Original post on Map Thread XIX page 158
So I wanted to do a revamp of South America in my universe that works towards defying the cartography tropes AH falls to, including a dominant country in the eastern end of the continent.
(Não sei do que você está falando.) In my effort, I also wanted to make this map more diverse in terms of history and the choices certain powers took to get the exploitation out of this continent they want.
DISCLAIMER: I will be having some details of these countries that deal with the Atlantic slave trade and racism. I hope my depiction at least paints it in a fair light.
Organizing these nations from their respective colonizing empires:
Great Britain, deciding to come towards the more temperate end of the continent, have found that the River Plate can be the ideal place to have a highly profitable colony similar to the colonies of North America. It has proven to become a highly profitable colony, despite very racist policies that incentivized settlement towards the North to exploit the Southern Amazon and eradicate natives. Today, with 130 million citizens, Plate is the most prestigious country in South America having a GDP of $1 trillion USD.
Spain (more like Castille), heavily invested in the search for El Dorado after coming in contact with the Muisca culture, was planning to search, and even colonize, the Amazon, where even if they don't find El Dorado in the dense jungle, they could exploit it to control a timber supply for building a great navy. The Spanish Empire in South America extended from Colombia to Upper Peru, with small exclaves in the Caribbean. This empire came at a cost, however, as the Spanish had to take the Amazon away from the Portuguese during the Papal Wars. During the Revolutionary years, where Spain was in its own revolution, the Empire fractured and came to divide into (from west to east) Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Madura (pink island in New Holland), Lingor (between New Holland and Federmannia), Nueva Jaen, Upper Peru, and Amazona. A rare occasion of settlement in the New World happened during the 19th century where Peruvian settlers moved to the modern day San Juan Republic in former Patagonian territory. In 1894, the San Juan Independence Movement came to be when the recent Peruvian immigrants felt their rights were being revoked during the Patagonian government's Provincial Reformation Act which saw the region's political power being waived over to the federal government. The region became a burden to the Patagonian government so they saw a conference to negotiate San Juanian independence. In 1899, the Republic is its own sovereign nation, with good relations with Patagonia and Plate lasting today.
An expedition funded by Salzburg that got the Klien Venedig colony started (now called Federmannia) soon became a subject for the Holy Roman Empire's gains in America. Despite significant funds from some North German states, the massive influx of colonists were only South Germans, including Bavarians, Wurtembergers, and Austrians. The capital city, New Ulm, prides itself as the best city in South America, having the highest quality of life, most access to cheap if not free education, and bolsters an environment that allows small businesses to thrive.
The Crown of Aragon began its ambitions in America after hearing legends of El Dorado circulating from Castillan sources. The Catalan-heavy populations of conquistadors and servants began their expeditions and having motivations to get away from Europe. After El Dorado quests died down, promotions to develop and occupy the lands from the Guyana coast and into the Amazon were convincing thousands of Catalan peasants, merchants, and engineers to go to the colony of Nova Barcelona. Patagonia was colonized but disputed until the Treaty of Madrid in 1557, at the end of the Papal Wars, was ratified where the Pope called for Aragonese legitimacy over Patagonia while the Spanish would have legitimacy over the Amazon and the Portuguese would have no legitimacy over any of America in favor of the Spanish. During the Spanish Revolution and the First French Revolutionary War, Aragon was in a precarious position where they could not maintain control over Nova Barcelona while the threats of Spanish revolutionaries and the French invasion forced Valencia to abandon the colony along with its colonies of Hondures and Cuba. The resulting independence movements had the colonies free from Aragonese rule. In the 20th century, a syndicalist commune rose to power in the Amazonian province of Nova Barcelona and the Nova Barcelonian Civil War had the independence of the Amazon Commune won. Out of the colonies, Patagonia is the most successful being the second most prosperous nation in South America behind Plate, with a GDP of $435 billion USD.
