Until recently, I've thought that with a British victory in Buenos Aires in 1807, virtually all of Argentina/Uruguay would have become a British colony, with British settlers as a consequence coming and developing the country much like Australia or Canada and ending up with a Canada-style English-Spanish split as well as First World status. (All of this would definitely still hold true if the POD were in the 1700s, when Buenos Aires was much less populated than it would be by 1806 and when the British at least planned to make advances on the River Plate region.)
In recent months, as reflected in some other threads, I've thought up of something rather different, because I've read brand-new books on the 1806-07 British invasions of the Rio de la Plata and I've reread some other books on that subject. I've investigated the circumstances around those invasions (for the British and the local inhabitants alike) much more carefully than before. I've come to the conclusion that a British Argentina (i.e. along the lines of Canada, Australia, and similar British colonies/dominions) consisting of real-life Argentina and Uruguay would have been kind of unrealistic.
Instead, a strong possibility for the medium to long term, from roughly 1810 onward, is for an independent Argentina with enhanced British influence (because the new British government of 1807 was into economic much more than political influence in Latin America in general, and because the Buenos Aires inhabitants now wanted independence way more than continued imperial rule, Spanish or British), plus (at the same time) a British Uruguay - including a sliver of land in the north that is these days OTL a part of Brazil. Meaning that Uruguay today would be narrow-majority Anglo (but 40-45% Spanish-speaking) as well as First World and continuously democratic. Plus, if the British are already at it in Uruguay, they're much more likely to go for much if not all of Patagonia as well, including the Strait of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falklands, so that Patagonia, too, becomes a British colony (at least eventually), and would become at least 90% Anglo and, of course, First World. If they're already at it in both Uruguay and Patagonia, they'll probably go also for the southern coast of OTL Buenos Aires Province - that would also be at least 90% Anglo and First World, and I've thought of "Victoria" as the name of that colony/province. Hence, an independent, Spanish-speaking Argentina with some extra British influence (much like American influence in Cuba from 1898 to 1959), plus British Uruguay, Patagonia, and so forth. The British possessions around Argentina perhaps get united into one single dominion in the late 1800s/early 1900s in the manner of Canada, Australia, South Africa, or (later on) Malaysia, with that dominion (now a Commonwealth country) being called "Platina".
Under that scenario, it is Platina, not Argentina as a whole, that becomes the only genuinely developed country in South America and the only English-speaking country in South America aside from Guyana. At the same time, it is Platina (esp. Uruguay), not Argentina as a whole, that is split between English and Spanish, not unlike Canada. As for the rest of Argentina, for a very long time it's a British client state even more than in real life and it has fundamentally the same issues as in real life.
In connection with the poll choices above, what I'm saying here is a compromise between the British keeping both Buenos Aires and Montevideo and the British keeping neither of those cities.
Please let me what you think!
In recent months, as reflected in some other threads, I've thought up of something rather different, because I've read brand-new books on the 1806-07 British invasions of the Rio de la Plata and I've reread some other books on that subject. I've investigated the circumstances around those invasions (for the British and the local inhabitants alike) much more carefully than before. I've come to the conclusion that a British Argentina (i.e. along the lines of Canada, Australia, and similar British colonies/dominions) consisting of real-life Argentina and Uruguay would have been kind of unrealistic.
Instead, a strong possibility for the medium to long term, from roughly 1810 onward, is for an independent Argentina with enhanced British influence (because the new British government of 1807 was into economic much more than political influence in Latin America in general, and because the Buenos Aires inhabitants now wanted independence way more than continued imperial rule, Spanish or British), plus (at the same time) a British Uruguay - including a sliver of land in the north that is these days OTL a part of Brazil. Meaning that Uruguay today would be narrow-majority Anglo (but 40-45% Spanish-speaking) as well as First World and continuously democratic. Plus, if the British are already at it in Uruguay, they're much more likely to go for much if not all of Patagonia as well, including the Strait of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falklands, so that Patagonia, too, becomes a British colony (at least eventually), and would become at least 90% Anglo and, of course, First World. If they're already at it in both Uruguay and Patagonia, they'll probably go also for the southern coast of OTL Buenos Aires Province - that would also be at least 90% Anglo and First World, and I've thought of "Victoria" as the name of that colony/province. Hence, an independent, Spanish-speaking Argentina with some extra British influence (much like American influence in Cuba from 1898 to 1959), plus British Uruguay, Patagonia, and so forth. The British possessions around Argentina perhaps get united into one single dominion in the late 1800s/early 1900s in the manner of Canada, Australia, South Africa, or (later on) Malaysia, with that dominion (now a Commonwealth country) being called "Platina".
Under that scenario, it is Platina, not Argentina as a whole, that becomes the only genuinely developed country in South America and the only English-speaking country in South America aside from Guyana. At the same time, it is Platina (esp. Uruguay), not Argentina as a whole, that is split between English and Spanish, not unlike Canada. As for the rest of Argentina, for a very long time it's a British client state even more than in real life and it has fundamentally the same issues as in real life.
In connection with the poll choices above, what I'm saying here is a compromise between the British keeping both Buenos Aires and Montevideo and the British keeping neither of those cities.
Please let me what you think!
