Possibility Of Britain As A Colony?

[SlickWilly]

BTW, I'm not suggesting Ireland could colonise it, as it was not centralised and was in fact very divided itself. Indeed, there's an old saying if you ever see an Irish man being roasted on a spit, you can be guaranteed there will be 2 Irish men turning it.
I cannot imagine Britain being under a colonial yoke for very long, but it could have vast implications for the spread of the language, scientific and engineering discoveries and developments and the industrial revolution and of course subsequent wars!

[Cuāuhtemōc]

Ireland wasn't in any position to rule the island of Britain, barring a POD somewhere prior to the Anglo-Saxon conquest.

[Socrates]

The basic problem you have is that Britain has much better agricultural land than Ireland does, and can thus sustain a far larger population. It's also situated closer to mainland Europe, and thus is far more likely to get rich on trade and build larger cities than Ireland is.

[Tyr]

It was a colony. The Danes, the Anglo-Saxons, the Scots, the Romans, the Celts, etc... All have colonised Britain.
Under some definitions of colony you could even count the Normans.

If you mean in the industrial age...well no. Its not really possible.
Assuming a cliched India/China takes the place of Europe scenario its likely things with Europe will be much the same as they were with India/China IOTL- playing around with local rulers, establishinging small colonies on the coasts, dominating countries, setting up puppets, etc... but wholesale colonisation...you'd need Years of Rice and Salt.

edit- taking colony as in actually colonised there. Not the weird use of the word for the likes of the Raj. As I said that sort of situation is possible under the standard another part of the world becomes dominant scenario.

[Devolved]

It was a colony. The Danes, the Anglo-Saxons, the Scots, the Romans, the Celts, etc... All have colonised Britain.
Under some definitions of colony you could even count the Normans.



The Normans colonized England more thoroughly than the English colonized Ireland.

After a couple of hundred years the Norman rulers renamed themselves English and stayed. England is the first and last colony.

[Errnge]

is it possible for the spanish if their armada succeeds?

[Cuāuhtemōc]

is it possible for the spanish if their armada succeeds?

No. I don't think so.

[Ganesha]

No. I don't think so.

Agreed. If the Spanish Armada succeeded, it would have forced the British to accept Spanish hegemony and a Spanish monarch, but there would have been no large-scale "colonization" of Britain, especially not in terms of Spanish settlers.

[Gimple]

I could see Britain as some sort of Scandinavian colony all the way into the 21st, if the little Ice Age hadn't happened.

[theman from the ministery]

The Normans colonized England more thoroughly than the English colonized Ireland.

After a couple of hundred years the Norman rulers renamed themselves English and stayed. England is the first and last colony.


with the (slow) break up of class system you could argue that the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons are starting to power share with the descendants Normans :D

[Devolved]

with the (slow) break up of class system you could argue that the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons are starting to power share with the descendants Normans :D

Just in time for the EU to take control.

[theman from the ministery]

Just in time for the EU to take control.

well a few years of Saxon independence was nice

[Roger II]

with the (slow) break up of class system you could argue that the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons are starting to power share with the descendants Normans :D

It's possible to find a distinction? I thought the Normans and Anglo-Saxons would've become so intermarried over the centuries that they wouldn't constitute distinct groups by now.

[theman from the ministery]

It's possible to find a distinction? I thought the Normans and Anglo-Saxons would've become so intermarried over the centuries that they wouldn't constitute distinct groups by now.



Yes but you can make a crude guess by surnames and the "old" upper class's tend to be descendants of Normans e.g. "we can trace the family to the Norman conquest when we also got this estate"

[Tyr]

Agreed. If the Spanish Armada succeeded, it would have forced the British to accept Spanish hegemony and a Spanish monarch, but there would have been no large-scale "colonization" of Britain, especially not in terms of Spanish settlers.
Yeah, there would be no colonisation. The plan was just to install a nice Spanish friendly catholic monarch. England would remain England.

The Normans colonized England more thoroughly than the English colonized Ireland.

After a couple of hundred years the Norman rulers renamed themselves English and stayed. England is the first and last colony.

Not many French settlers came over though, that was just the upper classes replacing the native upper classes. The commoners largely remained the same.

[Falastur]

Yes but you can make a crude guess by surnames and the "old" upper class's tend to be descendants of Normans e.g. "we can trace the family to the Norman conquest when we also got this estate"

Could you? My surname marks me as a direct male-line descendent of an obscure Norman lordling, yet I both resemble the stereo-typical Anglo-Saxon appearance and associate with it too. I don't know of anyone in this country who describes themselves as Norman, and that includes when I've seen interviews of nobles of the realm...

[theman from the ministery]

Could you? My surname marks me as a direct male-line descendent of an obscure Norman lordling, yet I both resemble the stereo-typical Anglo-Saxon appearance and associate with it too. I don't know of anyone in this country who describes themselves as Norman, and that includes when I've seen interviews of nobles of the realm...


As I said "a very Crude guess" .

Though they may not describe themselves as Norman they can still trace the family to 1066. the same way as an American don’t describes themselves as British there still the descendants of British settler's and rule the Country (granted it’s not just descendants of British settler's who run the USA but it’s not the native American)

But the man point is it was "a very Crude guess".

[pa_dutch]

What about partial colonization? The Romans and the Danes (under Knut the Great) controlled England... Maybe a Scandinavian power could hold on to Scotland or some eastern cities along the English coast. Could France get its own parallel to Calais in southern England?

[Sift Green]

What if the English Crown wins the Hundred Years War? The French lands will be more important to the Crown then the English lands, and this might increase the movements of peoples between the Islands and the Mainland.

[Elfwine]

Not sure why that would make many Frenchmen move to England - why go somewhere damp, cold, and miserable when you have France?

[Isot the Terrible]

I could see Britain as some sort of Scandinavian colony all the way into the 21st, if the little Ice Age hadn't happened.
Impossible. When Canute conqured England, one of the first things he did was to move his royal seat to England.

Due to Englands superior population and resources, and relatively similar culture, it would be almost impossible for Scandinavia to maintain England in a subservient relationship for a period of centuries.