast → direct trade with Italian city-states (bypassing Venetian middleman)
+- Indian Ocean network expanding
+- **Potential overextension risk**: huge territory from Anatolia to Central Asia + maritime network. Administrative strain possible.
+- Egypt: autonomous but within the system. Sunni-Shia tensions managed but not resolved.
+
+### East Africa: Three-Way Competition
+- Swahili coast city-states (Kilwa, Mombasa, Zanzibar) courted by three powers:
+  - **Song**: from east (via SE Asia / Indian Ocean direct route, established by Zheng He-equivalent)
+  - **Ilkhanate**: from north (via Oman/Persian Gulf, longest-standing connection)
+  - **Portugal**: from south (via Cape Colony / Mozambique)
+- City-states play all three against each other for best trade terms
+- No single power dominates yet — too far from everyone's core
+
+### Southeast Asia: Fragmented (~1550)
+- **Song retained**: Vietnam (direct province?), Burma corridor, Malacca fortress
+- **Autonomous Chinese polities**: Borneo republics, Sumatra kingdoms, Philippine port cities — increasingly independent
+- **Shia Aceh Sultanate**: growing, Ilkhanate-backed, friction with Song's Malacca
+- **Portuguese**: Moluccas trading posts
+- **Ilkhanate**: scattered Indonesian outposts, Japan trade route stations
+- **Siam**: largest independent non-Chinese Southeast Asian kingdom
+- **Australia**: small but growing Chinese coastal settlements (southern refugee communities from Song crisis)
+
+### West Africa (~1550)
+- **Songhai Empire**: at or past peak. Controls Timbuktu, Gao, Djenné. Trans-Saharan gold trade continuing.
+  - Historical Songhai destroyed by Morocco 1591 — in this timeline Morocco (Wattasid) may be too weak → Songhai survives longer
+- **Coastal competition**: Portugal (dominant) + German Hanseatic posts (emerging)
+- Trans-Saharan trade being undercut by sea routes but not yet dead
+
+### North Africa (~1550)
+- Morocco: Wattasid dynasty, declining. Portuguese pressure from Ceuta.
+- Tunisia: Hafsid caliphate, Sunni center. Stable but feeling Aragon pressure from Mediterranean.
+- Algeria: Weak, squeezed.
+- **Aragon establishing first North African coastal outposts** (as discussed)
+- **No Ottoman rescue** — North Africa must face European pressure alone
+- Egypt: Ilkhanate semi-autonomous province, Sunni-Shia internal tension
+
+### Religious Map (~1550)
+| Faith | Territory |
+|---|---|
+| Reformed/Protestant equivalent | N. Germany (Hanseatic), Bohemia, English islands, parts of Burgundy |
+| Catholic | Paris (Plantagenet France), Aragon, Castile, S. Germany, Italy, Poland, Ireland |
+| Constantinople Orthodox | Byzantine city-state, Serbian principalities, Greek principalities |
+| Volga Orthodox (Mongolized) | Great Khanate core |
+| Shia Islam | Ilkhanate + Aceh + Indian coast influence |
+| Sunni Islam | Tunisia (caliph), Morocco, Algeria, Egypt (folk), Central Asia, parts of Xinjiang |
+| Buddhist/Confucian/Daoist | Song empire, Korea, SE Asian Chinese polities, Japan (mixed) |
+| Theravada Buddhist | Siam, mainland SE Asia interior |
+| Hindu | South India (Vijayanagara, declining) |
+
+---
+
+## Open Questions (Post-1550 Chronological Development)
+
+1. **Song**: Next fragmentation episode? Three Kingdoms/Five Dynasties risk?
+2. **England**: When does industrial transformation drive independence push?
+3. **Great Khanate**: Formal breakup timeline — when do Poland/Northern Ulus/Bulgaria leave?
+4. **Japan**: Who unifies? Open or closed country afterward?
+5. **Reformation wars**: Do they escalate? Which alliances form?
+6. **Ilkhanate**: Overextension risk? Egypt breaks away?
+7. **Americas**: Portuguese colonial empire develops — how does New World silver reshape global economy?
+8. **India**: Does Timurid unification succeed? Economic dependency on Song deepens?
+9. **Remaining to 1836**: 286 years, ~11 checkpoints