WI: Japan at the Berlin Conference: Japanese Madagascar?

[Abdul Hadi Pasha]

Well, the economic interest criterion was very much in the eyes of the beholder. To this day there is a debate about whether the second wave of imperialist expansion in the late 19th century was a net gain or a net loss in strict economic terms. I think that for many if not most countries it was more of a "Let's color as much of the map as others will let us get away with" thing. Certainly having Angola and Mozambique hardly helped Portugal devolve into a third-rate country after its brief golden age in the 1400s.

I would certainly agree that lots of colonies were net drains on their colonial masters, but you still had to have "interests" somewhere for your claim to it to be recognized. Also, net drains on the state aren't necessarily net drains on businessmen who drag their governments into interventions. Also, colonization often occurred as a result of the establishment of missions and the aggressive behavior of missionaries, of which as far as I know, Japan had none (altough that would certainly have been bizarre!).

Unlike France, Japan had no connection to Madagascar - no trade, no exploration, no trade routes that passed near it, etc. I don't think anyone would have been remotely inclined to support Japanese rule, and I think French goodwill would have been valued by the Japanese considerably above some remote African territory that they had no means to hold.

 

[Faeelin]

1810: The British actually take Deshima from the Dutch, securing it from the forces of Bonaparte (or the Dutch).

Strangely, this causes Japan to modernize several decades earlier than OTL. By 1880, it is already a great power that dominates most of East Asia, and has its eyes on African territory....

 

[fortyseven]

1810: The British actually take Deshima from the Dutch, securing it from the forces of Bonaparte (or the Dutch).

Strangely, this causes Japan to modernize several decades earlier than OTL. By 1880, it is already a great power that dominates most of East Asia, and has its eyes on African territory....

Good ideas.

Japan would need coaling/resupply stations. Japanese interest in India would be interesting. Would they buy/conquer a port in India? Would they interfere during the Great Mutiny (if it happens of course)?

 

[birdy]

This morning, in the train to Paris, I chatted up a Japanese girl

lucky bastard

ontopic i think 1885 is to early for japan to think about colonies halfway around the world, then again i could be wrong.

maybe another bet would be for the Fashoda incident to develop into an Anglo-French war in which Japan sides with Britain and either takes or is given Madagascar postwar.

not sure whether japan would have the strength for that by 1898 though.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

lucky bastard

ontopic i think 1885 is to early for japan to think about colonies halfway around the world, then again i could be wrong.

maybe another bet would be for the Fashoda incident to develop into an Anglo-French war in which Japan sides with Britain and either takes or is given Madagascar postwar.

not sure whether japan would have the strength for that by 1898 though.

Well this at least has some plausibility...though would they want it...Seems to me Indochina would be of far greater interest.

 

[birdy]

Well this at least has some plausibility...though would they want it...Seems to me Indochina would be of far greater interest.

Thanks, yes i agree they'd be more likely to want Indochina and maybe some French pacific islands.