An Italian America

[Venice]

Is it even plausible for any Italian Republic, Kingdom, etc to hold ontop a colony in the Americas? Like say Venice actually sent out Christopher Colombus as an explorer, since Christopher was Venitian in the first place?

[General Mung Beans]

Originally Posted by VeniceinCalifornia

Is it even plausible for any Italian Republic, Kingdom, etc to hold ontop a colony in the Americas? Like say Venice actually sent out Christopher Colombus as an explorer, since Christopher was Venitian in the first place?

I don't think Venice had enough manpower to hold on to a large portion of America.

[Saladan]

Originally Posted by General Mung Beans

I don't think Venice had enough manpower to hold on to a large portion of America.

Pretty much this. The reason France, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain all had colonies was because each had the manpower, money, and resources to support them. None of the Italian countries have enough of those, plus theres a little issue of having to get through the straights of Gibraltar.

[Nicole]

They might be able to pull off a Caribbean island or two for a little while, I guess... I mean, if Courland could do it...

[rcduggan]

Why is it that no above me realized that Columbus was Genoan, not Venetian?

An idea for a possible POD: Gian Galeazzo Visconti succeeds in his attempt to unite all of Northern Italy under one state. Maybe only one son survives so the state is not divided. This creates a strong, united Italian state. When the TTL Christopher Columbus roles around, he is funded by Lombardy / Milan. It would have the mercantile strength of Venice but also a population base large enough to engage in colonization.

[Venice]

Oh I like the united idea...and actually, Columbus was a Venitian. He was born on some island thats in present day Croatia, but was Venitian at the time.

[Admiral Brown]

Originally Posted by VeniceinCalifornia

Oh I like the united idea...and actually, Columbus was a Venitian. He was born on some island thats in present day Croatia, but was Venitian at the time.

There are several controvertheories of were his family came from (Catalonia/Northern Italy/etc.; some even say they were originaly Jewish). Yet the official version is still that Colombus was Genoan, as far as I know.

[Venice]

My bad, apparently, he is Genoan...

Anyways, should I make a TL for this?

[Admiral Brown]

Originally Posted by VeniceinCalifornia

My bad, apparently, he is Genoan...

Anyways, should I make a TL for this?

well, I'd be glad to read it.

[Constantius]

Maybe having the Italian Wars go differently would help.

[reddie]

I tried this topic before...actually I clicked here to see if somebody was responding to one of my ancient posts from 2006 or so.

Anyway, it's a topic I've been interested in. I think the best way to accomplish this is to have one of the Italian city-states possess a base on the North African coast...which suggests a military defeat for the Barbary States greater than what happened to Al-Andalus. Something involving an alliance between one or more of the Italian states, Castile-Aragon, and the Knights of Malta, perhaps?

[Venice]

I was thinking of the Republic of Venice realizing the threat of the Ottomans, and calling a convention with, say, Milan, genoa, Naples, etc, and they unify into one "Italian" state. (The Pope is too good for a unified "Italy") and they soon take...Ceuta as the Barbary attack...but Ill fix it up later...