AHC: Have Companies such as the Dutch East India Company, and the British East India Company, and a few minor ones, like the Swedish, French, and Levant Companies, survive till Decolonization
AHC: Surviving Companies
- Thread starter GameBawesome
- Start date
Does the Austrian Ostend or Danish India Company count? Or the Denmark Africa Company (that held parts of the Gold Coast until the 19th century - Denmark with a flourishing overseas empire in the 19th century sounds fun). And let's not forget Brandenburg and Courland's own colonial ventures (although I'm not sure if those went as far as having a Company as opposed to being the personal fancy of a ruler)... Of course, the irony being that Prussia/Brandenburg HAD colonies in Africa long before the Kaiser started screaming for a place in the sun and had to make do with what was left. So, if Prussia could avoid selling them off and keep a low-level interest in the area (the idea of an enlightenment age Friedrich the Great with overseas colonies in Africa is intriguing. After all, Fritz' first post following his rehabilitation was in charge of naval/riverine affairs IIRC, so extend that to naval affairs and the colonial dept, and things could go in a very different direction), she'd have (in theory) as much of a voice at the Berlin Conference as say Portugal (perhaps more, bigger country, bigger power projection and all that).
I for one would LOVE to see a colonial map of Africa not predominantly colored blue (for France) with a corridor stretching from South Africa to Egypt. Or an India not entirely British...
I for one would LOVE to see a colonial map of Africa not predominantly colored blue (for France) with a corridor stretching from South Africa to Egypt. Or an India not entirely British...
Which then simply removes a Courlander colonialismfrom the board. Brandenburg/Prussia, the Scandinavian and Imperial companies are still a-go. I'm rather partial to a German slice of the African pie... (doesn't have to be Prussian though).
FillyofDelphi
Banned
Such a map would be filled with companies filling for bankrupacy.
The only reason that company-states like the VOC and EIC were able to function as they did at a profit was because they held a monopolistic market share over hugely populated and lucrative regions. Competition from so many compeditors would do nothing for them but drive down the prices they could sell for to the point that enforcing direct rule is no longer viable and, like in our timeline, they'll be forced to hand the responsability over to their patron governments or, more likely, have it taken from them in a firesale.
So, could any other chartered companies have survived in much the same way the Hudson Bay Company did IOTL?
Lusitania
Donor
As I stated a British East India Company that after 1860 restricted itself to commerce and even manufacturing in India and by 1900s had become a Indian Company and even after 1948 could of been nationalized but continued to exists.
What about the VOC? Could it also have survived into the modern day much like how the Hudson Bay Company has survived to this day?
Lusitania
Donor
That be hard. VOC was bankrupt when the Dutch government took over administration of the Dutch East Indies. For it to of continued as a company then bankruptcy must be avoided.