Abdul Hadi Pasha
Banned
When independence was gained from Spain, the five Central American countries were originally in a federal union, which lasted a few years and broke up - but there were many attempts to revive it and they all retained symbolically, elements of the federal flag in their own flags.
In 1896, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador united into the Greater Republic of Central America Greater Republic. It's capital would have been the excellent port of Amapala, located in the bay at the junction of the three countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Central_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amapala
The union was dissolved due to a military coup in El Salvador.
At the time, the USA was investigating Nicaragua vs Panama as the location for a canal - and it was pretty universally thought that Nicaragua was much the better place, both in terms of cost, ease of building & lack of disease, and location (it's a shorter journey). In OTL, Panama was chosen partly because the ability to acquire the old French company's assets, and partly due to a weird publicity campaign by one of the defunct company's shareholders that convinced everyone a Nicaraguan canal would be destroyed by volcanos.
Anyway, in my TL there's no Spanish-American War, so no TR, and no seizure of Panama. If a Nicaraguan Canal is decided upon, there is a large impetus for the union to stick together, and for Guatemala and Costa Rica to join it (they didn't in OTL because of the coup), as it will bring enormous economic benefit to the region. It would also be in US interests to prevent its violent dissolution.
If all five states are united, their population would be about equal to Peru's - it would actually be once of the more populous states in Latin America.
What do you think? Too unstable? Or would the interest in the Canal be enough to hold it together?
In 1896, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador united into the Greater Republic of Central America Greater Republic. It's capital would have been the excellent port of Amapala, located in the bay at the junction of the three countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Central_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amapala
The union was dissolved due to a military coup in El Salvador.
At the time, the USA was investigating Nicaragua vs Panama as the location for a canal - and it was pretty universally thought that Nicaragua was much the better place, both in terms of cost, ease of building & lack of disease, and location (it's a shorter journey). In OTL, Panama was chosen partly because the ability to acquire the old French company's assets, and partly due to a weird publicity campaign by one of the defunct company's shareholders that convinced everyone a Nicaraguan canal would be destroyed by volcanos.
Anyway, in my TL there's no Spanish-American War, so no TR, and no seizure of Panama. If a Nicaraguan Canal is decided upon, there is a large impetus for the union to stick together, and for Guatemala and Costa Rica to join it (they didn't in OTL because of the coup), as it will bring enormous economic benefit to the region. It would also be in US interests to prevent its violent dissolution.
If all five states are united, their population would be about equal to Peru's - it would actually be once of the more populous states in Latin America.
What do you think? Too unstable? Or would the interest in the Canal be enough to hold it together?