Chapter 205
May, 1833
London
The people of Great Britain had largely given up on their Queen marrying. While her disfigurement was only moderate, Frederica stalwartly refused to seek a husband. Fortunately, she had heirs a plenty. Her sister Charlotte and niece Augusta repeatedly visited with the knowledge that they were next in line. Charlotte had failed to conceive again after a miscarriage over six years earlier despite repeated attempts between herself and her husband, Leopold of Lippe. Leopold was disappointed that he may not sire a legitimate heir for Lippe (Salic Law) but when his only child may inherit Great Britain and her sprawling Empire, that was a fine consolation. Eventually, by 1834, Princess Charlotte and Augusta would effectively move to Great Britain, returning only periodically to Lippe. This allowed Charlotte to avoid the embarrassment of seeing her husband with his mistress (and their four bastard sons).
Princess Elizabeth of Waldeck and her daughter Pauline would also frequently visit Britain. Both of the German-born girls were taught English on the chance that they would inherit (looking good for Augusta, unlikely for Pauline). Fortunately, Elizabeth's relationship with her husband, George of Waldeck, was better. He kept his mistresses away from the tiny Waldeck court.
Neither Prince particularly regretted their marriages. The stipend considered minor to the British taxpayer was a massive boon to the Princes of the little German nations.
Philadelphia
President Philip Hamilton was pleased with the latest dispatch. Though the more populous southern territories continued to debate their future, the Guianas bluntly pronounced that, upon reaching the necessary preparations, that they would seek American statehood. This did not necessarily guarantee that Ceara, Pernambuco, Amazonia and Bahia would eventually do the same but he understood the Brazilian mind. There was a certain element of the litter mentality between the territories and, what one wanted, the others would eventually demand. It would be embarrassing if Pernambuco's residents dispatched Senators and Congressmen, elected their own governor and mocked...say...Bahia for not possessing that right. It was human nature.
The Guianas were somewhat unique. They were bought from the Dutch but, within a decade, the lightly populated territory was settled heavily by tens of thousands of Brazilians. Most of the Brazilian peoples considered the territories an integral portion of their polity. This had some dangers but no problems had erupted as of yet and Hamilton thought this could be turned to his advantage.
Tamilstan
The Tamil Army won a shattering victory against the Marathas, sending the Emperor's forces back into headlong retreat back into Maratha territory. The Tamils had been armed to the teeth by British, Dutch, French and assorted other traders whom realized over the years that the hegemonic Maratha Empire would ensure only modest influence by foreigners over the massive population of the Indian subcontinent. This was perhaps the Europeans' (and perhaps Chinese) only chance to halt the continued rise of the Maratha Empire. As the Afghan and Bengal Kingdoms had been defeated and in chaos, only internal civil wars among the Marathas would prevent total control.
Rio Plata
The aging freedom fighter Simon Bolivar led yet another raid to the outskirts of Buenos Aires, disrupting any economic activity. While the British control of the waterway was absolute, the Spanish continued to resist, making the occupation an expensive act of futility. Trade with the region barely...if at all...paid for the cost of the occupation.
The British would march out of Buenos Aires and Montevideo to exact punishment. They won most of the battles but failed to accomplish much of anything.
This did not mean that the Rio Platans were doing well. Economic activity was nil, 600,000 Spanish colonists remained in a moribund, subsistence condition.
Sao Paulo
The British occupation of southern Brazil went nominally better. There was less violence and the British controlled the hinterlands to a better extent. However, that did not mean it was going well.
Southern Brazil was considered the real prize when America and Britain divided up Brazil after the Iberian Wars. Yes, historically, the northern portion, with its sugar plantations, had been the economic driver of Brazil. However, since the 1780's, it was obvious that the future was in the south. The gold, diamonds and metals of the Minas Gereis region would provide both capital and material for the industrial revolution. The global sugar industry had too many booms and busts and it looked like the coffee and cocoa plantations of the south would soon overcome the sugar plantations of the north in good time.
Already, from 1780 to 1812 (when the war occurred), slaves were starting to be sold from north to south where their labor could be used more profitably in the mines than on sugar plantations. Only the war, the cutoff of trade and the eventual end of slavery in the north halted further sales to the south.
This proved a boon to the slaves but destroyed the southern industry even more than the war. The ratio of slaves taken from Africa was always heavily skewed. When average lifespans of slaves in the tropics was about 7 years and it was unlikely that a female slave would live to have children or than the children would survive, no one bothered much with African women. Often the ratio of slaves taken was about 5 to 1.
When the mines of the south required labor, women were even less in demand. In the southern cities, Negro men outnumbered women by two to one. On the coffee plantations, it was four to one. In the mining areas, it was over ten to one.
This created a demographic time bomb. The labor system had been set up on the assumption that a virtual unbroken quantity of slaves may be acquired from either Africa (the Trans-Atlantic trade had been stopped for over twenty years) or from local sources (this had been halted with abolition in northern Brazil more than fifteen years ago). The men of the mines withered with overwork and cruelty, with no replacements in sight.
At the British conquest of southern Brazil in 1817, the demographics looked like this:
900,000 Portuguese (men outnumbered women by only 4 to 3 in this more healthy climate)
100,000 Free Pardo
300,000 Negro/Pardo slaves
100,000 Mestizo
200,000 Indians (estimate)
Total+: 1,600,000
By 1833, this had altered terribly.
700,000 Portuguese - many had returned to Portugal or emigrated to Portuguese Africa or "American Brazil" over the past fifteen years.
120,000 Free Negro/Pardo
130,000 Negro/Pardo slaves (reduction due to historical harsh life of slaves and lack of reproduction due to male/female demographic imbalance as well as some fleeing north)
100,00 Mestizo
180,000 Indians (estimate)
20,000 British
Total: 1,250,000
Unlike "American" Brazil, the British did not encourage immigration from any non-British sources. This would hinder the colony's growth greatly compared to American Brazil, which saw a 1,000,000 soul increase from 1818 to 1833 due to massive European and American immigration, a higher survival rate / birth rate among the Negro/Pardo population. Over 5 times as many Britons immigrated to American Brazil than British Brazil over this 15 year period.
By comparison the "American" Brazil numbers looked like this:
1818
600,000 Portuguese (men outnumbered women by 2 to 1 due to unhealthy climate)
600,000 Negro/Pardo Slaves
250,000 Negro/Pardo Freemen
300,000 Indians (estimate)
50,000 Mestizos
Total:1,800,000
1833
450,000 Portuguese (large number emigrated. Some immigrated from "British Brazil" to make up the numbers. Portuguese Male/female ratio was skewed)
800,000 Negro/Pardo free men (overall drop due to demographic imbalance that would effectively end by 1830's when male/female rations among reproductive age blacks/mulattos reached general equality, some additional immigration by free Negro/Pardo from south and slave escapes from south).
300,000 Indians (estimate)
75,000 Mestizos
650,000 "other" people of European descent (Americans, Cubans, French, British, Germans, Russians, Poles, Jews, Italians, etc. An estimated 50,000 immigrants per year would flock to "American" Brazil. Male/female ratio would remained skewed for several decades).
Total: 2,250,000