Denmark had turned their ambitions from the North Atlantic to move abroad, trying to copy the Portuguese model of exploration and colonization, almost gaining the same success as the Portuguese did in exploration with many islands in the Indian Ocean being discovered along with the more successful exploitation of Bandiaterra, and Danish Guyana, better known as Lokono today. Lokono is the pride of the Danish crown and despite a rocky history with assimilation of the natives being forced to speak Danish, the country still has good relations with her mother country, today part of the federation of Scandinavia. Established in 1962, Lokono has a fairly healthy economy and quietly resides as a tourist destination.
France barely made any progress outside of Canada, which was taken up by Britain during the Last Continental War, which for the acquisition for Normandy, Brittany, and Bordeaux, the French agreed to cede Canada, allowing British hegemony over North America. However, they would still be able to keep French Guyana, today known as Parikwene, and Atlantique, two islands in the Azores Archipelago now under German sovereignty. Not only was the territory established as a refuge for pirates but almost poetically for the royal family in the country's darkest hours. The French Revolution had Parikwene residing as a refuge once more until in 1773, after five years of asylum in Parikwene, the royal family was assassinated by Revolution sympathizers. For the duration of the French Revolutionary Wars, Britain had a port leased in agreement for protection of the territory as independence movements in South America were heating up the Spanish Empire. Today, Parikwene enjoys a similar economic situation as Lokono and is part of the Guyana Economic Community.
Great Guinea, as named by the European powers, was first contacted by the Portuguese in their expeditions, and seeing this European maritime power that established a flow of information that allowed the Guineans to see the wider world brought many inspiring ideas of establishing their own maritime empire. Going off of the Portuguese discovery of Brazil, the Guineans built a navy and an expeditionary patrol to claim Brazil, now known in the Yoruba exonym, Igipupa, named after the brazilwood trees. The Guineans were able to maintain control over this colony through its exportation of slaves. A highly debated topic between historians was how the Guinean colony was able to be preserved asserted that the Europeans allowed Guinean hegemony over this corner of the continent for being generously supplied slaves, which provided a large amount of wealth which fed back to the colony's security and development. In the dark history of the slave trade, it was calculated that about 70% of colonists in Igipupa were brought across the Atlantic under slavery. Trans-Atlantic slave trade ended between a British-Guinean treaty before a conflict escalated to war in 1815 where slaves would no longer be transported across the Atlantic allegedly to decrease piracy. At the same time, the Guinean Industrial Revolution was coming, as part of the greater Ethiopian Industrial Revolution, as started in the Kingdom of Ethiopia. A British-Guinean Cooperation Treaty was later signed in 1833, where disputes between Plate and Igipupa would cease. This cooperation would also gain Great Guinea some industrial knowledge the British gained and it helped Igipupa develop far faster. Slavery was abolished in the Guinean Empire cordially with the British in 1840 and the slaves in the Empire were admitted as equal citizens. Today, Igipupa is a relatively healthy economy, being the 4th most prosperous nation in the continent, behind Patagonia, at $223 billion USD. However, the nation is far from being anything near being a well-maintained country, as corruption that began in the 1980s during an oil crisis still brews within the country today.
The Dutch have pulled significant gains across the world, copying the Portuguese model as the Danes did, but they moved to pore their resources in building and maintaining New Holland. The area was originally four colonies of Friesland, Haag, Nieuw Brussel, and Rijnland, and each contributed great power to Amsterdam in the sugar trade. Expeditions to the East Indies brought coffee and spices that can be grown in the colonies as well, which allowed the Dutch greater power and didn't need to traverse the world so much to get to their Spice Islands. The Guinean Trans-Atlantic slave trade gave the Dutch low-cost labor that fueled the development of the colonies led to problematic relations between the white settlers and the African New-Hollanders in the nation similar to the American South. This tension has lasted today where underprivileged classes still face prejudice. This dark history of New Holland is held on the shoulders of its citizens today, but many strides have been made after Council voted in bills to give African New-Hollanders rights to be more equal citizens. By 2012, many improvements have been made but according to the University of Raleigh (US) Prejudicial Census, New Holland is still one of the most socially prejudicial countries in the New World, ranking at 2nd behind Hondures (for its own reasons of class, gender, and homosexual prejudice). Despite this grating societal tension, New Holland boasts the 3rd largest economy in South America, being the dominant economy in the Caribbean, as well as being the martial power of the Caribbean alongside the US.