Lucius Julius Mento [invented name] is general in Britannia. He receives private word that his brother Sextus is going to try for the purple rising in revolt on the other side of the Empire, so he stops the tribute flowing from Britannia. He also gets his legion ready for action, ready to help his brother when the latter's army approaches Rome.
Unfortunately for the family, the revolt is quickly put down.
Lucius receives word of the failure, and takes action. He knows HE can't succeed in revolt, and he knows that as soon as the Emperor gets around to cleaning up loose ends, he's going to be executed. He sends polite refusals for 'requests' that he return to Rome. Instead, he gathers up the tribute that he had held back.
He figures the emperor won't invade until spring, and so uses the late fall and early winter to prepare. He requisitions local ships, and has more built. These are of the Veneti type that can actually (more or less) deal with the Atlantic. [Said ships were still being built some more than 3 centuries after the ships Caesar described: http://museums.gov.gg/romanship[URL]http://museums.gov.gg/romanship)[/URL]
He announces to his people that his ancestor Venus appeared to him in a dream and told him to sail west to the Hesperides, and conquer new land for Rome. [1) Most of the rank and file don't know he's a traitor to Rome, or at least the current emperor, and his closest officers know - and are afraid for their lives too.] [2) speculation by later historians range from 'he heard rumours of a land out west' to 'well, island chains like the Canaries, Hebrides, etc., were known, so he may have thought SOMETHING had to be out there' to 'I've got no clue if anything's out there, but I'd rather die heroically than be beheaded in disgrace']
So he loads up his ships with livestock and grain, a handful of civilians (smiths, miners, a couple of local farmers and the like), his staff and their families, if they were in Britain, and as many soldiers as he can (let's say 2-4 centuries).
They set sail across the Atlantic. Something like half the ships are lost on the crossing, and some of the survivors are scattered. But a nucleus which contains a century of soldiers, and at least one male and female of horses, cows and sheep survive. The survivors plant their seeds, and largely live on fish until their crops come up. They also erect palisades as fortification for defence.
They make contact with local tribes, forming alliances with some and together conquering some of their neighbours.
This early in time, the locals will be hunter-gardeners, with Chenopodium crops, but probably not the Three Sisters of maize/beans/squash.
Friendly tribes marry off daughters to the newcomers, and conquered tribes provide women as slaves.
Iron ores, even if in small quantities, are wide enough spread (including ochre which the locals will already use for decoration), that making iron tools will not be difficult. Miners can spend a few years with friendly guides looking for other ores, like copper and lead/silver.
Roman discipline holds, the town survives and grows. Possibly they find survivors from a scattered ship or two, and incorporate them into their growing state.
By the second generation, the population is over half native, genetically, between local wives and concubines for the overwhelmingly male Romans on the one hand, and locals who join (better tools, better crops, protection from enemy tribes. Lots of reasons to join up.)
Language is Latin, but there is a growing discrepancy between the official, Classical Latin of the officer (soon to be labelled Senatorial) class and written documents, and the general population whose speech is more creolized with every generation.
The ships used for crossing were well worn on arrival, and repairing them took second priority to survival. Building small boats and ships for fishing, for instance, was much more important. It might even be that Lucius, or one of his officers, arranged an 'accidental' fire or other damage to reduce the chances of word getting back to Rome too early. Not that he's too worried. The crossing was bad enough he doubts that Rome will divert the effort needed to conquer his established colony.
The usual Roman progress ensues. We're attacked by our neighbours, so we conquer them and absorb them into our system. Then THEIR neighbours attack, rinse and repeat.
Between their 1) iron tools, 2) social discipline and 3) domestic animals (wool, leather, meat, beasts of burden, draft animals, and manure for fields), the Roman colony has major advantages over local societies, and grows in numbers and in area.
Over the centuries, New Rome expands from its initial foothold to cover a sizable chunk of the North American seaboard, and portions inland.
Again, over the centuries, occasionally explorers, malcontents or 'loyal Romans' try to cross the Atlantic back to Europe, but the loss of ocean going ships (coastal shipping is the most this colony needs) means that such attempts are even less successful than the original colonization.
Contact is maintained, very, very intermittently. Europe knows of Nova Roma, and vice versa, but they can't really interact much.
When the Old World Christianizes, a couple of missionary bishops are sent out to proselytize Nova Roma. That gives slightly more incentive to maintain contact, but even the New World Christians drift theologically from the Papacy, and then the incentive for contact decreases.
