If Europe was more violent forcing people to flee, British government decides to lease land to settlers like USA did, or greater gold rush, or for ever reason, if more Caucasian people colonized the region (not just South Africa, includes Mocambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the elk), how would that impact things and how would the colonization go and how much Caucasian people will make a fraction of the region's population?
More Caucasian Colonization in Southern Africa
- Thread starter TickTock The Witch's Dead
- Start date
The biggest issue I see here is why would your average person go somewhere like South Africa with few of the relative comforts of civilization, when there are other places with those comforts in need of far more people. (In britains case, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, really any colony where being working class is comfortable and simple?). The uncertainty of a relatively lawless and poor region is far more unappealing than just going to one of those other places (or even going to America, or if you're really enterprising, going to Argentina and Brazil).
The issue with white settlement of Africa is that there are other places where they can go where they will be welcome.
The issue with white settlement of Africa is that there are other places where they can go where they will be welcome.
The colonization might follow on the 1890 rinderpest epidemic, which depopulated most of the pastoralist areas. Some believe that the Serengeti was densely populated before the epidemic.
Couple this with something really bad happening in Europe, like a tsunami, maybe.
Couple this with something really bad happening in Europe, like a tsunami, maybe.
Czar Kaizer
Banned
In the 19th century there were plans to send convicts to the Cape, but there was so much opposition from the settler population, that the Governor was forced to give it up. Perhaps if they failed the Cape could become a secondary destination for convict labour.
In the time of the Dutch cape colony only about 5000 settled the region. If you can somehow increase this number this could accelerate colonization. Maybe another power with a bigger base poplation sees that the Dutch cape colony is very convenient and colonizes the Natal and the OTL Boer Republics territory, where they find gold and thus early on thousands of Europeans flood in.
It was actually even fewer, just 2,044 and even then many were wiped out from a smallpox epidemic during the early 18th century. In addition, most of the early immigration ended, leading to nearly 90% of the white population being South African born by 1735.
Between 1652-1806 in South Africa there settled
976 Germans
832 Dutch
167 French
69 Scandinavians
2,044
South African born white males in Dutch Cape Colony
1687 34%
1711 69%
1735 89%
1765 97%
1794 99%
The main problem with the Dutch colonisation attempts during this period was the relative prosperity of the United Provinces. The Netherlands attracted immigrants, due to its economic prosperity and its religious tolerance. Large numbers of Germans and Scandinavian economic migrants were attracted to the country in addition to religious refugees during the 17th and 18th centuries. New Netherlands too had a large foreign element, and a large number of sailors in VOC were actually Scandinavians.
What do you mean? Back then New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the other colonies weren't so filled with comforts back then.
I could imagine a worse Napoleonic Wars would force millions to flee. Or if gold was discover around the time the colony was found.
By the way I'm talking about a Caucasian majority region.
You may want to re-title your thread to clarify that you mean a European or white majority. The use of "Caucasian" as a synonym for "European" is not universal (and in fact, is fairly controversial in some places).
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Gold is discovered right after the Napoleonic wars just as thousands of young unattached men are being disbanded.
Set up anybody but the Dutch at the Cape Coast early enough, tbh. The English, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Genoese, the Danish, the Courlanders, the Russians, the Jews, the Ottomans, the Moroccans. Take your pick. Any state or even people with an interest in trading with India via sea routes would have been a better candidate to plop more people down and see the exponential population growth more notably centuries later. Bonus points if they've got a restive minority, poverty, fear of being pushed out of the Cape by another power, or the complete decimation of the nation save its navy resulting in a population exodus. The Netherlands was just too damn prosperous a state, as has been outlined above. Portugal's probably the perfect candidate. The people themselves were poor, prone to external migration, exported people out of their own settler colonies in the Atlantic, had a large interest in India, and were surrounded by a large power that wasn't too keen on continued Portuguese independence. The TL Portuguese Southern Africa tackles this idea in a very interesting manner, it's a pity the reboot got stalled.
The VOC, 'world's first multinational', which started out as government initiative to concentrate Dutch efforts in 'the East' (hint VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) means United East-India Company).
Also even a large Dutch minority doesn't hurt colonization, there's Afrikaans, which is a daughter language of Dutch, which might not have come into existence is the British didn't take (rob the Dutch
) from the Cape Colony.
In fact the Cape would have been the only successful Dutch settler colony, if it wasn't lost during the Napoleonic wars and never regained.
So IMHO keeping the Cape Dutch might also have helped, since in the 19th century, bad governance in the 18th century and French occupation and annexation (the Napoleonic Years) had made the Netherlands rather poor; the Contintal System was the final blow to our trade based economy.
In fact IMHO the 19th century would have been ideal to bring more Dutch settlers to a Dutch South Africa.
Also even a large Dutch minority doesn't hurt colonization, there's Afrikaans, which is a daughter language of Dutch, which might not have come into existence is the British didn't take (rob the Dutch
) from the Cape Colony. In fact the Cape would have been the only successful Dutch settler colony, if it wasn't lost during the Napoleonic wars and never regained.
So IMHO keeping the Cape Dutch might also have helped, since in the 19th century, bad governance in the 18th century and French occupation and annexation (the Napoleonic Years) had made the Netherlands rather poor; the Contintal System was the final blow to our trade based economy.
In fact IMHO the 19th century would have been ideal to bring more Dutch settlers to a Dutch South Africa.
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Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
Caucasian settlements? Sure. Russia is awarded the Cape as a result of the Napoleonic wars and settles restive Chechens and Dagestanis in the early 19th century as part of its attempt to pacify those regions.