When sea faring tech gets good enough (similar to Columbus's caravels) more contact opens up, but the New Romans are populous enough, and have good enough tech, that they can't simply be taken over like OTL's colonization of the New World.
Unfortunately for the family, the revolt is quickly put down.
Lucius receives word of the failure, and takes action. He knows HE can't succeed in revolt, and he knows that as soon as the Emperor gets around to cleaning up loose ends, he's going to be executed. He sends polite refusals for 'requests' that he return to Rome. Instead, he gathers up the tribute that he had held back.
He figures the emperor won't invade until spring, and so uses the late fall and early winter to prepare. He requisitions local ships, and has more built. These are of the Veneti type that can actually (more or less) deal with the Atlantic. [Said ships were still being built some more than 3 centuries after the ships Caesar described: http://museums.gov.gg/romanship[URL]http://museums.gov.gg/romanship)[/URL]
He announces to his people that his ancestor Venus appeared to him in a dream and told him to sail west to the Hesperides, and conquer new land for Rome. [1) Most of the rank and file don't know he's a traitor to Rome, or at least the current emperor, and his closest officers know - and are afraid for their lives too.] [2) speculation by later historians range from 'he heard rumours of a land out west' to 'well, island chains like the Canaries, Hebrides, etc., were known, so he may have thought SOMETHING had to be out there' to 'I've got no clue if anything's out there, but I'd rather die heroically than be beheaded in disgrace']
So he loads up his ships with livestock and grain, a handful of civilians (smiths, miners, a couple of local farmers and the like), his staff and their families, if they were in Britain, and as many soldiers as he can (let's say 2-4 centuries).
They set sail across the Atlantic. Something like half the ships are lost on the crossing, and some of the survivors are scattered. But a nucleus which contains a century of soldiers, and at least one male and female of horses, cows and sheep survive. The survivors plant their seeds, and largely live on fish until their crops come up. They also erect palisades as fortification for defence.
They make contact with local tribes, forming alliances with some and together conquering some of their neighbours.
This early in time, the locals will be hunter-gardeners, with Chenopodium crops, but probably not the Three Sisters of maize/beans/squash.
Friendly tribes marry off daughters to the newcomers, and conquered tribes provide women as slaves.
Iron ores, even if in small quantities, are wide enough spread (including ochre which the locals will already use for decoration), that making iron tools will not be difficult. Miners can spend a few years with friendly guides looking for other ores, like copper and lead/silver.
Roman discipline holds, the town survives and grows. Possibly they find survivors from a scattered ship or two, and incorporate them into their growing state.
By the second generation, the population is over half native, genetically, between local wives and concubines for the overwhelmingly male Romans on the one hand, and locals who join (better tools, better crops, protection from enemy tribes. Lots of reasons to join up.)
Language is Latin, but there is a growing discrepancy between the official, Classical Latin of the officer (soon to be labelled Senatorial) class and written documents, and the general population whose speech is more creolized with every generation.
The ships used for crossing were well worn on arrival, and repairing them took second priority to survival. Building small boats and ships for fishing, for instance, was much more important. It might even be that Lucius, or one of his officers, arranged an 'accidental' fire or other damage to reduce the chances of word getting back to Rome too early. Not that he's too worried. The crossing was bad enough he doubts that Rome will divert the effort needed to conquer his established colony.
The usual Roman progress ensues. We're attacked by our neighbours, so we conquer them and absorb them into our system. Then THEIR neighbours attack, rinse and repeat.
Between their 1) iron tools, 2) social discipline and 3) domestic animals (wool, leather, meat, beasts of burden, draft animals, and manure for fields), the Roman colony has major advantages over local societies, and grows in numbers and in area.
Over the centuries, New Rome expands from its initial foothold to cover a sizable chunk of the North American seaboard, and portions inland.
Again, over the centuries, occasionally explorers, malcontents or 'loyal Romans' try to cross the Atlantic back to Europe, but the loss of ocean going ships (coastal shipping is the most this colony needs) means that such attempts are even less successful than the original colonization.
Contact is maintained, very, very intermittently. Europe knows of Nova Roma, and vice versa, but they can't really interact much.
When the Old World Christianizes, a couple of missionary bishops are sent out to proselytize Nova Roma. That gives slightly more incentive to maintain contact, but even the New World Christians drift theologically from the Papacy, and then the incentive for contact decreases.
When sea faring tech gets good enough (similar to Columbus's caravels) more contact opens up, but the New Romans are populous enough, and have good enough tech, that they can't simply be taken over like OTL's colonization of the New World.